The first round of the NCAAF playoffs is upon us, and a place in the Sugar Bowl is up for grabs when the Ole Miss Rebels host the Tulane Green Wave this weekend.
The Rebels have had a fantastic season, earning an 11-1 record up to this point, with their only loss coming against the Georgia Bulldogs. The Green Wave, on the other hand, have earned an 11-2 record this season in a fine campaign, winning the American Championship.
The winner of this match will face off against the Bulldogs in the Sugar Bowl, so both teams will be pushing for victory. We’ll break down the match-up and provide you with our best free NCAAF betting picks to earn you some extra cash while you enjoy the action on the field.
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Mississippi are always considered one of the best teams in the country, and they showed that once again this year with their excellent start to the season.
The team started with a sensational six-game winning run, where they dominated opponents for the most part. Ole Miss took on the Georgia State Panthers and claimed a strong 63-7 win, before travelling to take on the Kentucky Wildcats and earning a 30-23 win in week two.
That was followed up by a 41-35 win over the Arkansas Razorbacks, before their first meeting of the season with Tulane saw them claim a dominant 45-10 victory. A 24-19 win over the LSU Tigers came next, before the team went 6-0 with a 24-21 win over the Washington State Cougars.
But their winning run was brought to an end when they took on the Georgia Bulldogs, and fell to a 43-35 defeat. The Rebels have since bounced back with five straight wins, though, cementing themselves as real contenders.
Home wins over the South Carolina Gamecocks (30-14), The Citadel Bulldogs (49-0), and Florida Gators (34-24) were sandwiched between road wins against the Oklahoma Sooners (34-26) and Mississippi State Bulldogs (38-19), and the team come into this in great form, looking to set up a revenge match against Georgia with another win.
Tulane had a decent season in 2024, but they have gone one step further in 2025 and racked up a strong season to be in with a chance of causing some major upsets in the playoffs this time around.
The Green Wave opened the season with three consecutive wins over the Northwestern Wildcats (23-3), South Alabama Jaguars (33-31), and Duke Blue Devils (34-27), before falling to their first defeat against Ole Miss.
They responded to that with three more consecutive victories, defeating the Tulsa Golden Hurricane (31-14), East Carolina Pirates (26-19), and Army Black Knights (24-17). However, a trip to the UTSA Roadrunners ended in a surprisingly heavy 26-48 defeat, halting that momentum temporarily.
Since then, the team have been on a fantastic run, winning five games in a row. A 38-32 win over the Memphis Tigers was first, followed by a 35-24 win at home against the Florida Atlantic Owls. Tulane then claimed a 37-13 win on the road against the Temple Owls next, before back-to-back home wins over the Charlotte 49ers (27-0), and then, most recently, the North Texas Mean Green, where they claimed the American Championship with a 34-21 victory.
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This is a match-up between two contenders who are going to have head coach issues. Jon Sumrall has committed to Florida after a successful campaign this year, while Lane Kiffin has already left Ole Miss after winning the Egg Bowl.
In theory, that gives Tulane a surprise edge in this game as they at least have their man still coaching this one. Pete Golding will be the man running things for the Rebels, and while he is well-respected, it’s a huge change right before a playoff run.
It also makes the teams’ meeting in week four of the season a bit more irrelevant when analysing how this will go. In that game, Ole Miss controlled the opposition and earned a dominant 45-10 victory, with quarterback Trinidad Chambliss having his way with proceedings as he threw for over 300 yards and rushed for over 100 yards.
They also stopped Tulane from playing their game effectively, restricting them to just 282 yards, compared to the more than 400 yards they managed in every other game this season.
Despite the change of coach, Ole Miss still have the same set of players that proved to be far too good for the Green Wave last time out, and there shouldn’t be that big of a swing on the field as a result. The talent gap still remains, but there’s no denying the coaching shuffle creates a bit of a scramble.
It seems unlikely that this game will see such a large margin between the two teams, and on seven of the last eight occasions where Ole Miss were 17.5 point favorites, the match total went Under. The Under points total spread has also landed in seven of Tulane’s last nine games, and that makes it the play once again here.
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About the Author
Daniel is a football writer who has a great thirst for the Premier League and other major European leagues. A lover of the beautiful game and a firm believer that the eye test is better than statistics. Also an avid MMA fan.
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