Egg Bowl Week: Despite everything, one of America’s hottest rivalries remains

It’s Egg Bowl Week in the Magnolia State, as much a staple of Thanksgiving weekend in Mississippi as turkey, oyster dressing and casseroles.

So, without further ado and in no particular order, my five most memorable Eggshells of the nearly 50 I’ve seen:

1) The Immaculate Defense: Ole Miss was leading 24-23 at Mississippi Memorial Stadium in 1983 when Artie Cosby, one of the best place-kickers in Mississippi history, lined up for a chip-shot 27-yard field goal . I stood under the goalposts at the south end of the stadium amid gusty winds that threatened my balance. Cosby’s kick seemed perfect, and then one of those 60 mph gusts blew the ball straight into the air and then backwards. Today you would swear that the scene was created by artificial intelligence. That’s how Billy Brewer’s first Ole Miss team went to a bowl game. So it was that State coach Emory Bellard told me after the game, “God just decided that Mississippi State wasn’t going to win that game.”

2) Back to Veterans Memorial Stadium and back to 1981. Ole Miss was trailing State 17-14 with just 13 seconds to play. John Fourcade targeted his Crackerjack receiver Michael Harmon with a pass in the end zone. What happened next is egg bowl lore. State fans will tell you that Harmon made a save. Back judge Dick Pace instead ruled that State defensive back Kenneth Johnson, who intercepted the pass, was guilty of pass interference. On first down from the one, Fourcade faked a handoff and circled the right end for the game-winning touchdown. He then waved the ball to the State fans on his way back to the sideline. I had a running joke with Harmon for years. “You know you pushed away, Michael,” I told him, to which he replied with a smile, “The officer didn’t say that…”

3) Back to Scott Field for the 1997 Egg Bowl and another exciting conclusion. Stewart Patridge, a clutch quarterback if there ever was one, drove Ole Miss to a last-minute touchdown and secured a two-point conversion in a 15-14 Rebels win. As exciting as the final was, the pre-match fireworks display was equally unforgettable. There was a fight before the game, which State of course blamed on Ole Miss and Ole Miss State. I remember this: The Mississippi Highway patrolmen looked on, seemingly amused, until it became clear that someone was going to be maimed, if not killed. It took a while for officials to stop it.

4) This happened in Starkville in 2007, two days after I wrote a column saying it was time for Ole Miss to find a new football coach, that the Ed Orgeron experiment had failed. Ole Miss, winless in the SEC and last in the league in all major statistical categories, led 14-0 in the fourth quarter and faced fourth-and-1 at midfield. State had only gained four first downs the entire game. Still, Orgeron opted for a first down instead of a punt. State stuffed BenJarvus Green-Ellis for a two-yard loss. Suddenly the Scott Field crowd was back in the game, as was State. Long story short, the final score: State 17, Ole Miss 14. Orgeron was fired the next day.

5) The Piss and Miss: No one who saw it will forget what happened at Scott Field in 2019. Ole Miss wide receiver Elijah Moore, who has developed into a great professional, caught a short touchdown pass with four seconds left, cutting State’s lead to 21-20. Moore celebrated on his hands and knees, hiking one leg like he was a dog peeing in the State end zone. The officials didn’t appreciate Moore’s sense of humor and cited him for unsportsmanlike conduct, giving him a 15-yard penalty. Ole Miss missed the ensuing PAT and State won 21-20, costing Ole Miss coach Matt Luke his job and earning a $75,000 bonus for State coach Joe Moorhead, who was subsequently fired. Interestingly, the win earned State a bid to the Music City Bowl, increasing the SEC’s bowl pool by $2.75 million. So because of Moore’s antics, Ole Miss received about $100,000 extra to its SEC bowl share. Additionally, Ole Miss hired Lane Kiffin to replace Luke and State hired Mike Leach to replace Moorhead. You couldn’t make this all up if you tried.

Here are five eggshells I would have liked to see:

1) The first ever in 1901: The opening kick was delayed for 45 minutes because, believe it or not, there was a heated argument. Ole Miss accused State of playing against non-students, including one who had played for Ole Miss the year before. Finally the game started and State won 17-0 in a game that was dark in the third quarter.

2) In 1907, on a cold, gray day at the State Fairgrounds in Jackson, the Rebels and Bulldogs streamed onto the field after several days of relentless rain. According to newspaper reports, much of the field was underwater, some of it knee-deep. The State men proved to be better mudders, winning 15-0, in part because Ole Miss coach Frank Mason provided his players with a pot full of whiskey-infused coffee to warm them up. When asked afterwards about his team’s travel plans, Mason said the team would leave for Oxford that night, but he would not. And he added: “I hope I never see her again.” He probably never did. He was released shortly afterwards.

3) In 1918, the teams played not once, but twice. State won 34-0 in Starkville and two weeks later 13-0 in Oxford. The Rebels were coached by none other than Dudy R. Noble, a state graduate who later became the state’s popular athletic director. “I know what hell is like,” Noble told people. “I coached at Ole Miss once.”

4) In 1926, Ole Miss won 7-6 in Starkville, ending a 13-game losing streak against its bitter rival. Rebels fans and players celebrated and wanted to tear down the goal posts. A scuffle broke out in which State fans reportedly attacked Ole Miss revelers with wooden chairs. For this reason, a trophy in the shape of a football – the Golden Egg – was created, which is awarded to the winning team each year (instead of goal posts). This is how the fight for the Golden Egg came about, later abbreviated to Egg Bowl. As noted, the trophy did little to curb the arguments before or after the games.

5) In 1941, State and Ole Miss played for the SEC Championship in Oxford for the only time in history. State went 6-0 to claim the only outright SEC title in Bulldogs history. The late, great William Winter, a future governor, covered this game as a student reporter at Ole Miss. More than seven decades later, he narrated the game, remembering even the smallest details. When an interviewer, this one, expressed astonishment at Winter’s keen recollection of something that had happened 73 years earlier, he responded, “Well, you have to understand that it was the most important thing in my life at the time.”