Tulane earned its first College Football Playoff berth by pulling off an upset in the American Championship Game to cap off a season in which it went 2-1 against Power 4 opponents. However, that lone loss came against Ole Miss, which the Green Wave drew in the first-round of the playoff. The Rebels routed Tulane 45-10 back in September, but a lot has changed in Oxford since then. The elephant in the room is Lane Kiffin’s absence. The former Ole Miss coach bolted for the top job at rival LSU at the end of the regular season and was denied the opportunity to continue coaching the team into its first playoff appearance. Defensive coordinator Pete Golding was promoted to head coach in his stead. On the opposite sideline, Tulane coach Jon Sumrall is living out Kiffin’s dream of continuing to coach his team for the duration of its playoff run despite having accepted a position elsewhere. Sumrall is off to Florida, a destination Kiffin was linked to for much of the coaching carousel, whenever the Green Wave are eli
