BARNEStorming: Rebels set to face familiar foe in CFP opener and other thoughts around the college football world

OXFORD, Miss. – For Ole Miss, it is something old and something new. The new for the Rebels is inclusion in the College Football Playoffs and a game being played in Oxford. The old is the face of the coach on the opposite sideline.

Tulane comes to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium Dec. 20 at 2:30 p.m. for a first-round game led by head coach Jon Sumrall. He and his Green Wave played at Ole Miss September 20 with the Rebs taking a 45-10 victory.

Sumrall has only been a head coach for four seasons. But in those seasons – two at Tulane, two at Troy – he has amassed a 43-12 record. His team has appeared in a conference championship game each season and won three of those.

And talk about the bookends of his Group of Five coaching career. Should Ole Miss win this game, it will mark the end of Sumrall’s GOF career. That career began at Troy with a 45-10 loss at Vaught-Hemingway.

The Rebels might want to get used to Sumrall’s face. At the end of the Green Wave’s playoff run, he will assume his duties as the head coach at Florida.

Ole Miss visits Gainesville next season.

A TULANE CONNECTION

Tulane quarterback Jake Retzlaff is in his first season with the Green Wave. He was dismissed from BYU in the spring for violating the school’s code of conduct policy.

He had a place to land in New Orleans because last year’s Tulane quarterback, Darian Mensah left the Green Wave for a big NIL payday at Duke.

Had Mensah stayed at Tulane, he could have led the team to the playoffs. Had the Cougars kept Retzloff, it may have put them into the playoffs.

As it stands, BYU is out, Duke won the ACC but is out and Tulane is in the playoff field.

A TRUE NATIONAL TOURNAMENT

There are 12 teams in the College Football Playoffs. Texas is the only state with multiple teams in the field with Texas Tech and Texas A&M.

The rest of the teams are literally spread from coast to coast. Teams will play for the title from Indiana, Ohio, Georgia, Virginia, Oregon, Alabama, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida.

PRESEASON POLLS ARE GARBAGE

College football preseason polls are good for two things – selling preview magazines and talk radio fodder.

Other than that, they do not mean much.

Of the top 15 teams in the Associated Press preseason poll, only Ohio State, Georgia, Oregon, Alabama and Miami are in the playoffs.

Some of the “highly-ranked” teams in the preseason poll that are not in the playoffs are Texas (preseason number 1), Penn State (2), Clemson (4), Notre Dame (6) and LSU (9).

Remember that next August.

THE BIGGEST UPSET OF THE POSTSEASON

Duke upset Virginia for the ACC title, but it was a single-digit point spread, so not that big of a deal.

The biggest upset came from the FCS playoffs where Illinois State won a second-round game at North Dakota State 29-28. The Bison had a 14-point lead with less than three minutes left, but Illinois State scored a pair of touchdowns, a point after and a two-point conversion to win by a point.

Not only was NDSU the top seed in the tournament, but the Bison have one of the most impressive dynasties in college football history.

The run began in 2010 when the team went 9-5 and made the playoffs. Since then, the only season NDSU did not win double-digit games was the COVID season. Since the Bison went 3-8 in 2009, they are 207-33 and won ten national titles.

Of those championships, there are streaks of five in a row and three in a row. The loss to the Cardinals Saturday spoiled a chance for back-to-back titles.

And before anyone can disparage the success because it is at the FCS level, North Dakota State is 9-2 against FBS teams. The Bisons have two wins at Kansas State, Kansas and Minnesota as well as wins at Iowa, Iowa State and Colorado State.

Yes, North Dakota State is a dynasty.