Forget everything you think you know about football rivalries — the Egg Bowl is something entirely different. On college football rivalry week, the word hate will be used as frequently as turkey is eaten on Thanksgiving.
But, to know what real college football hatred is, you have to know what the Egg Bowl is.
Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State: What is the Egg Bowl?
The Egg Bowl is a college football rivalry between the Mississippi State Bulldogs and the Ole Miss Rebels. However, terming it a rivalry game doesn’t do full justice to the pure vitriol that flows through the veins of two programs separated by just 112 miles of the US 45 highway. It is pride and passion but also a long-cultivated, pure, and unadulterated hatred for each other.
The Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State rivalry game dates back to 1901, making it one of the oldest rivalries in the sport. The two teams didn’t even have the same names as they do now, with the Ole Miss Red and Blue and the Mississippi A&M Aggies taking part in the inaugural battle in Starkville.
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Mississippi State won the first-ever edition of the rivalry game and enjoyed a lot of early success in the Egg Bowl. That included a winning streak from 1911 to 1925 (the longest streak in the game’s history), with a 65-0 victory in 1915 that remains the largest victory in the series. Despite this, Ole Miss holds a 65-46-6 head-to-head lead ahead of the 2024 Egg Bowl.
Egg Bowl games often boil over from a war of words to physical altercations and even to “urinating dog” touchdown celebrations (to mixed reactions). The 2018 “Egg Brawl” saw every player receive an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after an Ole Miss touchdown resulted in thrown punches. Four players were ejected from the game. That’s the level of hatred involved.
Why Is the Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State Rivalry Called the Egg Bowl?
The hatred, the intensity, and the fight that defines the Egg Bowl actually led to the naming of the annual rivalry game between the two universities. Before the 1927 edition, it was simply known as the “Rivalry Game between Mississippi State and Ole Miss.”
However, when the intensity of the rivalry led to a brawl between fans that included smashed chairs, it was decided something needed to be done to calm the passion, somehow.
The resolution was the creation of a trophy to be given to the winner of the game. A brass football on a wooden plinth earned the name “The Golden Egg” due to its oval nature. Until the 1978 edition, the rivalry game was named “The Battle for the Golden Egg.”
When both teams were ineligible for a bowl game in 1978, the clash was termed “The Egg Bowl” by The Clarion-Ledger newspaper. The name has stuck ever since.
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