Ole Miss on Bulldogs’ mind with short week ahead of Thanksgiving night Egg Bowl
OXFORD, Miss. – Ole Miss left Fayetteville thinking about the 42-27 loss to Arkansas. But by the time the Rebels arrived back in Oxford hours later, their thoughts were likely turning to Mississippi State and the quick turnaround from Saturday’s game.
Ole Miss was certainly already on the Bulldogs’ minds.
While the Rebels played a night game on the road against a Southeastern Conference divisional rival, State enjoyed an afternoon home game against an FCS opponent. The Dogs whipped East Tennessee State, 59-7.
The easy win against a cupcake opponent likely afforded State to start looking ahead to Thursday’s Egg Bowl before their rout was over, or if not, very soon after.
“Shortly after we leave the stadium, it’s going to be all Ole Miss prep,” Bulldogs’ linebacker Jett Johnson said. “It might be a five-hour rule. It’ll be a lot less than 24 (hours) that’s for sure.”
Ole Miss comes into the game at 8-3, while the Bulldogs are 7-4. Not only would a win give State the same regular season record as the Rebels, but it would also give them bragging rights.
“I don’t think you fully understand unless you’re from here or are a part of the game. This is the game that everybody thinks about every year. It doesn’t matter where we play it or who is ranked higher or what the records are. It’s the biggest game of the year, every year.”
MSU quarterback Will Rogers
A win would also give Rogers bragging rights over his former teammate at Brandon High School, Ole Miss wide receiver Jonathan Mingo.
The Rebels are coming off back-to-back losses for the first time since 2020 when they suffered three consecutive defeats. Yet there is still plenty for Ole Miss to play for Thursday apart from beating its archrival.
Freshman Quinshon Judkins leads the league in rushing with 1,385 yards, and a solid performance against the Bulldogs could secure him the SEC rushing title.
Speaking of Judkins, he broke the Ole Miss single-season school rushing record Saturday, besting Kayo Dottley’s record of 1,312 yards that had stood since 1949.
Ole Miss has the advantage in the rivalry during the Lane Kiffin-Mike Leach era, as the Rebels have won both games since the two coaches took over at their respective programs.
And most importantly, a win will give the Rebels momentum heading into the bowl season.
Still, although the game is on the road for them, the Bulldogs have the advantage of a little more preparation time during the short week.
“I definitely think we did a good job of starting to breakdown some of (Ole Miss’) game film already and seeing what they do versus this formation or that formation. We were really focused on our opponent this week but we’re really going to dive in tonight. I’m going to watch their game live and then turn on the tape after that.”
MSU QB Will Rogers
The Egg Bowl will kick off at 6 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN.
Steve Barnes
Steve Barnes joins The Rebel Walk staff as a senior writer and brings a trifecta of journalistic experience. As a writer, he has covered college sports for Rivals.com, Football.com and SaturdayDownSouth.com as well as served as a beat writer for various traditional newspapers.
He has been a broadcaster for arena football and several national tournament events for the National Junior College Athletic Association as well as hosting various shows on radio.
A former sports information director at Albany (Ga.) State University and an assistant at Troy and West Florida, he has helped host many NCAA conference, regional and national events, including serving five years on the media committee of the NCAA Division II World Series.
Barnes, a native of Pensacola, Fla., attended Ole Miss in 1983-84, where his first journalism teacher was David Kellum. The duo has come a long way since that time.
He will bring a proven journalistic track record, along with a knack for finding the out-of-the-ordinary story angles to The Rebel Walk.
Barnes continues to reside in Pensacola a mere ten minutes from the beach because he does have taste and a brain.
