The Egg Bowl has a lot at stake for Ole Miss: “It actually means something this year.”
The Egg Bowl needs no added ingredients, no Micheal Buffer standing at the 50-yard-line microphone in hand asking if the fans in attendance are ready.
The annual end of season game between Ole Miss and in-state rival Mississippi State already has enough riding on it with bragging rights for the next 365 days, but this year the stakes have been raised.
Mississippi State (7-4, 4-3 SEC) has surged the last month of the season and the No. 8 Rebels (9-2, 5-2) are on the brink of history.
“It’s a very important game. It actually means something this year,” said Ole Miss running back Jerrion Ealy following the Rebels win over Vanderbilt. “Both teams are pretty good. This game’s going to be a very valuable game.”
To Ealy, who is a Mississippi native, the Egg Bowl carries a lot of weight, and being able to keep the Golden Egg trophy in Oxford is priority number one for him and every other Mississippian on the roster.
Despite this year’s edition of the annual rivalry game having a lower temperature than previous years, some bad blood is still there.
“It’s going to be loud. You’re going to hate the sound of cowbells,” said Ealy when asked what he would tell younger players about the rivalry. “You’re going to be hearing cowbells two weeks after the game. It’s Stinkville to me. It stinks there. I don’t like mud. It’s so muddy.”
Beyond that, however, a victory this season means a guaranteed trip back to a New Year’s Six Bowl for the Rebels. Most bowl prognosticators currently have Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl, though a few also have the Rebels penciled in for the Peach Bowl — based on where Alabama ends up.
But a loss to the Bulldogs would deny Ole Miss its first 10-win regular season and potentially bring the Florida bowl games back into play.
After their first six games of the season, Mississippi State was sitting at 3-3. Since then, they’ve won four of their last five games, including wins over ranked Kentucky and Auburn.
With a short week, many Rebel players were not focusing on the rivalry itself but the challenge this resurgent Mississippi State team suddenly poses.
Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral did not sugarcoat things to his teammates after beating Vanderbilt 31-17 in his final home game of his career.
Head coach Lane Kiffin saw his quarterback take charge in the locker room after the game, talking to the offense in one corner of the room.
“Matt had the offense over before I got there and he was basically doing what I wanted to do and ripping them from up and down,” Kiffin said. “Saying ‘Don’t you guys dare go out tonight, don’t you do anything. That’s embarrassing how we’re playing. This ain’t going to happen again because if we do we’re going to get our ass kicked next week.’”
Ole Miss and Mississippi State are set to kickoff 6:30 p.m. CT on Thursday. The game will air on ESPN.
