One of the most underrated rivalries in college football plays out tonight on ESPN, as coach Lane Kiffin and the No. 12 Ole Miss Rebels will try to protect that ranking from the hated (at least, among their fan base) Mississippi State Bulldogs, in Starkville.
Kickoff for the annual Egg Bowl is at 6:30 p.m., and it’s the 120th playing of this game, an old dang rivalry.
I actually spent my formative years in sportswriting covering Ole Miss and Mississippi State. My first “real” job was at The Commercial Dispatch in Columbus, Mississippi; moved on to The Vicksburg Post, spent some time at The Meridian Star. Had a position as a news reporter at The Neshoba Democrat in Philadelphia (the Mississippi one) and I got a good dose of this rivalry.
I’ll say this: I honestly think both fan bases actually hate ALABAMA more than they hate each other, but they definitely don’t have any love for each other. There’s actually been a few fights in this series over the years (Here’s one: Brawl erupts during 2018 Egg Bowl), a couple of inappropriate end zone celebrations (“Ole Piss” EPIC FAIL Ending vs Mississippi State 2019), some trashy reactions (Ole Miss fans throw trash on field after controversial fumble call vs Miss State), and even a field goal back in the 1980s affected by the wind (this is cool: The Immaculate Deflection – YouTube).
As for why the call it the Egg Bowl: according to legendary sportswriter Rick Cleveland, longtime columnist in the state, it was dubbed the Egg Bowl in 1979 by Tom Patterson, then the sports editor of The Clarion Ledger, the newspaper in Jackson. Patterson was apparently very unimpressed that neither the Mississippi State Bulldogs (3-7 at the time) nor the Ole Miss Rebels (3-7 as well) were bowl eligible.
Patterson dubbed the game the Egg Bowl, and it stuck.
Mississippi State won last year, perhaps fittingly – it would be the last win for coach Mike Leach, who passed away in the offseason. Ole Miss scored with 1:25 left in the game, doing so on a 99-yard drive, but State stopped a game-tying two-point conversion and got the win, 24-22.
Leach’s replacement, by the way, Zach Arnett, who had been promoted from defensive coordinator to head coach, was just dismissed recently (Mississippi State fires Arnett | The Football Beat) after a 51-10 drubbing by Texas A&M – A&M coach Jimbo Fisher was fired the day before.
State comes into this game with a 5-6 overall record, but 1-6 in the Southeastern Conference, just horrible. Who knows? Editorializing a little bit here, just spitballing: had Arnett not arrogantly thrown out Leach’s offense (you know, that was setting records in the freaking SEC), the Bulldogs might have won more games, and he might still – you know – have a JOB and be coaching in this game.
Instead, the Bulldogs are searching for a coach, and he doesn’t.
Kiffin and the Rebels are 9-2, and can’t do anything about the SEC West; they lost at Alabama, who is headed to the SEC Championship Game. But the Rebels could very well be in line for a huge bowl game, possibly the Cotton Bowl – unless they drop tonight’s game in Starkville.
And no, I don’t refer to it as “Starkvegas.” (Why is Starkville Called Starkvegas? )
