OXFORD, Miss. — After leading No. 6 Ole Miss to a 41-10 rout of No. 11 Tulane in a CFP first-round game on Saturday, new Rebels coach Pete Golding walked off the field with his name being chanted by fans at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

Golding, who won his first game as a head coach in the Rebels’ first-ever CFP game, raised his fist in victory and threw his visor into the stands. Then he hugged Ole Miss athletics director Keith Carter, who entrusted him with the program after former coach Lane Kiffin left for LSU on Nov. 30.

Golding, the Rebels’ 41-year-old defensive coordinator until Kiffin abruptly left, passed his first test against the Green Wave, which qualified for the CFP as the highest-rated champion from a Group of Five conference.

Ole Miss won 12 games in a season for the first time in its history.

“To finally be the last voice, it kind of hit me some,” Golding said. “And then just more excited for the players, how they responded. Some of those hugs will get you a little bit, you know?”

The Rebels’ next test, against No. 3 Georgia in a CFP quarterfinal at the Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on New Year’s Day (8 p.m. ET, ESPN), figures to be much more difficult.

The Bulldogs defeated the Rebels 43-35 in Athens, Georgia, on Oct. 18, handing them their only loss of the season.

The start against Tulane couldn’t have gone better. After taking the opening kickoff, the Rebels needed only three plays to drive 75 yards for a touchdown in 59 seconds. Quarterback Trinidad Chambliss threw a 30-yard pass to De’Zhaun Stribling and a 25-yarder to tight end Dae’Quan Wright, then tailback Kewan Lacy ran 20 yards up the middle for a touchdown to make it 7-0.

It was the longest streak of plays of 20 yards or longer to start a game by any FBS team in the past 20 seasons, according to ESPN Research. It was the fastest touchdown in a CFP game.

Tulane picked up three first downs and reached the Ole Miss 23 on its first possession. But cornerback Jaylon Braxton intercepted Jake Retzlaff‘s pass to Tre Shackelford at the 10.

Ole Miss took over at its 40 following Braxton’s 15-yard return and a face-mask penalty against the Green Wave. Lacy gained 30 yards up the middle on first down, and Chambliss threw a 26-yard pass to Deuce Alexander. Two plays later, Chambliss ran 4 yards into the end zone on a designed keeper to give the Rebels a 14-0 lead with 7:26 left in the first quarter.

The Rebels’ rout was on, and so was Golding’s coming-out party in front of 68,251 fans, the largest crowd in Ole Miss history.

It was an all-too-familiar sight for Tulane, which lost 45-10 at Ole Miss on Sept. 20.

“We looked a little slow on the perimeter, kind of similar to the first time we played this bunch,” Green Wave coach Jon Sumrall said. “They’re very talented. Hats off to them. They made plays. We didn’t make plays. Some of that was because of them, some of that was we didn’t do a very good job. But yes, the first two drives, it’s like you blink and you look up and it’s 14-0.”

Golding said he wasn’t surprised that his team came out so focused following the circus that surrounded Kiffin’s departure at the end of the regular season.

“I don’t think it was very hard at all because, I mean, it’d be one thing, no disrespect, if this was the Pop-Tart Bowl or something like that,” Golding said. “That s— would have been really hard. This is the playoffs. People start talking about are they going to play or are they not going to play? What are we talking about?”

The Rebels’ only scare against the Green Wave came late in the first half when both of their best players — Lacy and Chambliss — were injured on the same drive. Lacy, who has run for 1,366 yards with a school-record 21 rushing touchdowns, injured his left shoulder on a 7-yard catch.

Three plays later, Chambliss scrambled for an 11-yard run and was hurt while being tackled.

Backup quarterback Austin Simmons, who opened the season as the team’s starter before spraining his ankle, took over and finished the half.

Chambliss and Lacy came back to play in the second half, but Lacy went to the locker room in the fourth quarter. Golding said Lacy, who ran 15 times for 87 yards with one touchdown, had a bruised left shoulder.

“Yeah, he banged his shoulder up,” Golding said. “Obviously, he came back in the game and fought through that. We’ll address it here going forward, but he went back in the game and it’s a bruised shoulder.”

Chambliss completed 23 of 29 passes for 282 yards with one touchdown and ran six times for 36 yards with two scores. He is the fifth player to throw a touchdown and run for multiple scores in a CFP game.

The Rebels had 497 total yards, including 151 rushing.

Offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. returned to coach the Rebels in the CFP, along with tight ends coach Joe Cox and receivers coach George McDonald. They’ll join Kiffin at LSU once the Rebels’ CFP run ends.

“I had zero concern with Charlie Weis calling this team, for this one reason: Charlie Weis cannot afford not to call a hell of a game,” Golding said. “All he’s heard is, ‘Lane Kiffin’s offense, Lane Kiffin’s offense, Lane Kiffin’s offense.’ So this is just one opportunity for people to realize Charlie Weis calls the offense, just like he’s done all year, and he did a great job tonight.”

It wasn’t the ending Sumrall had hoped for in his final game at Tulane. He was hired as Florida’s new coach on Nov. 30 after Kiffin turned it down.

“[I] told them it doesn’t change how I feel about them,” Sumrall said. “I love this group. Love each guy on that team. This team will walk together forever as champions because we won a conference championship, all right? So while the outcome tonight sucks — I’m not happy with it and there’s nothing about it I feel good about — I still feel good about this football team because we hoisted a championship trophy two weeks ago.”

The loss was emotional for Sumrall because his father, George, died in his sleep Thursday night after battling lengthy health issues; he was 77. Sumrall’s mother, Sandra, attended Saturday’s game.

“Man, it’s been hard, but I loved my dad,” Sumrall said. “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. He watched us today. He’s probably got some questions about how we played, just like I do. I just don’t have to hear them tonight from him.

“I’m sure I’ll hear them from my mom, though. But man, it’s been hard.”

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Texas A&M‘s historic season ended with a gut punch, as quarterback Marcel Reed, who had driven the Aggies to the Miami 5-yard line with 27 seconds left, threw an interception in the back of the end zone in a 10-3 loss at Kyle Field.

The loss Saturday in front of 104,122, the second-biggest crowd in CFP history, ended the Aggies’ season at 11-2, tying A&M’s 1939, 1998 and 2012 teams for the second-most wins in program history, behind the 1992 squad that finished 12-1.

Mike Elko, the Aggies’ second-year head coach, said that the loss will sting but that it shouldn’t discount what the team accomplished. When he took over before last season, he said that this was not an elite program ready to compete for a national championship. In his first season, the Aggies finished 8-5 after a 7-1 start and went into the offseason vowing to put an emphasis on finishing games. They did that all year and started 11-0 but lost their final two games: to Texas in Austin and then to the Hurricanes, their first defeat at home this season.

“We weren’t able to tilt the margins in our favor the last two games,” Elko said. “That’s going to be a killer. One to not go to Atlanta [to the SEC championship], one to not go to the quarterfinals. So that’s a killer, but you’ve got to swallow it and you’ve got to move forward just like we did last year.”

Elko said he and his staff believed this team had “fairly small margins” to be successful in each game, and that’s exactly how the season played out. He said that as a grown man he can handle the disappointment but that he is hurting for his players. Still, he emphasized that he didn’t want to discount what his players had done to help turn the tide for the Aggies.

“I said to the seniors who just played their last game, they left a mark on elevating this program that will never go away. From where this program was two years ago to where it is now, I don’t think that can be lost on people,” Elko said. “I said to the guys coming back, there’s still another major step we have to take as a program to finish. I think the last two games showed that.”

Elko said his offense had become one-dimensional, and he credited Miami’s defense for preventing the Aggies from being able to run the ball, enabling the Canes to tee off on Reed.

“Marcel Reed can’t be our leading rusher,” Elko said of his sophomore quarterback who had 15 carries for 27 yards, 6 more than running back Rueben Owens II. “He can’t have the most carries. It just can’t happen that way.”

Reed sat devastated on the bench as the game ended following the interception, a towel draped over his head. Reed’s offensive coordinator, Collin Klein, is headed to Kansas State, his alma mater, as the Wildcats’ new coach. The two spoke about how close their relationship is after the game, with Reed saying Klein is like a father figure for him.

“It didn’t really feel real,” Reed said. “I don’t want the season to end. A lot of changes are going to be made after the season, so I really didn’t want it to end. It sucked.”

Taurean York, the Aggies’ all-SEC linebacker, said he’s proud of the steps the team took and called the season a “foundation-setter,” saying A&M finally got to the big stage and has plans to keep building.

“We’re really just scratching the surface of who we’re going to become in the future,” he said.

The Aggies traded defensive blows with Miami all day, but Carson Beck‘s shovel pass to Malachi Toney with 1:44 left broke the game open. The Aggies’ offense responded, driving with a chance to tie the game before Bryce Fitzgerald‘s second interception of Reed on the day ended A&M’s season and crushed the Kyle Field faithful.

“We came up 5 yards short and that’s something we’ll have to live with throughout the off season,” Elko said. “But [I’m] still proud of this team, proud of what they accomplished, proud of what they did.”

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Rueben Bain rolled his eyes, smiled, then held up his cell phone, the lock screen glowing with a photo of Texas A&M offensive lineman Trey Zuhn III. Bain had anticipated the question. He was looking forward to it.

In the run-up to Saturday’s College Football Playoff game between Miami and Texas A&M, Zuhn had delivered the bulletin-board material, when he told reporters he didn’t think Bain “would be a threat that we need to worry about too much.”

Big mistake.

“We don’t take kindly to disrespect,” Bain said. “Some people said some things they shouldn’t have said.”

Bain and the Miami defense were dominant in a 10-3 win over the Aggies, ending a once-promising Texas A&M season and sending the Hurricanes on to the Goodyear Cotton Bowl, where they’ll face off against Ohio State.

Bain finished with five tackles — four for a loss — and three sacks, while also blocking a field goal in the first half.

The rest of the defense followed his lead, racking up nine tackles for loss and creating three takeaways, including a game-sealing interception in the back of the end zone with 24 seconds to play by freshman Bryce Fitzgerald.

In the aftermath, defensive end Akheem Mesidor was running through his rolodex of players who’d stepped up against the Aggies — defensive line, defensive backs, linebackers — then mentioned Fitzgerald.

“Bryce!” Bain and cornerback Keionte Scott both shouted in unison, laughing.

Fitzgerald arrived on campus in June, but quickly made his presence felt, and his role on Miami’s defense has grown as the season progressed. On Saturday, he was a star, intercepting Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed twice. The latter came on a third-and-goal at the 5 after the Aggies had marched down the field in an effort to tie it, but Fitzgerald stepped in front of a pass intended for Melin Ohrstrom and the celebration began.

“He’s a quick study,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said. “He’s never flinched. He spends every waking minute studying, but when the lights come on, some guys just kind of have ‘it.’ He’s that guy. He just knows what to do and how to do it.”

A year ago, this Miami defense was the fly in the ointment that kept the Hurricanes from the playoff. With future No. 1 NFL draft pick Cam Ward working magic on offense, Miami’s battered secondary created a chain reaction that led to a complete defensive meltdown in the season’s stretch run. Miami lost two of its final three games to fall from No. 4 in the rankings to out of the playoff.

Cristobal responded by making a change at coordinator, bringing in Corey Hetherman — now a Broyles Award finalist — and putting a focus on rebuilding the back end of the defense. Fitzgerald and Scott, along with transfer Xavier Lucas, were keys to the turnaround. With the secondary secure, the defensive front was free to wreak havoc, and Mesidor and Bain did exactly that against the Aggies.

“We sat in the locker room for like 15 minutes [after the game],” Bain said, “just saying how crazy it was for us to win this game in this kind of way.”

Hetherman said the focus for Miami’s defense was actually more about patience and keeping Reed inside the pocket. The A&M quarterback did have a handful of scrambles that extended plays to find open receivers or picked up yards on the ground. But Hetherman said he prioritized showing Reed a host of different coverage schemes to keep him off balance, and eventually that allowed the Miami defensive front to get home.

Miami’s seven sacks against Texas A&M tied for the most by a ‘Canes defense in the last six seasons. And while there’d been concern about how Miami’s offensive line would handle the crowd noise at Kyle Field, where more than 104,000 fans provided a stifling soundtrack, it was actually the Aggies O-line that was flagged for multiple penalties.

“We lost the game of the line of scrimmage, and I think it got worse in the second half,” Aggies coach Mike Elko said. “We just couldn’t keep them off of us. We couldn’t get the run game established. We became one-dimensional. Once we became one-dimensional, they were able to tee off.”

Overall, Miami held the Aggies to just 326 yards of offense and just 89 on the ground — just 50 from A&M’s trio of tailbacks, Le’Veon Moss, Rueben Owens and EJ Smith.

And when Miami’s back was against the wall, the defense was at its best. A&M’s three red-zone trips amounted to just three total points, and when Miami receiver Malachi Toney fumbled near midfield late in the game, the Hurricanes defense followed with a quick three-and-out.

“A year ago, we had a tough time stopping people on defense,” Cristobal said. “This was one of those games where we felt like we were holding good and knocking them back. The confidence that [the defense] brings is off the charts, and they were the difference today.”