No. 20 Ole Miss hosts the state of Mississippi on Thanksgiving night in the annual Egg Bowl between two hostile rivals in the state who always seem to cause a stir. The Rebels suffered a very disappointing 42-27 loss in Arkansas in a game that put a huge damper on their quest to make a second straight New Year’s Six Bowl. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, drove 56-7 past East Tennessee State in preparation for Thursday’s fight.
This is a game where former Rebel wide receiver Elijah Moore once pretended to pee like a dog with four seconds left, which was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. The 15-yard penalty pushed back the extra point, Luke Logan missed and the Bulldogs held on to a 1-point win.
Will the Egg Bowl make the perfect Thanksgiving dessert again? Let’s break down the game and pick straight up and against the spread.
How to watch Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State live
date: Thursday, November 24 | time: 7 p.m. ET
location: Vaught-Hemingway Stadium – Oxford, Mississippi
TV: ESPN | Live broadcast: fuboTV (try for free)
Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State: Must Know
Will Rogers’ big stage: Mississippi State quarterback Will Rogers leads the SEC in passing with 315.8 yards per game but ranks 13th among qualified quarterbacks in yards per attempt (6.6). This is common for signal callers in a Mike Leach offense using short passes as a substitute for an edge rushing attack. However, Ole Miss’s pass defense has given up 7 or more yards per attempt in six of their last seven games. This is a perfect place for Rogers to capitalize on a passing defense that ranks 90th in passing defense nationally for passes of 15 or more air yards (43.1%) and prove he can be more than just that a dink-and-dunk passer-by.
Will Ole Miss hit the rock? Ole Miss has lost three of its last four games, and in two of those (No. 5 LSU and No. 7 Alabama) it has been held under 200 yards rushing. The other loss in that span was against Arkansas last week when the Rebels were put in a 42-6 hole despite 463 rushing yards and a whopping 703 yards overall. That was a crazy outlier, while the losses to LSU and Alabama rather point to the blueprint for beating Ole Miss. The Bulldogs’ rushing defense was everywhere. It gave up just 1.07 yards per carry to Alabama on Oct. 22, but two weeks later it gave up 5.57 to Auburn when it next came out. If Ole Miss catches the Bulldogs defense on a heater, it could be a long night in Oxford, Mississippi.
All eyes on Lane: It’s been a wild week for Rebels coach Lane Kiffin. The manager has been rumored to be a third-year in the game as Auburn’s next manager – to the point where he took to Twitter on Monday night to mitigate reports that his departure from Ole Miss was imminent. However, he has not directly denied interest in the gig. Is he distracted? Has the rumor found its way into the dressing room? How will players react? It will be interesting to watch given the Auburn storyline.
Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State prediction, tips
Ole Miss is out of gas. His defense has returned to the joke it has been for years past, his offense is unable to close the gap when it matters most and the Kiffin rumor will only complicate things on Thursday night. Bulldogs coach Mike Leach will unleash Rogers on the Thanksgiving stage and serve up a nice dessert for Starkville fans to end Thanksgiving on a high and enter the offseason with a win over Ole Miss for the first time since 2019. Prediction: Mississippi State +2
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