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For the first time since Lane Kiffin left Ole Miss to become the head coach at LSU, the Rebels will take the field at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium for the biggest game in program history. Under new head coach Pete Golding, the 11-1 Rebels will make their first-ever College Football Playoff appearance, facing American Athletic Conference champion Tulane.
Both No. 6 Ole Miss and No. 11 Tulane will be under new coaching regimes to start 2026. The difference is Tulane has allowed Jon Sumrall, the next head coach at Florida, to coach his team through the postseason, while Kiffin will be watching from Baton Rouge. What is certain, however, is that the winner of this game will face one of the best coaches and teams in college football.
That team is the No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs, led by two-time national champion head coach Kirby Smart. Georgia once again steamrolled the competition, finishing the season 12-1 and defeating Alabama to claim its fourth SEC championship under Smart. Entering the playoff, Smart owns a career record of 117-20, cementing Georgia as the preeminent power in the sport.
The winner in Oxford will travel to New Orleans to face Georgia in the Sugar Bowl quarterfinal on New Year’s Day. The Bulldogs will be looking to rewrite the script from last season, when they were eliminated in the Sugar Bowl by Notre Dame.
Here’s more on who Tulane or Ole Miss will play next.
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Who does Tulane or Ole Miss play next?
Tulane or Ole Miss will face No. 3 Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on New Year's Day in the second round of the playoffs.
Georgia has emerged as one of, if not the, best programs in college football over the past five seasons. The Bulldogs won back-to-back championships in 2021 and 2022, securing the program's first national titles since 1980. This sustained period of dominance has seen them compile an FBS-best record of 64-6 since the start of the 2021 season, making them a perennial force in the playoff conversation.
In addition to the national titles, the Bulldogs have collected three of the last four SEC Championships, winning in 2022, 2024, and 2025, most recently a dominating 28-7 victory over No. 9 Alabama. The Crimson Tide were the one team that beat the Bulldogs this season, defeating them in September. But, Georgia was dominant in all three phases en route to another conference title in Atlanta.
This year's Georgia team is as talented as any in the country. On offense, Gunner Stockton is surrounded by talented skill position players, whether Zachariah Branch, Dillon Bell, Nate Frazier, Chauncey Bowens, Oscar Delp and more. On defense, the Bulldogs did not look like a typical Kirby Smart defense — especially when rushing the passer — early in the season, but have now gone four games allowing 10 or less points. There is an argument that though Georgia is No. 3, the best team in America lies in Athens.
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Georgia and Ole Miss already squared off this year, with the Bulldogs winning 43-35 in Athens. Georgia, who is known for its dominance in the final frame, rattled off 17 fourth quarter points to give the Rebels their first and only loss.
An unparalleled run of success — two national championships, three SEC titles in four years, and nearly three calendar years without a regular-season loss — firmly establishes Georgia as the premier program in the modern era, setting the standard for every other team entering the newly expanded College Football Playoff.
Whoever wins Saturday's contest between the Green Wave and Rebels will face off against a program that everyone strives to be on New Years day. The No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs, the closest thing college football has to a dynasty, are awaiting their opponent in the Sugar Bowl Quarterfinal.
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