CFP FIRST ROUND: TULANE VS OLE MISS

December 20, 2025

Jamauri McClure

Kevin Adams, III

Vaught Hemingway Stadium

Tulane Green Wave

Postgame Press Conference

Ole Miss 41, Tulane 10

Q. Jamauri, with this offense, I feel like it's grown leaps and bounds from last game. It's just a 4th down call here, a dropped catch there. What was the difference with y'all tonight, because the plays were there, and I feel like you had an opportunity to score a lot more points than you did on the board?

JAMAURI McCLURE: All I can really say, we just wasn't executing when we really needed to. That was really it. We was driving down the field, getting to the spots we needed them. We just didn't finish. That's the main thing.

Q. Jamauri, can you talk a little bit about going from not playing that much at the beginning of the season to all of a sudden being the featured back on this team and what it's meant to you to earn the trust from your coaches in order to take on that role?

JAMAURI McCLURE: It means a lot to me. But I just want to thank God for keeping me positive and just keeping me with a positive mind, making me work every day. I'm grateful to my coaches finally being able to trust me. It just means a lot for them to be able to trust me and to show what I can do.

Q. Jamauri, it seemed like you were able to get in a rhythm when you had the ball in your own territory. Did you feel like Ole Miss was switching its defensive strategy every time you got into their territory?

JAMAURI McCLURE: I couldn't tell you. I couldn't tell you. I ain't gonna lie. My bad. I've learned more about football, but I couldn't tell you for real about that.

Q. Kevin, the defense settled down after those first couple possessions early. What was giving you guys the biggest problems with their talent?

KEVIN ADAMS III: I'd say we beat ourselves, but they beat us on the crossing routes and the overs early in the game, but we just had to settle down.

Q. Coach Sumrall says he wants guys to hurt after a performance like this, but what was the experience like getting to play in a playoff game with the atmosphere and everything else that went into it?

KEVIN ADAMS III: It was surreal. I would say Tulane has never been there, so it's just a blessing to even make it. We didn't get the outcome, but I'm proud of our team.

Q. What was this experience like getting to play this College Football Playoff game under Jon Sumrall with the situation he's been in working the two jobs this month?

JAMAURI McCLURE: You said what's the difference?

Q. What's the experience been like?

JAMAURI McCLURE: Oh, I really respect him for everything he's done for us throughout the season. I've just got a lot of respect for him for staying and finishing the job. If he would have left I probably would have looked at him a little bit differently. But him being able to stay and coach us to the end, I appreciate that. It means a lot to me.

KEVIN ADAMS III: I would say -- you've got to call a spade a spade, but at the end of the day, I love him. Our team loves him. I think him being there and finishing really showed he truly loves us as a team and wanted us to win.