Ole Miss wins defensive battle over State in Egg Bowl, 26-14
OXFORD, Miss. – On a cold Black Friday afternoon, the storied Egg Bowl rivalry between No.14 Ole Miss and Mississippi State began as a defensive battle, ending the same way as the Rebels took a 26-14 victory over the Bulldogs to finish the 2024 regular season 9-3.
“This is a huge game in the state, and sometimes it is hard for coaches and players that come here to really understand that. Now that we have been in five of them, I think I understand that. I think our players felt that early. With so many new players, we told them many times that records don’t matter.”
~ Kiffin in his opening statement
Feeling GOLDEN 🏆 pic.twitter.com/05Rri4nmPc
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) November 30, 2024
First half
The Bulldogs won the toss and elected to receive the opening kick; however, quarterback Michael Van Buren and the Bulldogs were quickly brought to third down. Dropping back to pass in the short-yardage situation, Van Buren tossed one right into the arms of Rebel linebacker Chris ‘Pooh’ Paul Jr. for a quick turnover to begin the game.
Hi, we’ll take that 👋@PoohPaul4 | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/yfBMBSeYKn
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) November 29, 2024
Beginning their opening drive in Mississippi State territory at the 34-yard-line, the Rebel offense failed to get anything going despite a quick first down. Ole Miss kicker Caden Davis then trotted out, drilling a 39-yard field goal to give the Rebels a 3-0 lead just over two minutes into the game.
Led by the true freshman Van Buren, the Bulldog offense did not bat an eye. After an overturned chunk play, the Rebels quickly brought up fourth down only to be fooled by a fake punt from the Bulldogs that kept the visitors’ drive alive.
Again though, the Ole Miss defense brought up fourth down for Mississippi State, this time within field goal range for the Bulldogs. However, Van Buren stayed on the field with the offense, hitting Kevin Coleman Jr. in stride for a 34-yard touchdown to give the Bulldogs a 7-3 lead.
Halfway through the first, the Rebels found themselves with their backs against the wall, trailing early in a game they were favored by three scores. After the Bulldogs brought up a long third down, Jaxson Dart kept the play alive and found Caden Prieskorn in the middle of the field to move the chains.
To the liking of the Vaught crowd, the Rebels began to feed Ulysses ‘Doo’ Bentley IV to move the ball into Bulldog territory. A 20-yard Dart scamper then put the Rebels in the red zone, eventually setting up JJ Pegues for his seventh rushing touchdown of the year after a 5-yard score that gave Ole Miss a 10-7 lead with two minutes left in the first.
The Mayor 🫡@JeremiahPegues4 | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/xy5iigcTVa
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) November 29, 2024
Van Buren continued to impress, though, converting on third down again to keep the Bulldog offense on the field on the following drive. Just as he had all game, the freshman signal-caller unleashed the long ball again, finding Jordan Mosley down the sideline for a 42-yard gain.
Pushing the ball inside the 10 with more intermediate throws, Van Buren eventually capped off the drive with a 6-yard scamper into the endzone, giving the Bulldogs a 14-10 lead as time expired in the first quarter.
Draining some clock in the second quarter, both squads began to put together stops and force back-and-forth punts.
Pooh Paul then made his presence felt again, getting to Van Buren on third down to force another Bulldog punt midway through the quarter. Then, on the first play of the next Ole Miss drive, Bentley took a handoff from Dart 89 yards to the house as the Vaught crowd erupted.
How about some post Thanksgiving stuffing? 🦃@PoohPaul4 | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/eEUBsCNaYw
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) November 29, 2024
Nothin’ runs like a Bentley 🚗@BentleyDoo | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/mArbrlyJ1O
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) November 29, 2024
After the win, the senior running back commented on his career-long 89-yard touchdown run.
“On that play call I knew the guard was pulling. Once I saw the hole I hit the inside, and you know I am fast so ain’t nobody catching me. Once I hit it, I just knew I was gone at that point.”
~ Bentley on the TD run
The longest touchdown of Bentley’s career gave Ole Miss a 17-14 lead with just under nine minutes left in the first half. Following the game, Kiffin answered Bentley questions once again, praising the back for the type of player and person he is.
“That was awesome…I am so happy for him…like I said during the week, the guy has been awesome and a complete team guy,” he said.
The Rebel head coach also commented on the lack of playing time for the running back a week ago.
“Different games are different. You play different people by styles…sometimes you go with different players…obviously when someone hits the long run, you go back to him more.”
~ Kiffin on not playing Bentley against UF
Another clock-draining Bulldog drive was then halted by the Rebel front and Jadon Canady made a play on the outside to bring up another punt. On the first play of the following possession, Jaxson Dart became the Rebels’ all-time leader in passing yards.
After a 17-yard completion to Jordan Watkins, Dart passed Eli Manning (10,119) to etch his name on the Mount Rushmore of Ole Miss quarterbacks.
“I have kind of stayed away from stats this year…it’s really neat, really cool, a phenomenal player that he passed. Eli will probably tell you that he didn’t have tempo.”
~ Kiffin on Dart becoming the all-time Ole Miss passing leader
Clock management began to play a factor late in the half as both teams seemed to be draining the clock to keep the ball away from the other sideline. With under two minutes in the half, the Rebels found themselves in field goal range.
Caden Davis came back out for his second attempt of the night, this time a 55-yard attempt that missed just left outside of the upright as time expired in the half.
Bentley led the way for the Rebel offense at intermission with eight carries for 117 yards on the ground and the 89-yard score. Dart went into the break 9-for-13 passing for 80 yards.
Following the win, Kiffin commented on why it was so difficult to throw the ball against this Bulldog defense.
“This game was played a little differently than people would have thought. These guys (MSU) came in and played three safeties deep, like a prevent defense. It is hard to throw the ball, so we ran the ball…51 carries and only 24 pass attempts.”
~ Kiffin on the Rebell offense against MSU
The Landshark defense was led by Paul Jr. at the half, leading the way with 5 tackles, a sack, a tackle-for-loss and the early interception.
Second half
Ole Miss received the opening kick of the second half; however, the Rebels quickly went three-and-out similar to the end of the first half.
Van Buren and the Bulldogs then picked up a quick first down to begin their opening drive as they looked to regain the lead. The Mississippi State quarterback then looked for the over-the-top chunk play again, but this time Rebel safety Trey Washington stepped in front of it.
WE SEE YOU TREY.@ht_trey1 | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/ziiUu5me5U
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) November 29, 2024
After the win, Paul Jr commented on the second-half adjustments for the Rebel defense as they shut out the Bulldogs in the half.
“Coming out in the second half, I just feel like we went in (the locker room) and dove in on things we should adjust. Just keying in more on their concepts and schemes in the first half. I feel like that put us in a more comfortable situation.”
~ Paul Jr on the second-half adjustments
The second Van Buren interception of the game set the Rebels up near midfield; however, once again the Bulldog defense quickly forced another Ole Miss punt after forcing Bentley to go backward during the drive.
Just like the end of the first half, the punts began to become common for both sidelines again. The Rebels were stopped near midfield after their longest drive of the second half, setting up to punt and pin the Bulldogs back deep.
However, the Mississippi State return man muffed the Fraser Masin punt. After review, it was determined the Bulldog returner did make contact with the ball and Ole Miss had come up with it, setting up the Rebel offense at the Bulldog 24-yard-line.
Going backward once again though, the Rebel offense quickly faced another fourth down. Caden Davis came back out for another attempt, this one from 43 yards out, drilling it to extend the Ole Miss lead to 20-14 with just under six minutes left in the third.
The Bulldogs then put together a long but promising drive to push the ball near midfield, needing an answer as the quarter neared its end. On third-and-nine, Walter Nolen found his way into the backfield again, taking down Van Buren for the third time in the game to force another punt as the fourth quarter began.
Ole Miss drained the first five minutes off of the fourth quarter clock on the following possession, using Bentley and short passes to push their way deep into Bulldog territory.
A defensive pass interference call put the Rebels on the verge of the red zone, eventually allowing Dart to take a shot into the endzone which resulted in a 19-yard Prieskorn catch for a touchdown. The catch over the top of a defender was reviewed and confirmed, giving Ole Miss a 26-14 lead after a failed two-point attempt.
That calls for a lucky bump 👊@cpkorn12 | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/g74C26Z4Nt
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) November 29, 2024
With little hope left and not much time, the Bulldog offense put together another long drive. Once again, Van Buren found a receiver streaking down the sideline, unleashing another deep ball to put the Mississippi State offense at the Ole Miss one-yard-line.
However, the Landshark defense made one final stand — and what a big one it was. The Ole Miss front stuffed the run just as they had all year, forcing Van Buren to throw on fourth-and-goal from the two, only for the pass to be broken up by Washington for a turnover on downs.
“I thought the response really showed up on that defensive stop. I was just proud of that. With all the emotions last week, it definitely took us probably a few days to kind of regroup to get ready for this one. I was just happy for our team to be able to pull out this win and send our seniors out the right way.”
~ Dart on responding after the UF loss
Rebel Defense with the bigggg 4th down STOP 🛑@ht_trey1 | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/NT6aycJHVE
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) November 29, 2024
With just over five minutes remaining, the Rebel rushing attack pounded the football across midfield into Bulldog territory again. On 4th-and-1, it was Pegues ultimately ending the game with the play he is most known for, moving the chains to allow the Rebels to set up for victory formation and hoist the Egg Bowl trophy.
Bentley led the way for the Rebel offense with a season-high 20 carries for 136 yards and the long score. Dart added 77 more yards on the ground and also 143 through the air. Prieskorn led the way in receiving with 4 grabs for 53 yards and the score.
Nolen led the Rebels in tackles with eight on the night, adding three and a half tackles for loss and a pair of sacks. Paul Jr. added six tackles of his own, getting the early interception as well as adding a sack to his stat sheet.
After the win, Dart commented on just how much this win meant to him and the team.
“My first year when we lost, it was the worst thing ever. It carried on until we played them again. I remember after that game, I made a promise to myself that I would never lose this game again. That was something I really cared about and was really passionate about.”
~ Dart on the importance of this win
Up next
The Ole Miss Rebels will await their fate tomorrow as the rest of rivalry week in college football plays out. Following this weekend, the Rebels will have hoped to sneak into the College Football Playoffs. If not, plans for an eventual bowl game to end the 2024 season will be in the future.
Kameron Wicker
Kam is a senior at Ole Miss, currently pursuing a degree in Journalism. Even though he's from Delhi, Louisiana, that didn't stop Kam from growing up a diehard Ole Miss fan. He's a sports guru who watches and follows all sports at all times. He lettered four years in football and baseball in high school and is an avid Saints, Pelicans, and Astros fan. In his free time, you can find him watching sports or at the rec participating in them.
