OXFORD, Miss (AP) — The Mississippi Rebels head into a second successive rematch in the College Football Playoff — this time facing the only team to beat them this season.
Ole Miss (12-1) defeated Tulane 41-10 Saturday in the opening round, nearly matching a 45-10 regular season home triumph over the Green Wave in the fourth week of the regular season.
Next up for the sixth-seeded Rebels is a clash with third-seeded Georgia (12-1), the Southeastern Conference champs, in the quarterfinal round at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on Jan. 1.
The Bulldogs defeated visiting Ole Miss in a 43-35 shootout on Oct. 18, rallying from a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
“We’re looking forward to playing them again,” said wide receiver De’Zhaun Stribling, who had his team-high sixth touchdown catch of the season against Tulane. “Georgia is impressive. But there were things in that game that we could have done better.”
Unlike the first meeting, the Rebels have been through extensive changes, topped by Pete Golding replacing Lane Kiffin as coach two days after the final game of the regular season.
Kiffin departed for LSU on Nov. 30, opening the door for Golding, who had served three years as the Rebels' defensive coordinator.
Ole Miss made a seamless transition in Golding’s head coaching debut in the lopsided home win over Tulane. The Rebels will be hoping for a carryover effect in the Sugar Bowl, a neutral site with historical ties for both programs.
“I know how much it means to be playing in New Orleans,” said Golding, who grew up not far from the Big Easy in Hammond, Louisiana. “We will enjoy this one tonight and tomorrow we start preparing for Georgia.”
While the Bulldogs began the season as a favorite for a CFP berth, Ole Miss' emergence was less predictable.
Early uncertainty regarding the Rebels' prospects stemmed from the fact they had to replace 20 starters — and then move former Division II quarterback Trinidad Chambliss to the starting role after an early season injury to opening week starter Austin Simmons.
“We never doubted that we were a playoff team when the summer practice started,” Chambliss said. “There were doubters that thought we would be a mid-tier SEC team, maybe. We knew we were a playoff team.”
Georgia and Ole Miss now join Alabama and LSU as the only teams to appear in the Sugar Bowl at least 10 times. But this Sugar Bowl will be the first in 60 years featuring two SEC squads.
That 1964 game also featured Ole Miss. Their opponent was Alabama, with a 12-7 win in the old Tulane Stadium during snowy weather — which doesn't happen in New Orleans that often.
Postseason history aside, the Ole Miss players and coaches were quick to dismiss words and phrases such as revenge or payback in the postgame news conference. Instead, the theme focused on opportunity and respect.
In the regular season contest, both offenses combined for 10 touchdowns and more than 850 yards of total offense. The Rebels scored touchdowns on five consecutive possessions while Georgia never faced a punting situation — a fact not lost on Ole Miss defenders such as defensive tackle Will Echoles.
“We’ve talked about that, and we talked about it again tonight after the game. I mean, we’ve got to do everything better,” Echoles said. “That was a bad game for our defense — a really bad game. Period. We know we will have to play our best game.”
TJ Dottery, the leading tackler for the Rebels, added: “Physicality. That’s what Georgia brings. But that’s what I look forward to, is the physicality of the game.”
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Mississippi quarterback Trinidad Chambliss (6) dives into the end zone for a eight-yard rushing touchdown against Tulane during the second half in the first round of the NCAA College Football Playoff, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025, in Oxford, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard on Sunday was pursuing another sanctioned oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea as the Trump administration appeared to be intensifying its targeting of such vessels connected to Venezuelan government.
The pursuit of the tanker, which was confirmed by a U.S. official briefed on the operation, comes after the U.S. administration announced Saturday it had seized a tanker for the second time in less than two weeks.
The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly about the ongoing operation and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Sunday's pursuit involved “a sanctioned dark fleet vessel that is part of Venezuela’s illegal sanctions evasion.”
The official said the vessel was flying a false flag and under a judicial seizure order.
The Coast Guard’s pursuit of the tanker was first reported by Reuters.
Saturday’s predawn seizure of a Panama-flagged vessel called Centuries targeted what the White House described as a “falsely flagged vessel operating as part of the Venezuelan shadow fleet to traffic stolen oil.”
The Coast Guard, with assistance from the Navy, seized a sanctioned tanker called Skipper on Dec. 10, another part of the shadow fleet of tankers that the U.S. says operates on the fringes of the law to move sanctioned cargo. It was not even flying a nation’s flag when it was seized by the Coast Guard.
President Donald Trump, after that first seizure, said that the U.S. would carry out a “blockade” of Venezuela. It all comes as Trump has ratcheted up his rhetoric toward Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
This past week Trump demanded that Venezuela return assets that it seized from U.S. oil companies years ago, justifying anew his announcement of a “blockade” against oil tankers traveling to or from the South American country that face American sanctions.
Trump cited the lost U.S. investments in Venezuela when asked about his newest tactic in a pressure campaign against Maduro, suggesting the Republican administration’s moves are at least somewhat motivated by disputes over oil investments, along with accusations of drug trafficking. Some sanctioned tankers already are diverting away from Venezuela.
U.S. oil companies dominated Venezuela’s petroleum industry until the country’s leaders moved to nationalize the sector, first in the 1970s and again in the 21st century under Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chávez. Compensation offered by Venezuela was deemed insufficient, and in 2014, an international arbitration panel ordered the country’s socialist government to pay $1.6 billion to ExxonMobil.
Maduro said in a message Sunday on Telegram that Venezuela has spent months “ denouncing, challenging and defeating a campaign of aggression that goes from psychological terrorism to corsairs attacking oil tankers.”
He added: “We are ready to accelerate the pace of our deep revolution!”
The targeting of tankers comes as Trump has ordered the Defense Department to carry out a series of attacks on vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean that his administration alleges are smuggling fentanyl and other illegal drugs into the United States and beyond.
At least 104 people have been killed in 28 known strikes since early September. The strikes have faced scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers and human rights activists, who say the administration has offered scant evidence that its targets are indeed drug smugglers and that the fatal strikes amount to extrajudicial killings.
Trump has repeatedly said Maduro's days in power are numbered. White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said in an interview with Vanity Fair published last week that Trump “wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle.”
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., told NBC's “Meet the Press” on Sunday that Trump's use of military to mount pressure on Maduro runs contrary to Trump's pledge to keep the United States out of unnecessary wars.
Democrats have been pressing Trump to seek congressional authorization for the military action in the Caribbean.
“We should be using sanctions and other tools at our disposal to punish this dictator who is violating the human rights of his civilians and has run the Venezuelan economy into the ground,” Kaine said. "But I’ll tell you, we should not be waging war against Venezuela. We definitely should not be waging war without a vote of Congress.
Associated Press writer Mauricio Savarese in Sao Paulo, Brazil, contributed to this report.
President Nicolas Maduro addresses supporters during a rally marking the anniversary of the Battle of Santa Ines, which took place during Venezuela's 19th-century Federal War, in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
President Donald Trump holds a cell phone with a call to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang as he departs on Air Force One at Rocky Mount-Wilson Regional Airport, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, in Elm City, N.C. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
