Who will Ole Miss play next? Explaining the 2025 CFP bracket opponent for Round 2 originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The No. 6 Ole Miss Rebels have emphatically answered the question of whether they can win without Lane Kiffin. In their first game since Kiffin left for LSU, and the biggest game in program history, the Rebels delivered a dominant performance at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, crushing the No. 11 Tulane Green Wave, 41-10, to advance in the College Football Playoff. New head coach Pete Golding is now 1-0 in his debut, proving the 12-1 Rebels are a force to be reckoned with.
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The victory showcased the Rebels’ strength and determination despite the unusual mid-playoff coaching change. While Tulane allowed Jon Sumrall, the next head coach at Florida, to coach his final contest for the Green Wave, Ole Miss proved that its players were singularly focused on the championship path.
What is certain, however, is that Ole Miss’s reward for the decisive win is an immediate clash with 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 Rebels will now travel to New Orleans to face Georgia in the Sugar Bowl quarterfinal on New Year’s Day. The game is a highly anticipated rematch of their regular-season contest on October 18, which Georgia won 43-35 after rattling off 17 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to hand Ole Miss its only loss of the season. 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 the highly anticipated SEC rematch between Ole Miss and Georgia.
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Who does Tulane or Ole Miss play next?
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.
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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.
MORE: Georgia 2025 College Football Playoff tickets guide
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.
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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.
With a head coach only in his second game in charge, the 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 Lane Kiffin-less opponent in the Sugar Bowl Quarterfinal.
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