What Ole Miss HC Pete Golding Said About Florida on the SEC Teleconference

The 21st-ranked Florida Gators are set to host No. 4 Ole Miss on Saturday, giving first-year head coach Jon Sumrall his first opportunity to defeat a ranked opponent in his tenure.

On the other sideline is Pete Golding, with the Rebels set to play its first true away game since he took over the program in the postseason last season.

Golding detailed the matchup and recapped the Rebels' emotional win over LSU last week, on Wednesday's SEC Teleconference. Here is everything Golding had to say about facing Florida in the Swamp on Saturday.

Opening

"Excited about a great opportunity to go to Gainesville to play a really good football team. I think by far offensively is probably the most explosive offense that we've seen up to this point. A lot of respect for Coach Sumrall and what he does. I think Buster does an unbelievable job with the offense and a lot of familiarity with the defense having played him in Kentucky several times and kind of struggled with some of the things he's presented in the past. So an elite running back, really talented on the perimeter, I think Philo is playing at a high level right now, really managing the offense really well. Well aware of how hard that place is to play. Obviously we went in there 2024, (No. 9) team in the country, and they were 5-5 and left with an L. So coming off of you know a good week versus LSU, our kids played extremely hard, but you get rewarded with going to The Swamp for a Top-25 matchup. So we've got to keep them focused in our preparation and get ready to play a good game."

When you coach in a game and atmosphere like you did last weekend, in terms of motivation for your players, do you try to lean into all of the emotion around the game or do you try to reduce it? And from a personal perspective, you've coached in a lot of high-profile games. How did the atmosphere last weekend compare with other games you coached in?

"To start with the atmosphere piece of it, I thought our fans and our students provided an unbelievable atmosphere, which has kind of been the norm around here to be honest with you. I know there's a little more juice to that one based on some of the circumstances, but we've been pretty successful at home, since '23 when I came, for sure, and a lot of that has to do with the environment that's created. It's a tough place to play with the noise and everything that goes with it. So, I thought our staff did a tremendous job with that, and Keith and everybody up top and Glenn, a really good environment at home. And as far as the focus, you play in the SEC. So it doesn't take much if you come into a week and you don't prepare the right way. You don't practice extremely hard, and you don't stay focused on the attention to detail you're going to get your butt beat. So a nine-game schedule on top of that, I think we've got one of the tougher schedules in the country. So it's another work week for us. This is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately business. So we can read all the press clippings and go back and watch the tape again and pat ourselves on the back. But Sumrall and Florida don't give a shit about any of that, and so they're going to be ready to play, and they're really well coached, they got really good players. So if our focus isn't on ourselves preparing really well in order to be able to execute at a high level, then you're not going to like the result."

After a massive win against an LSU team, how do you keep your team just focused going into a massive game up against Florida?

"I think a big part of that starts with what are your goals before the year starts and everything else. I know everybody else had that game circled. I didn't. There's nothing about winning a game in September that makes your season. So I think our focus is to prepare really hard week in and week out. And what's that look like at the end of the year? We're coming off a playoff run last year and we were pissed off that we lost the last game. Didn't feel like we gave it our best effort. These guys worked extremely hard in the off season and in the summer. That was kind of my message all week to them. If you want to throw away everything you did all off season and all summer because you beat one team in September, then you came here for the wrong reason. That's not our goals. That's not our expectations. Am I proud of the effort that they played with last Saturday? Absolutely. But you're gonna have to do that again. And so I think a lot of it is on what are your goals? What's your focus on? They know that we're playing a really talented team. They know it's an extremely hard place to play, so we got to go to work. So, I don't work off the emotion of the week before. It's what have you done for me lately? That's in the past. We got to have good plans in place this week, and coaches hold them accountable throughout the week, and they got to play really well."

What are the characteristics of a Jon Sumrall team?

“The first thing you always see on tape in all three phases is the toughness and the physicality. Number two to me is the speed in which they play. They play extremely fast in all three phases. And I’ve always felt defensively they do a really good job of tackling. They fly around. This year it’s a different roster. So we can talk about Tulane, he had them ready to go, they had good plans in place, they didn’t have the same players that we had, and that’s the truth. Now he’s got a really, really talented roster. He’s got two coordinators that have been in this league at places that have had success vs. us. We’ve got a lot of respect for Sumrall and the job that he does. The first thing I see on tape is the toughness piece. I think they are very competitive. It looks like they enjoy playing with each other and for each other. They celebrate together, so he’s got them playing really well. I don’t think the Tulane piece of this will have anything to do with this game. It’s a different team, it’s different coaches. Obviously, he’s got some familiarity with our offense and playing Trinidad a couple times and all that, but it’s a different game. He’s got different pieces for this one.”

On Florida running the ball, how well do you think you’ve stopped the run:

“I think on paper, not very well. I think if you just break the film down by true run game, and not scrambles and all the other things that come with it, and some of the plus-one run stuff. I thought the front’s played pretty well this year on direct run and the run game, obviously, hand it to the back. I was super concerned going into Louisville. I thought they had an elite back going into Louisville. I thought we did a good job stopping him in the run game. Didn’t do a great job stopping the quarterback. I think Florida and Buster, the combination with Sumrall, they’re gonna come in and try to pound the rock. I think the running back is one of the best players in the country. He does a great job with contact balance and extending plays with breaking tackles. That’s something we haven’t done well on tape consistently. That’s getting guys on the game, especially on the perimeter, and play with leverage. It’s going to be a big piece to this. It’s a big challenge for our defense. We’re well aware they got really good runners. They do a good job up front, and Buster does a really, really good job formationally, and motions, and shifts. Gives you a lot of eye candy to confuse guys in order to run the football. We’ve definitely got to be physical up front. This game is going to come down to tackling on defense with great communication and eye control.”

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