Rivals line up during a 1970's Egg Bowl
The Egg Bowl has long symbolized football supremacy in the state of Mississippi. The game played annually between Ole Miss and Mississippi State has held host to many memorable football events. It was in this game that Mississippi State won its’ first SEC game, fights such as the game in 1997, and a 1983 game known simply as, “The Immaculate Deflection.”
The series, like the teams in it, have had highs and lows. After this year’s 41-27 victory by Mississippi State, the series seems to have a renewed sense of passion and both teams feature new coaches: Houston Nutt is in just his second year at Ole Miss and the Rebels will most likely look to defend their Cotton Bowl title again this January. As for Mississippi State, they have a rookie head coach Dan Mullen who has big expectations for the coming years in Starkville.
In Oxford, there is a lot more emphasis on the Arkansas rivalry after having signed their former head coach. Jason Smith, Sports Editor for the Daily Mississippian has another theory as to why people in Ole Miss have seemingly overlooked this rivalry the last two years, “The Egg Bowl, it’s about state pride and Ole Miss really doesn’t have many Mississippi kids on the roster anymore. Houston Nutt has really focused his recruiting out of state due to a variety of reasons: non-qualifiers in the state of Mississippi and just better talent (out of state) outside of the top three or four players in the state.” Regardless, after last weeks 41-27 defeat that cost the Rebels a trip to the Capital One Bowl, players and fans in Oxford will be looking for revenge when the Bulldogs travel to Ole Miss next season.
Mullen inherited a 4-8 team at Mississippi State that could only manage two wins within the talent-ladened SEC. Moreover, the team was fresh off a 45-0 thrashing at the hands of Ole Miss. Mullen has a pedigree for success, he led his high school football team to a New Hampshire State Championship and was a first-team all conference selection at Ursinus College in Pennsylvania. Mullen has made his mark in the college ranks as a quarterback coach and offensive coordinator under Urban Meyer at Utah and Florida. Mullen has mentored quarterbacks like Alex Smith at Utah, the #1 overall NFL draft pick in 2005 and most recently Tim Tebow at Florida, whose reputation has been cemented as one of the greatest winners in the game. Mullen understood that for Mississippi State to turn into a Utah or Florida their mentality would have to change. Mullen saw in Mississippi a state where its’ greatest players such as Brett Farve, Walter Payton, Steve McNair and Jerry Rice, who was a native of Starkville, all played for smaller schools within the state. Mullen has placed a premium on gaining a foothold on recruiting in a state where many of the players defer to Ole Miss or other powerhouse schools in the region such as Alabama or LSU. For Mullen one of the keys for this to happen is to establish dominance within the state. When Mullen became coach he placed a clock in the team locker room counting down to last week’s Egg Bowl making it a point of success or failure for his Bulldogs. Mullen’s team did not disappoint as they defeated the favored Rebels. Mullen did not stop there, laying down the gauntlet after the game saying, “There’s certainly one program in this state that’s definitely on the rise, going in the right direction, and that’s right here in Starkville.”
Many wonder if Mullen’s post-game comments are not without merit as Ole Miss will lose 15 starters on both the offensive and defensive ends. Regardless, Mullen’s comments ensure that this rivalry’s intensity is only going to increase as long as he’s around. Said Ole Miss legend and NFL veteran Archie Manning of the rivalry, “Hell I’ve been gone forty years and people still ask me, ‘How’d you do in the Egg Bowl?”
