Few weekends in college football embody the drama, tradition, and essence of the sport as much as Rivalry Week. This week on Saturdays Feed My Soul, I will be celebrating some of college football's most famous contests in the lead up to Rivalry Week, where the latest instalments of these long-standing grudges will be played out.
Starting the run up to Rivalry Week with one of the oldest rivalries in college football, this fixture uniquely divides households across the state, bringing them together to celebrate this fiery rivalry on a traditional holiday. The annual Egg Bowl rivalry game between Ole Miss and Mississippi State has been played on Thanksgiving six times in the last seven years, and 23 times overall.
The History
Ole Miss first started playing football in 1893, followed two years later by its cross-state rival, then known as Mississippi A&M. They met for the first time in 1901, with the then-nicknamed Aggies winning 17-0. Mississippi A&M would go on to put together the longest winning streak in the rivalry from 1911 to 1925, when they changed their name to Mississippi State in 1925.
The two teams have met every year since 1915, bar 1943, when neither college put out a team due to World War Two. From 1973 to 1990, Jackson's 62,000-seater Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium hosted the game as both Ole Miss's Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford and Mississippi State's Scott Field in Starkville held half the amount of fans. Both stadiums are markedly bigger now and the game moved back on campus, first at Mississippi State who won a 24-9 victory.
After an early period of dominance from Mississippi State, the pendulum in the rivalry swung towards Ole Miss, thanks largely to the dominance of the Rebels under famed coach Johnny Vaught, who held a 19-2-4 over the Bulldogs in his two spells in charge of the Rebels, the first between 1947 and 1970 before a second interim tenure in 1973.
The series has lived up to its fiery nature in recent years. 2018's "Egg Brawl" saw both benches empty after A.J. Brown's third quarter touchdown. Seven players in total were ejected after the mass brawl and every player on each team was given an unsportsmanlike penalty.
The Trophy
The Egg Bowl made its first appearance in 1927, a year after a mass brawl broke out at the 1926 game between Ole Miss and Mississippi State where rival fans attacked each other with cane-bottomed chairs. The student bodies decided to create trophy for the winner of the annual rivalry, a golden football designed by the Iota Sigma honorary activities fraternity at Ole Miss, to diffuse any post-game tension. The game was then known as "The Battle for the Golden Egg", for another 51 years.
In 1978, with neither team looking likely to make an end of season bowl game, the outcome of the game meant more, causing the The Clarion-Ledger's Tom Patterson to dub it "The Egg Bowl", which has stuck ever since.
Memorable Plays in The Egg Bowl
"The Immaculate Deflection": 1983
With 24 seconds left to play in a game and losing 24-23, Missisippi State had a 27-yard field goal to win the game. Up stepped Bulldogs kicker Artie Crosby, who kicked the ball straight towards the goalposts, only to be met by a 40-mph gust of wind which stopped the ball at its height, agonisingly short of the goalposts, giving Ole Miss an unexpected win.
"The Piss, The Miss and The Double Dismiss": 2019
Just 4 seconds remained in the 2019 Egg Bowl when Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral threw a two-yard touchdown pass to Elijah Moore to bring the Rebels within one point of Mississippi State. Moore then copied DK Metcalf's celebration after he scored a third-quarter touchdown in the 2017 game. Penalised for Moore's "fake pee" celebration in the end zone, the extra point attempt was moved back fifteen yards and kicker Luke Logan missed, giving the Bulldogs a 21-20 victory.
Both teams would fire their head coaches days after the game. Ole Miss head coach Matt Luke was replaced by Lane Kiffin and Mississippi's Joe Moorhead was replaced by the late Mike Leach.
The Pick and Kick: 1999
Just 27 seconds remained of the 1999 Egg Bowl. With Mississippi State losing 20-13, Bulldogs cornerback Robert Bean intercepted a pass from Ole Miss quarterback Romero Miller, setting the stage for a dramatic finish. On the very next play, Mississippi State quarterback Wayne Madkin completed a clutch pass to Kevin Prentiss, positioning the Bulldogs for a game-tying field goal. As time ran out, kicker Scott Westerfield drilled the 44-yard kick to send the game into overtime. Mississippi State went on to win 23-20, adding the “Pick and Kick” to Egg Bowl folklore.
Looking Ahead...
Ole Miss currently leads the series 65-46-6, with the Rebels beating Mississippi State 17-7 in Starkville last season. This year's game will be played in Oxford this Friday.
Ole Miss, dumped out of College Football Playoff contention, can salvage some pride by retaining the Golden Egg, and will start this year's Egg Bowl as heavy favourites, playing at home in Oxford. Lane Kiffin will be frustrated his team, having invested a reported $10 million in the transfer portal, have missed the postseason, despite being touted as a preseason dark horse.
Mississippi State, 2-9, are in transition and yet to win a game in the SEC, have Lane Kiffin's former offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby in charge of the Bulldogs for his first year as a head coach. Mississippi State lost Baylor transfer quarterback Blake Shapen after just four games so freshman Michael Van Buren has had to step in.
While the odds favour Ole Miss, this a rivalry that throws up unusual scorelines and both teams have nothing to lose.
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