The Miami Dolphins tried to trade four first-round picks before the 2020 NFL Draft for a chance to take Joe Burrow No. 1 overall, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, who also reported Saturday that the Cincinnati Bengals shut down the possibility of any such trade before it could pick up steam.
At the time, the Dolphins had three 2020 first-round picks — their own, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ because of the Minkah Fitzpatrick trade and the Houston Texans’ due to the Laremy Tunsil trade — as well as two 2021 first-round picks.
Both the Bengals and Dolphins have been eliminated from playoff contention this season. Neither team has made the postseason each of the past two seasons.
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Cincinnati hasn’t played a playoff game since the 2022 campaign. After suffering a turf toe injury in Week 2 that required surgery, Burrow did everything he could to return in time for the Bengals to end that drought. That said, Cincinnati dug too big of a hole for Burrow in his nine-game absence.
Burrow, 29, is chasing the team success he achieved earlier in his career. After winning the Heisman Trophy and the national championship at LSU, he led the Bengals to the Super Bowl in his second NFL season. The next year, he had Cincinnati back in the AFC championship.
The 27-year-old Tagovailoa, meanwhile, is also at an inflection point in his career. Availability has been an issue for him, too. Concussions have been a serious issue for the former Alabama quarterback. So have turnovers, especially this season, as he currently leads the NFL with 15 interceptions.
Tagovailoa is now the Dolphins’ emergency quarterback. Miami head coach Mike McDaniel is turning to seventh-round rookie Quinn Ewers, who previously starred at Texas. His backup will be New York Jets castoff Zach Wilson.
Miami, which will have a new general manager soon, is prepared to move Tagovailoa this coming offseason, according to Schefter. The Dolphins face financial obstacles to make that happen. Tagovailoa’s contract isn’t forgiving.
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The Dolphins owe him $54 million guaranteed in 2026. Cutting him would result in the Dolphins shouldering the largest dead money salary cap charge in NFL history, per Schefter. That number is a staggering $99 million. Yet, as Schefter noted in his Saturday report, Miami can soften the blow by cutting Tagovailoa after June 1 — that way, the Dolphins could split the charge and pay it over the 2026 and 2027 seasons.
Miami could also try to trade Tagovailoa and dump his lucrative contract, or at least part of it. That likely would involve the Dolphins sweetening the deal with significant draft compensation, perhaps even some in exchange for a suitor to take on the remaining balance of Tagovailoa’s contract.
In that scenario, though, Tagovailoa could have to take a pay cut but also could influence where he ended up, per Schefter.
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Fortunately for Tagovailoa, who spent six seasons as the Dolphins’ starter, there are several quarterback-needy teams.
Philadelphia Eagles kicker Jake Elliott had three looks at field goals in the first half against the Washington Commanders on Saturday. He missed all three.
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His third miss scuttled a chance for the Eagles to tie the game just before halftime. And it arrived via a second chance.
With 18 seconds remaining in the second quarter, Elliott attempted a 57-yard field goal on fourth-and-4 wide left. But an offside penalty on Washington gave Philadelphia a first down and Elliott a shot at redemption. He did not capitalize.
After failing to pick up any more yards, the Eagles lined up for another field goal with 6 seconds remaining on the clock, this time from 52 yards. The result was the same. Elliot missed wide left, and the Commanders went into halftime with a 10-7 lead.
This, after Elliott missed from 43 yards earlier in the second quarter, also wide left.
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The first missed kick of the end-of-half sequence won’t go down in the box score because of the penalty. Elliott was officially 0-for-2 on field goals in the first half. But everybody watching Saturday’s game knew that he missed three field-goal attempts.
Kicking yips are exacerbated this late in the season as the stakes rise. And these are the types of misses that can cost teams games.
Elliott is a ninth-year veteran who’s played his entire career, that includes winning two Super Bowls, with the Eagles. He’s a former All-Pro and Pro Bowler.
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He entered Saturday with a career-low 77.3% conversion rate that won’t be improved by this effort.
With Jayden Daniels shut down, backup Washington Commanders quarterback Marcus Mariota made his eighth start of the season in Saturday’s 29-18 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. But he left the game in the third quarter, leaving Washington to play third-stringer Josh Johnson.
At the conclusion of a third-quarter drive, Mariota entered the sideline medical tent. He then jogged to the locker room and did not return to the field for Washington’s ensuing possession.
Mariota had a towel over his right (throwing) hand as he jogged off the field.
The Commanders then announced that Mariota had cleared concussion protocol, but was questionable to return with a hand injury. The precise nature of the injury wasn’t initially clear.
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The Commanders held a 10-7 lead at the time of Mariota’s injury as they tried to spoil Philadelphia’s effort to clinch the NFC East title. The Eagles outscored Washington 22-8 from there and won the division, the NFC East’s first repeat champion in 21 years.
The Minnesota Vikings will be behind schedule on their road trip to face the New York Giants. But it sounds like things could have gone considerably worse.
Minnesota’s charter plane to New York experienced mechanical issues midair shortly after takeoff from the Twin Cities on Saturday afternoon. The plane turned around and returned to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, where the Vikings planned to board another plane to travel to New Jersey.
“Shortly after departing, the team plane experienced mechanical issues that required a return to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The team will board a second plane momentarily and is now expected to arrive at Newark International Airport later tonight.”
The itinerary change took place with the Vikings already on a tight schedule. The Vikings announced the change of plans shortly before 5 p.m. ET on Saturday, less than 24 hours before Sunday’s scheduled 1 p.m. kickoff.
The Vikings didn’t announce the nature of the mechanical failure. But the experience was surely unnerving for the Vikings as they prepared to play a road game. And whenever they get settled in New Jersey ahead of Sunday’s game, they’ll be behind an already tight schedule.
Whatever happens in Sunday’s game won’t impact the postseason. The Vikings and Giants have both been eliminated from the playoffs.
Ole Miss beat Tulane 45-10 in Week 4 of the 2025 season and, well, Saturday was another blowout. Ole Miss scored touchdowns on its first two drives to go up 14-0. Tulane never got the lead within 11 points after that.
The Green Wave hung around on the periphery for much of the first half, but Ole Miss ended any chances of a comeback at the start of the third quarter. After Tulane punted to open the half, Ole Miss went 80 yards in seven plays on a drive that was capped by a 13-yard TD pass from Trinidad Chambliss to De’Zhaun Stribling for a 24-3 lead.
Any chance Tulane had of a comeback was over from there. Especially after the Green Wave had squandered any and all chances they had at making the game closer in the first half.
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Tulane’s first four drives all ended in Ole Miss territory. But they only had three points to show from those trips thanks to an interception, a turnover on downs and a punt from the Ole Miss 48-yard line.
Overall, the Green Wave reached Ole Miss’ side of the field six different times. Yet they didn’t sniff the end zone until late in the fourth quarter when the game was well in hand.
Ole Miss, meanwhile, can argue that the game could have been over before halftime. Chambliss was forced to leave the game on the Rebels’ last drive after his head hit the turf. He was replaced by Austin Simmons, who quickly completed two passes and got the Rebels near the end zone.
However, Simmons fumbled when he was sacked with 15 seconds to go as Tulane was able to keep the score at 17-3 before the break.
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Georgia gave Ole Miss its only loss
The Bulldogs are the only team to beat Ole Miss all season.
On Oct. 18, Georgia beat the Rebels 43-35 after neither team punted over the first three quarters of the game. The Bulldogs took the lead with 7:29 to go and held on as Georgia got stops on the Rebels’ final three drives of the game.
These teams are a bit different now. Kiffin was calling the shots on the sideline two months ago. Now he’s in Baton Rouge preparing for his first season as LSU’s coach. Pete Golding, Ole Miss’ defensive coordinator in that game, is now the Rebels’ head coach.
That game was also a wakeup call for the Bulldogs’ defense. After allowing 35 points to Ole Miss and 41 points to Tennessee in Week 3, Georgia didn’t allow more than 21 points over the final six games of the season.
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And over the last four games, no team has scored more than 10 points against the Bulldogs. Georgia beat Texas 35-10, Charlotte 35-3, Georgia Tech 16-9, and Alabama 28-7 over its last four games.
Though Chambliss was cleared to return for the second half after his injury scare at the end of the second quarter, there could be greater concern about RB Kewan Lacy. The Rebels’ star running back appeared to suffer a left shoulder injury in the first half and aggravated it in the second half. Lacy didn’t return to the game — it was out of reach at that point in the second half — but Ole Miss will need him at full strength to have a chance of beating Georgia.
Jon Sumrall officially leaves Tulane for Florida
Saturday’s game was the final one for Tulane coach Jon Sumrall before he heads to Gainesville to coach the Gators.
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Sumrall, a former linebacker at Kentucky, was hired as the Gators’ coach at the end of the regular season but stayed with Tulane through the end of the Green Wave’s season.
Passing game coordinator Will Hall has already been named Sumrall’s successor. Hall, who was Tulane’s offensive coordinator in 2019 and 2020, was the head coach at Southern Miss for over three seasons before returning to the Tulane staff in 2025.
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Ole Miss blows out Tulane (for the second time this season) and doesn’t miss a beat without Lane Kiffin. The Rebels advance to face No. 3 Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1.
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Not bad for his first game in charge.
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Ole Miss will face No. 3 Georgia in the Sugar Bowl (CFP quarterfinals) on Jan. 1.
Georgia beat Ole Miss 43-35 in Athens on Oct. 18. Can The Rebels get revenge?
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Justyn Reid rumbles for a 29-yard catch and run for Tulane’s first TD of the game with 4 minutes left.
Ole Miss 41, Tulane 10
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Ole Miss fans are chanting the name of their new head coach, Pete Golding, who took over after the chaotic departure of Lane Kiffin at the end of the regular season. This is a pretty ideal start for the new coach.
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Once again, Tulane drives inside the Ole Miss 30 but can’t get any points out of it. Ole Miss has the ball with the backup offense on the field. It’s just a matter of running out the clock now.
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Trinidad Chambliss breaks a tackles and dives to the end zone for an 8-yard score. Now the Rebels are just adding style points to this one.
Ole Miss 41, Tulane 3 | 10:45 to play
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Another 4th-and-1, another QB sneak stopped short by Ole Miss. This time, QB Jake Retzlaff fumbled it away as Suntarine Perkins jumped on the ball to ensure another big stop for the Rebels defense.
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Logan Diggs punches in the 3-yard TD with starting RB Kewan Lacy out of the game and seen in some pain on the sideline. But the bottom line is the Rebels are running away with this one.
Ole Miss 34, Tulane 3
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Mississippi has a first and goal at the 3 to start the 4th quarter with a chance to run up the lead even more. It appears the rout is on in Oxford.
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Jake Retzlaff loses the ball on a run, and it pops right into the hands of Ole Miss’ Kapena Gushiken. Things are starting to spiral for the Green Wave.
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Lucas Carneiro boots a 48-yard field goal to add to the lead.
Ole Miss 27, Tulane 3
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The Ole Miss front line stonewalls Tulane QB Jake Retzlaff on two straight QB sneaks on 3rd and 4th down. Rebs take over at midfield.
Nick Bromberg
The Green Wave do not look like a team capable of overcoming a 21-point deficit after wasting so many opportunities so far. Tulane is fortunate to only be down 21 in some respects. But it can also rue its inability to turn drives that have gone into Ole Miss territory into more than three points.
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Trinidad Chambliss fires a short pass to De’Zhaun Stribling, who turns up field and gets into the end zone for a 13-yard score. Perfect start to the half for the Rebels.
Ole Miss 24, Tulane 3
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Good news for Ole Miss as both of their star payers who left injured late in the first half are back in the game.
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Tulane drove it into Ole Miss territory but couldn’t get into scoring range. That’s been a theme today for the Green Wave, who have moved the ball well but haven’t been able to finish drives.
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Tulane gets the ball to start the 2nd half. Can the Green Wave make it a game?
Nick Bromberg
Yes, Austin Simmons fumbled at the end of the first half, but he was 2-of-2 passing. Combine that with Trinidad Chambliss’ 13-of-16 performance, and the two QBs have thrown for 192 yards.
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Ole Miss has the edge in total yardage, but not by a ton:
Lane Kiffin is no longer the head coach at Ole Miss but he’s still financially benefitting from the team’s success.
The new LSU coach congratulated his former team on its 41-10 win over Tulane in the first round of the College Football Playoff on Saturday. The Rebels beat the Green Wave 45-10 in a Week 4 win with Kiffin on the sideline and nearly repeated that score under new coach Pete Golding.
The win netted Kiffin a cool $250,000 bonus too. And that’s a sum that isn’t paid by Ole Miss, either.
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Thanks to a clause in his contract with LSU, Kiffin’s new school is paying out any of the postseason bonuses he could have earned at Ole Miss. His contract with the Rebels said he’d get $250,000 for a playoff win. So LSU is on the hook for that amount.
It’s an odd clause but there wasn’t much that wasn’t odd about the Kiffin saga at the end of the college football season. Despite Ole Miss barreling toward the College Football Playoff, LSU successfully wooed Kiffin away from Oxford and to Baton Rouge.
Kiffin contended that he wanted to coach the Rebels in the playoff even after agreeing to move to LSU in 2026. But Ole Miss wasn’t having any of that. Those discussions ostensibly drug out Kiffin’s decision, as Ole Miss officially named Golding Kiffin’s successor before LSU announced that Kiffin would be the school’s new football coach.
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If Ole Miss takes down Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1, Kiffin will make even more money. A quarterfinal win would have been worth $500,000 on his Ole Miss deal. Will he be in attendance for that game? New Orleans is a short drive from Baton Rouge.
Three players were ejected after a fight broke out with less than five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter: Eagles right guard Tyler Steen and a pair of Commanders defenders, defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw and safety Quan Martin.
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Chaos ensued following an Eagles 2-point conversion that put them up 29-10.
Saquon Barkley, who used his signature jump cut and spin move combo to spring a 48-yard scamper earlier in the drive, found pay dirt again in the aftermath of a touchdown scored by fellow Philadelphia running back Tank Bigsby.
As Barkley returned to the sideline after breaking the plane for two points on a night when kicker Jake Elliott struggled mightily, a brawl took place behind him, all the way back near the end zone.
During the play, Commanders safety Will Harris stuck his hand up the grill of Eagles receiver Darius Cooper, who took issue with that and confronted Harris afterward. Things snowballed from there.
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Commanders cornerback Mike Sainristil tugged on Cooper as the receiver was backed up by Eagles offensive linemen Landon Dickerson and Fred Johnson, whom Commanders defensive tackle Daron Payne subsequently shoved.
Steen appeared to escalate the situation, throwing a jab at Sainristil, who swiped back but wasn’t ejected. Steen was then swarmed by Commanders players. Kinlaw swung, and so did Martin. Kinlaw was part of the group that brought Steen to the ground. Martin came away with Steen’s helmet.
Fox Sports’ Greg Olsen noted on the broadcast that, when the dust finally settled, there were six flags on the grass as well as an official’s hat.
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Sainristil was asked about the fight postgame.
“I don’t know. I just know that I saw my brothers out there, so I’m going to do everything to protect my brothers,” he said, via The Athletic’s Nicki Jhabvala.
Sainristil was asked if anything specific was said.
“Nah, no clue,” he said.
Barkley said afterward that neither team likes the other after their five games over the past two years.
“It’s chippy out there,” Barkley said. “We have a lot of history with this team, especially since I’ve been here, and then have it in the past. But this team don’t like us. This is the truth. We don’t like them either.”
The fight was ugly. So was the divisional clash at times. Elliott missed a pair of field goals in the first half. Both teams turned the ball over. Washington took on even more injuries.
It wasn’t necessarily pretty Saturday, but the Philadelphia Eagles are NFC East champions. The Eagles rallied from a 10-7 halftime deficit against a Washington Commanders team playing without starting quarterback Jayden Daniels for a 29-18 win.
Philadelphia clinched the NFC East title for a second consecutive season. And it officially eliminated the Dallas Cowboys from the playoffs race.
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The Cowboys entered Week 16 with long-shot hopes of rallying to the postseason. But they needed to win their remaining three games and have the Eagles lose out to overtake them for the NFC East title. Saturday’s Eagles win eliminated that scenario, and the 6-7-1 Cowboys don’t have a path to the playoffs as a wild-card team.
A beleaguered Washington defense gave Philadelphia fits in a poor first half for the Eagles that was exacerbated by multiple missed field-goal attempts from kicker Jake Elliott. And the Commanders built an early lead with backup quarterback Marcus Mariota playing for Daniels, who was shut down for the season with Washington eliminated from the postseason picture.
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But Mariota left the third quarter with a hand injury as Washington maintained a 10-7 lead. The Eagles took a 14-10 lead on their ensuing possession and took over the game as third-string Commanders quarterback Josh Johnson struggled mightily against Philadelphia’s defense.
The late-game dramatics could set the tone for a rematch between these teams in Week 18. “If that’s how they want to get down … all good. We play them again in two weeks,” head coach Dan Quinn said postgame.
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The theatrics had no impact on the outcome of Saturday’s game as the Eagles won comfortably despite a late touchdown from the Commanders to close the gap.
Saquon Barkley continued his late-season resurgence to lead the Eagles’ offense with 132 rushing yards (6.3 ypc) and a touchdown on the ground. Jalen Hurts had an efficient effort at quarterback, completing 22 of 30 passes for 185 yards with 2 touchdowns and no turnovers.
What’s left for Eagles in the regular season
With the division title, the Eagles have clinched a top-four seed in the NFC and guaranteed themselves a home game in the wild-card round. They also have a long-shot path to the No. 1 seed in the NFC that would allow them to bypass the wild-card round altogether.
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But Eagles fans shouldn’t count on it. The now 10-5 Eagles would need to win out and have the 12-3 Seahawks lose out to have a shot at the No. 1 seed — on top of other help in the playoff standings. They have a less than 1% chance of doing so, per The Athletic’s playoff projections.
So the Eagles are almost certainly locked into a 2-4 playoff seed with a first-round home game and have little to play for with remaining regular-season games against the Buffalo Bills and the Commanders again.
But as they face the prospect of repeating as Super Bowl champions with an offense that struggled for much of the season, the last thing they’ll likely want to do is go into the playoffs cold.
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Tarohn Finley
The Philadelphia Eagles clinched a playoff spot after a 29–18 win over the Washington Commanders. The Eagles improved to 10–5, while the Commanders fell to 4–11. The Eagles’ win also eliminated the DallasCowboys from playoff contention.
The Eagles and Commanders will play again in the final week of the season.
It had been a rough start to the season for Eagles running back Saquon Barkley. Before the game, Barkley had rushed for 940 yards and six touchdowns this season.
Barkley finished the game with 132 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries. He now has over 1,000 rushing yards and three 100-yard games this season.
Jalen Hurts completed 22 of 30 passes for 185 yards and two touchdowns. Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown had nine catches for 95 yards.
After leading 10–7 at halftime, the Commanders struggled to score in the second half. Washington did not score again until running back Chris Rodriguez Jr. scored in the final minute of the fourth quarter.
Josh Johnson replaced Marcus Mariota early in the second half after Mariota left the game with a hand injury.
The Eagles will play the Buffalo Bills, while the Commanders will play the Cowboys in their next game.
Tarohn Finley
Washington running back Chris Rodriguez Jr. got the Commanders on the board after a scoreless third quarter.
Rodriguez led the Commanders with 63 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries. The Eagles lead the Commanders 29-18.
Tarohn Finley
The game got chippy after the Eagles last touchdown. Eagles’ Tyler Steen and Commanders’ Javon Kinlaw and Quan Martin got ejected after the scuffle.
Tarohn Finley
Philadelphia running back Tank Bigsby finishes off the Eagles’ latest drive with a touchdown.
Saquon Barkley started the drive with a big gain before finishing off Bigsby’s touchdown with a two-point conversion.
Barkley has rushed for 132 yards and a touchdown so far in the game. The Eagles lead the Washington Commanders 29-10.
Tarohn Finley
Before the game, Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley rushed for 940 yards and six touchdowns this season.
Barkley has rushed for 132 yards and a touchdown so far on 21 carries against the Washington Commanders.
Tarohn Finley
The Commanders take possession of the ball after an Eagles punt.
The Eagles lead 21 – 10 against the Washington Commanders.
Tarohn Finley
Philadelphia running back Saquon Barkley capitalizes after Cooper DeJean’s interception put the Eagles in scoring position.
Barkley has 76 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries. The Eagles lead 21 – 10 against the Washington Commanders.
Tarohn Finley
The Washington Commanders are scoreless so far in the second half. Josh Johnson has come in at quarterback for an injured Marcus Mariota.
Philadelphia Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert scored the only points in the third quarter.
Tarohn Finley
Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Cooper DeJean ended Josh Johnson’s first drive with an interception. It was DeJean’s second interception of the season.
Johnson was 1 of 4 for 20 yards. The Eagles lead the Commanders 14-10.
Dean has 53 tackles, 4 sacks and 2 forced fumbles in 10 games this season.
Tarohn Finley
After the drive ended for the Washington Commanders, quarterback Marcus Mariota went into the injury tent and went to the locker room. Mariota had a towel over his right hand.
Mariota is 7 of 14 for 95 yards.
Mariota is filling in for Jayden Daniels, who is out for the rest of the season. If Mariota can’t return, Josh Johnson will play quarterback for the Commanders.
Tarohn Finley
The Eagles have been unable to capitalize after a productive first half on offense.
Quarterback Jalen Hurts is 12/17 for 112 yards and a touchdown to Devonta Smith. Hurts has also run for 36 yards on four attempts.
Wide receiver AJ Brown has eight catches for 86 yards. Running back Saquon Barkley continues to have a slow start this season. Barkley has nine rushes for 40 yards.
The Eagles have missed out on a lot of opportunities to score. Eagles kicker Jake Elliott missed two field goals in the first half. Eagles running back Will Shipley fumbled on the opening possession, which led to a Commanders field goal.
Marcus Mariota is 6 of 10 for 71 yards. Three of his passes have been caught by Terry McLaurin. Bill Croskey-Merritt scored the team’s only touchdown of the game.
Tarohn Finley
Philadelphia Eagles kicker Jake Elliott has continued to struggle this season. Elliott missed two field goals in the first half against the Commanders.
Elliott only has an extra point in the game. Elliott has now missed field goals in 4 of the last 5 games.
The Commanders lead 10-7 at the half.
Tarohn Finley
After multiple attempts near the goal line, the Washington Commanders drive it in on Bill Croskey-Merritt touchdown.
The Commanders take a 10-7 lead late in the second quarter.
Tarohn Finley
Philadelphia’s drive was stalled by a missed field goal by Eagles kicker Jake Elliott. Elliott has now missed field goals in 4 of the last 5 games.
The Eagles lead the Commanders 7-3.
Tarohn Finley
Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham ends the Washington Commanders’ possession and the first quarter with a sack.
This was Graham’s third sack in his last two games. He had two last week against the Raiders. Graham, 37, came out of retirement in October.
The Eagles lead the Commanders 7-3.
Tarohn Finley
Devonta Smith made up for a dropped touchdown earlier in the possession with his six-yard touchdown.
Smith’s touchdown was set up by a Jalen Hurts scramble, multiple catches by wide receiver AJ Brown and a run by running back Saquon Barkley
The Eagles lead the Commanders 7-3 in the first quarter.
Tarohn Finley
Offensive holding takes back what would have been a first down for wide receiver Treylon Burks for the Commanders.
After the first down was taken away, a Marcus Mariota incompletion led to a punt for the Commanders. The Commanders have been heavily penalized this season.
OXFORD, Miss. — Throughout the idyllic campus square here they call The Grove, where generations of fans have thrown legendary tailgate parties, there were surprisingly few traces of the man whose name was not to be mentioned on the day Ole Miss fans had long been waiting for.
The last six weeks around here had been fully hijacked by the narcissism and deception of a coach who was both determined to leave for LSU and almost equally determined to coach the team he built, creating a standoff that ended two days after Thanksgiving when school officials told Lane Kiffin he could either pack his bags for Baton Rouge immediately or be part of the greatest day in the modern history of Ole Miss football. But he could not do both.
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Fast-forward to Saturday, and it’s hard to say what would have been more painful for Kiffin: watching and tweeting from the Bayou as his former Ole Miss team won a first-round College Football Playoff game by beating Tulane, 41-10, or realizing that very few people here Saturday had much interest in making it about him the way he tends to make everything about himself.
Sure, among the hundreds of tents where fans were loading up plates with catered food and filling their red Solo cups with God knows what, there were a small handful of passive (and vulgar) references to Kiffin’s departure. In one tent, a man dressed as Santa Claus took pictures in front of a sign directing Kiffin to “Geaux to Hell.” In another, a sign that said “We love Jesus, Ole Miss, Elvis & Lane” had crossed out his name and replaced it with “Pete,” a nod to new coach Pete Golding.
But when you’re talking about someone who craves attention as much as Kiffin, sometimes the best revenge is showing that the party doesn’t stop — not for him, not for anyone.
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“It wasn’t about showing all the noise didn’t matter, it was about going out and playing at a high level like we did all season,” Ole Miss receiver De’Zhaun Stribling said. “The fans brought a lot of juice. We felt it on the field. We tried to stay locked in and focused, but you can’t help but look around. The fireworks, the drones, it was beautiful.”
This is what catharsis looked like: As the final moments ticked away, a still-full Vaught-Hemingway Stadium sang along to “Dancing Queen,” red sparklers lit up the sky and fans chanted “Pete! Pete! Pete!” as the soaking-wet head coach tossed his visor toward the stands and punched his right fist into the air.
And this is what pathetic looked like: In the third quarter, as Ole Miss was suffocating the last of Tulane’s long-shot chances, the coach who abandoned his chance to be in this CFP sent a tweet with a graphic touting himself as the coach of teams that put up a nation-leading 512 total yards and 331 passing yards per game, both tops in college football “since coach to player headset communication.”
Which one seemed like more fun?
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“Sometimes you can step back and realize the moment you’re in and how cool and exciting it really is and be truly happy for the players,” assistant coach Joe Judge said. “Because the game is about the players. Seeing these guys achieve success and give themselves another opportunity in a couple weeks against a very good Georgia team, that was good because they stayed focused and went through a lot.”
Ole Miss coach Pete Golding is doused with water after the win over Tulane on Saturday. (Justin Ford/Getty Images)
(Justin Ford via Getty Images)
As the game ended and Golding gave a handshake and embrace to his counterpart, Tulane coach Jon Sumrall, it was a scene that represented the chaotic and complicated place college football has found itself this season.
Three of the 12 CFP teams had head coaches accept other jobs prior to the playoff, stressing coaching staffs and administrations and sleep schedules. Sumrall, who is now headed to Florida, also coached Saturday just two days after his father passed away at age 77.
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“It’s been hard, I’m not going to deny it,” Sumrall said. “My dad had had some battles health-wise since March and it’s been hard, but I’m a lot of who I am because of how he raised me and I can smile knowing that I’m going to live a life that’s going to honor my dad. If he was watching, he probably has some questions about how we played just like I do. I just don’t have to hear them tonight from him.”
Obviously, as acrimonious as the Ole Miss-Kiffin divorce was, Sumrall and Tulane are parting on the best possible terms. He even donated $100,000 to Tulane’s recruiting efforts for next year on his way out the door. But what all this represents is a real conundrum for college football that will continue to simmer as the CFP evolves and possibly expands, involving more teams whose coaches are in transition.
And then there’s this: Though Tulane was able to move the ball up and down the field, particularly in the first half, the 31-point margin seemed like a definitive statement about the gap between the best team in the Group of Five and one of the elite teams in the country.
A year ago, in the first-ever 12-team playoff, Boise State was a bit more competitive in its playoff game but ultimately no match for Penn State, losing 31-14.
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The long history of sports suggests that eventually, one of these underdog teams is bound to pull off a playoff upset and be remembered forever in college football lore. But how many lopsided beatings will it take to get there, and how much angst will the commissioners of the power conferences be able to withstand as their members see overmatched teams take up space in the playoff bracket at the expense of programs like Notre Dame, Texas and Vanderbilt, who felt like they were good enough to be there and compete.
“It would be one thing, no disrespect, if this was the Pop-Tarts Bowl or something like that. That s*** would have been really hard,” Golding said. “But this is the damn playoffs. So what are we talking about? These kids have gone 11-1 up to this point, a home playoff game for the first time. These dudes want to compete. They don’t care who runs them out of the tunnel. That’s the truth. They care about their preparation, the plan and increasing their value. The head-coaching piece is developing the culture, but that’s the offseason. By this point, the thing is running the way it should. You just have to keep it on the tracks.”
But Golding did use some of the time after Kiffin’s departure to put his own subtle imprint on the program. In the days after being named permanent head coach, he called each player into his office and asked them one thing they liked about the way the program had been run and one thing they’d change.
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So the basketball hoop Kiffin put in the team meeting room and sideline? Golding thought it was corny. Gone. The uniform policy requiring players all wear the same cleats? The team’s leadership council wanted a little more individuality. When Golding announced players could experiment with different colors, the room erupted in applause.
The football part, though, didn’t look much different.
“At this point, everybody wants to increase their value whether you’re a coach or player,” Golding said. “So from the beginning, it was in everybody’s best interest in this building to coach really well and play really well because no negative could come from that. It’s a pretty easy sell. It’s just common sense to go play really well in a big game, in a playoff game, and go have the opportunity to play another big game and the better you play, the more money you’re going to make.”
And after a football game that felt a bit like an exorcism, the hope at Ole Miss is that things will now get back to normal. There will surely be a time when Kiffin is back in the center of the conversation — namely, Week 3 next season when LSU comes to Oxford — but for now it feels like everyone can move on.
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To be honest, it felt a little bit like they had already. This is Golding’s team, Golding’s town and now Golding’s playoff run.
“The ability to make decisions, things you’ve been talking through for years, to finally be the last voice, it kind of hit me some,” he said. “And then you’re just more the excited for the players, how they responded. Some of those hugs will get you a little bit. There’s been so much work you couldn’t take a deep breath.
“Then the game got to a point where you could look around some. And it was pretty damn cool.”
Last week the Green Bay Packers lost defensive end Micah Parsons, one of their two most indispensable players, to a torn ACL.
In a huge Saturday night game against the Chicago Bears with first place in the NFC North on the line, the Packers lost the other player they couldn’t afford to lose.
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Quarterback Jordan Love took a huge hit from Bears defensive end Austin Booker, and after staying down and being evaluated on the sideline, he went back to the locker room with trainers.
In the second quarter Love went back to pass and Booker was coming right at him. Love lowered his head and Booker hit him helmet to helmet. The Bears were penalized for the hit, but it was costly for the Packers.
Love stayed down, and after he got up he went to the blue medical tent. The Packers said he was being evaluated for a concussion and was questionable to return. At the start of the second half he was ruled out by the team, leaving Willis to be the team’s quarterback the rest of the game.
He was replaced by Malik Willis. The Packers led 3-0 when Love took the hit, and Willis led the Packers to a field goal on his first drive of the game to give Green Bay a 6-0 lead late in the second quarter.
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The Packers have dealt with numerous injuries this season but were 9-4-1 coming into Saturday’s game against the Bears. Losing Love in the first half was a huge blow though.
