OXFORD – Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding no longer has to refer to the College Football Playoff experience in Oxford as a hypothetical. And as has been the case with most scenarios he’s crossed off his list since joining the Rebels’ staff prior to the 2023 season, this one will go a long way as far as perceptions of the program he just took over are concerned.
Prior to his time as defensive coordinator at Ole Miss, Golding spent five seasons as a defensive coordinator at Alabama under legendary head coach Nick Saban. Golding won the national championship with the Crimson Tide in 2020 and helped produce first-round picks like cornerback Patrick Surtain II and edge rusher Will Anderson Jr., among others, during his tenure in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Golding’s defenses at Alabama never surrendered more than 20.1 points per game and ranked in the top-20 in scoring defense each season. Ole Miss’ scoring defenses, meanwhile, ranked 117th, tied for 51st and 56th in Kiffin’s first three seasons. Golding had to sell prospective defenders on a vision largely based on results at Alabama when he first got to Ole Miss. The same was true of success in the CFP, a mountaintop Ole Miss had never been in its history.
Following the No. 6 Rebels’ (12-1) dominant 41-10 victory over Tulane in the first round of the CFP, Golding – who was elevated to head coach on Nov. 30 – can once again sell results rather than vision. Ole Miss plays No. 3 Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1 at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.
“You can stop talking about what you’re going to do, and that was the one thing that was really a struggle for me when I first came just from the defensive side of the ball,” Golding said after the game. “Everything that I was showing them was coming from places that I had been. ‘Hey, we’re going to do this. We’re going to do this.’ Well, that sounds good until you don’t do it.”
Golding’s first defense at Ole Miss was tied for 34th nationally in scoring. He dipped in the transfer portal and sold top-end talent on what he was able to do with the Crimson Tide and at his other previous jobs in addition to what he had done in just one year with the Rebels. Portal prospects like Walter Nolen, Trey Amos, Princely Umanmielen and Chris “Pooh” Paul could help Ole Miss have one of the best defenses in the country and increase their NFL values in the process.
That mission was accomplished on all fronts: Ole Miss led the SEC in scoring defense – and ranked second nationally at 14.4 points per game allowed – while Nolen became the first Ole Miss player drafted in the first round since Robert Nkemdiche in 2016 while Amos, Umanmielen and Paul were drafted in the second, third and fifth rounds, respectively.
The Rebels came up agonizingly short of the CFP last season despite an elite defense and an offense that boasted first-round quarterback Jaxson Dart and was third nationally in scoring. But the expectation was that the defense could once again shine in 2025 despite young players stepping into higher-profile roles and new transfers having to make their marks. After a tough start to the season, Ole Miss is currently 22nd in scoring defense at 19.3 points per game allowed.
“I think now having done it, and that was our thing on defense. We were going to lead the SEC in defense. Well, we did that last year. We don’t have to say that in recruiting,” Golding said. “Now that’s the expectation. We’re pissed off this year because we’re not.
“ … All these guys that came into this team, their expectation was to make a playoff, and that legacy has (come) true for them. I think that’s going to be for every class coming forward, the expectation of where this program is. It’s a top-5 program in the country, and that’s your expectation every year.”
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