WCBI EGG BOWL SPECIAL

ShotÁÁÁ one of the oldest... and most uninterrupted rivalries in our nation is upon us.... the 93rd egg bowl between mississippi state and ole miss... welcome into our egg bowl special on wcbi im jon sokoloff joined by the great courtney robb and chris bolton... ÁÁcross talkÁÁ lane kiffin and mike ÁÁcross talkÁÁ lane kiffin and mike leach... the head coaches on each side are big names in year one... the covid-19 pandemic is the opposite of ideal for any coach leading a program... but is even harder for someone trying to make their mark and establish a culture at a new spot... on the mississippi state side of things... the bulldogs were on top of the world after week 1's 44-34 victory over the defending champion lsu tigers... then they lost four in a row... beat vanderbilt and played number 13 gerogia very tough in what mike leach called their best performance of the year... they're 2-5... not bad for a team that has seen 18 players leave since january... on the other side... the rebels started 1-4 before winning back-to-back games against vanderbilt and south carolina... kiffin's offense scored 50 points in both of those contests... they lead the sec in yards per game at about 565... while both coaches haven't been here long... them..

Along with their players... know plenty about the rivalry... 00-05 :32-:37 :48-:53 1:02-1:07 leach says: over the years even when i was a kid i knew it was always an incrdibly intense game, meaningful to people and in conversation year round.

There's always conversations about the egg bowl.

I also know there have been plenty of them that were exciting to watch before i came to mississippi and it's exciting to be a part of it and it's a good opportunity to play in one.

Kiffin says: i had known about it from watching it, it used to be on thanksgiving, also known about it from watching it, it used to be on thanksgiving, also my brother being here for a number of years i knew it was a big deal.

It's a big deal.

Corral says: this rivalry is what people will remember forever no matter how old you are and the tradition of the game means a lot to the people of mississippi moore says: it's the biggest game, if you need to win any7 game of the season it has to be this one ÁÁÁtake one shot jonÁÁÁ we wanted to get some mississippi state players perspective on the egg bowl... however they were made unavailable to us... but courtney robb caught up with ben portnoy of the commercial dispatch to preview this year's matchup ÁÁÁtake one shot jonÁÁÁ we caught up with nick suss who covers ole miss for the clarion ledger..

Here's how he sees this year's matchup playing out 00-05 suss says: there's a world where state looks as good as they did week 1 just because of how bad ole miss's defense is and there's a world where ole miss looks as good as they did against vanderbilt and arkansas just because how susceptible this state offense has been to mistakes and three-and- outs.

It'll come down to if this is a state offense that turned a corner against georgia and knows how to handle it's check downs or is this an ole miss defense that had a blip against south carolina or look how it did against vanderbilt or arkansas.

I like to think great offenses beat great defenses.

Look at what alabama and florida did against georgia, the best defense in college football but the two best offenses took advantage.

I think offenses have advantage just because of the rules and the game and i'm much more interested in bad offense against bad defense.

ÁÁÁtake three shot ÁÁÁ this game has not di disappointed in the past ÁÁÁ take voÁÁÁ next on the egg bowl special... how the last five egg bowls turned out ÁÁÁtake threewe we've broken down what this year's game may look like... but this is a rivalry that hasn't disappointed in the past..

Let's take a look at hot it has panned out the last five years... 2015&.

Dak prescott's final game at davis wade stadium& state had some injuries on the offensive line& dak was sacked seven times& including this which turned into a turnover& ole miss set the tone from there right here with this chad kelly with this 27 yard touchdown run& he had 236 yards and two touchdowns& the rebels led 21-0 at the end of the half..

State tried to make a late push but it didnt matter& ole miss won 38-27 to get it's first win in starkville since 2003& 2016&.

This was a back and forth game to start& shea patterson found stringfellow for a 19 yard touchdown to give the rebels an early 10-6 lead& the back and forth continued though& nick fitzgerald to donald gray to give the bulldogs the lead back& they were up 27-20 at the break& second half& this nick fitzgerald 38- yard connection to fred ross gave yard connection to fred ross gave the bulldogs a 14- point lead and they didn't look back& outscoring the rebels 28 nothing in the second half to get the job done& state got the win 55-20 and average 10 yards per carry 2017& this was a mess& there were early ejections after both teams got into it& in the first quarter& something happened that changed everything& state was a two- touchdown favorite but quarterback nick fitzgerald was brought down and had to be carted off with a leg injury& dk metcalf and this guy& aj brown& both went off..

Brown had 167 yards including this 77 yard touchdown& matt luke as the interim coach got the win for the rebels 31- 28 despite a late push by the bulldogs..

2018& the last time these teams matched up at vaught hemingway stadium& msu set the tone early& kylin hill with an early rushing td to put his team on the board..

State had 122 rushing yards in the first quarter& and nick fitzgerald bounced back one year after his leg injury& here's a rushing td from him& state won big 35-3& and we all remember 2019..

Elijah moore scores with :04 seconds left, does the dk metcalf move of pretending to urinate like a dog, they just got back 15 yards and luke logan misses the extra point.

Rebels lose 21-20& ÁÁÁtake three shot ÁÁÁ this game is special for all involved... most importantly... the players... next on the egg bowl special... we'll hear from former players on what it's like playing in the big rivalry... ÁÁÁtake three shotÁÁÁ this game isn't like the others for the players... there's definitely extra emotion added into it and chris bolton... you took a deep dive into what it's like from a player persepctive ÁÁÁchris tosses to packageÁÁÁ ÁÁ ÁÁnat popÁÁ warren: "it's th most important week of the season."

Fair: "rivalry o course.

There seems like there's not a whole lot of middle ground.

You're either maroon and white or red and blue."

Warren: "fight that's the first word that comes to mind.

No matter how you're season is going this game will be a fight.

You can suck.

Ole miss can suck.

It's going to be a dog fight.

We have a meeting before every season and president keenum comes in and says before every season and president keenum comes in and says that you can lose every game of the season, but this one here you cannot lose."

Fair: "you grow u knowing the guys on the other team.

I don't know if there's another sec rivalry where two schools are this close."

Warren: "th rivalry gets to you deeper and deeper as you get older into the program.

It's going to mean a lot more to you your senior year than it did your freshman year because you've played in a couple.

You got into a couple fights with these guys.

The hate and dislike for them comes from that."

Fair: "when i playe in this game 20, 25 years ago, nobody pretended to like each other.

Not one little bit.

Our head coaches for both schools when i was at mississippi state, coach sherrill never pretended to be with ole miss for anything."

ÁÁnat popÁÁÁÁ warren: "we ha ÁÁnat popÁÁÁÁ warren: "we ha ole miss jerseys at the door taped to the floor of our locker room.

Everyday you walk into the facility, you go downstairs and into the locker room where it is players only and see those jerseys.

It would piss you off.

We would step on them.

Some guys would spit dip on them.

It reminded you that this week is different."

Fair: "you lined u across from them.

You knew that week it was the most important thing we had going."

Warren: "i left ou of there with bruises, scratches.

Mouth blooded up.

It was a whole different atmosphere from kickoff to that last second.

You went hard to that last second.

Whoever wins the egg bowl is in control of the state."

ÁÁÁnat soundÁÁÁ ÁÁÁtake three shot ÁÁÁ su surprisingly this isn't the first time ÁÁÁ su surprisingly this mississippi state and ole miss are squaring off in an egg bowl battle that will not be on thanksgiving day for the first time since 2016.

However, this isn't the first time the two have met in an unorthodox egg bowl due to a pandemic .

In 1918, the spanish influenza ravaged the globe infecting 500 million people, killing 50 million worldwide and 675,000 in the united states.

It took two years until 1920 to get the flu under control.

However, through it all college football in mississippi perservered.

"i guess the fac that they would play football during the very difficult times you could say football is very important to mississippi," ro ruby said.

"th rivalry between state and ole miss is pretty important."

When the 1918 pandemic hit quarantine regulations plagued mississippi state, formerly known as the mississippi a&m aggies.

Although the aggies were able to practice in september of 1918, october presented new challenges.

New quarantine requirements made it hard for the aggies to leave campus or to even host other teams. l-s-u, alabama and mississippi college abandoned seasons altogether.

The aggies weren't left with many opponents, other than a few military bases and ole miss.

"at that time it wa harder on young people than old people.

I don't know in terms of those 37 deaths and mississippi state.

I don't know how many died at ole miss.

I don't know exactly how the death fit in at the time of the ballgames.

We do know that despite very dire times mississippi state and ole miss played football."

Back then, there was no golden egg on the line for the state-ole miss rivalry.

There was only bragging rights.

"it doesn't matte how good you are or how bad you are or how many games you win.

It's still the most important game of the year for most mississippi state, and most ole miss people is the state-ole miss game.

The egg bowl is it."

The aggies and the rebels met twice that year.

Once on thanksgiving day, november 28th and once again on december 7th.

Mississippi a&m swept ole miss in both.

34-0 in game one followed by a 13-nothing victory in game two.

ÁÁÁtake three shotÁÁÁ while history is known to repeat itself in terms of which team will win the 20 egg bowl, that's for game day to decide.