State - Ole Miss, ranked rivals will collide in Starkville
By Parrish Alford
Daily Journal
Egg Bowl Week is here.
“Mississippi Mayhem” isn’t what it was a year ago. Last season the state’s two SEC entries had cracked the top three at some point, and MSU had enjoyed a five-week run at No. 1.
There’s still a lot to play for as the game features a top 25 matchup. Ole Miss is No. 19 in both polls, MSU No. 22 with the coaches and No. 23 with the Associated Press.
Both teams also enter with eight wins in pocket as they aim for a second straight nine-win regular season – rare for both in the modern era of college football – and better bowl positioning.
• Egg Bowl: Saturday, 6:15 p.m. (ESPN2)
Ole Miss maintains slim SEC West title hopes. Getting there would require a loss by heavily favored No. 2 Alabama at its rival, under-achieving Auburn.
Heading into the final weekend of play, Alabama and Ole Miss are the only SEC West teams with fewer than three league losses.
For Ole Miss, reaching the SEC championship game in Atlanta for a first time would also require bursting through the roadblock that has become the Mississippi rivalry.
Last year, Ole Miss was ranked No. 17, MSU No. 4, when the Rebels’ 31-17 win became the fourth straight home team victory in the series.
Since 2003, the visiting team has won just twice – and on both occasions was clearly having the better season.
When MSU won 31-23 in Oxford in 2010, the Bulldogs would go on to finish with an AP ranking of No. 15, while the Rebels were 4-8. Ole Miss, 1-7 in the league that year, was the only unranked SEC West team.
When the Rebels won 31-0 in Starkville in 2003 they capped a 7-1 SEC season. Struggling in Jackie Sherrill’s last season, the Bulldogs were 1-7 in SEC play, 2-10 overall.
‘Should have won’
Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze doesn’t feel the burden of being the visitor as the Rebels prepare for their first visit to renovated Davis-Wade Stadium.
“I don’t know that I feel that way right now because I’ve only been in three of them (rivalry games),” he said. “The one we were down there, I really felt we should have won. We missed two field goals, turned it over and fumbled going in to have a chance to win it there (in overtime). I don’t know that that had to do with being on the road. Maybe it does. Talk to me next week. I may feel differently.”
Ole Miss and MSU are both coming in with confidence from last Saturday. The Rebels dominated No. 17 LSU with a 38-17 win at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, while the Bulldogs blocked a field goal in the final seconds to win 51-50 at Arkansas.
It’s a big week for quarterback Dak Prescott – it’s his final game at MSU.
“It’s very important. It’s the reason I came back.”
parrish.alford@journalinc.com
Twitter: @parrishalford