Will Rogers has been waiting for almost a year.
Ever since Rogers’ Hail Mary fell incomplete as the clock expired on last season’s Egg Bowl, the Mississippi State quarterback has been looking forward to facing rival Ole Miss again.
“I’ve been waiting for this,” Rogers said.
His Bulldogs lost 31-24 at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford last Nov. 28 in Rogers’ first experience in the Battle for the Golden Egg. But the Bulldogs host this year’s edition of the annual rivalry game, and Rogers is ready to dish out some payback along with a few touchdown passes at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
Both teams are ranked or just outside the College Football Playoff top 25 — the Rebels reached the No. 9 spot; the Bulldogs were No. 25 last week before falling out of the rankings Tuesday — making Thursday’s game significant for both teams’ bowl game possibilities.
Ole Miss can get to 10 wins and secure a berth in one of the Southeastern Conference’s best bowls. The Rebels are on a three-game win streak since a loss Oct. 30 at Auburn, including a victory over Texas A&M.
“We want to win the Egg Bowl and bring the Egg back here, and we want to get to a New Year’s Six bowl, possibly the Sugar Bowl,” Ole Miss running back Snoop Conner said. “We want to do both.”
Mississippi State can finish second in the SEC West and improve its own bowl outlook. The Bulldogs have won four of their past five games, including victories over ranked teams Kentucky and Auburn; they’ve also beaten A&M and North Carolina State this season.
“It’s a huge game,” Rogers said. “It’s a huge game because it’s Ole Miss versus Mississippi State, but it’s a huge game because of what’s at stake.”
Rogers, one of 64 players on the Bulldogs’ roster hailing from the Magnolia State, knows the rivalry between the two schools all too well. He grew up in Brandon and rooted for Ole Miss, where his father and sister went to school.
Needless to say, “the tables have turned a little bit now,” Rogers said.
Now, the sophomore is facing former Brandon High School teammate Jonathan Mingo, a wide receiver for the Rebels. Mingo battled back from an injury that kept him out for more than half the season to play Saturday against Vanderbilt, and he said it will be fun to face his old high school quarterback Thursday in Starkville.
“He’s like my best friend,” Mingo said of Rogers. “We talk every day, before every game. We wish each other good luck. It’s going to be fun competing against him this week.”
But while Rogers grew up immersed in the rivalry between the two schools, Mingo didn’t; he said he was a Jackson State fan growing up and didn’t watch many Egg Bowls until recent years.
Conner said he wasn’t a college football fan growing up and has no long-held memories of the rivalry, but he remembers plenty from playing in it as a freshman in 2019. That year, the Bulldogs eked out a 21-20 win when Ole Miss kicker Luke Logan missed an extra point with just a few seconds to go.
Conner expects another such challenge Thursday from Mississippi State.
“It was hostile, it was physical, and it was intense,” Conner said. “It’s going to be a tough game.”
Conner confirmed the Rebels played the sound of a cowbell over the loudspeaker at practice Monday to help prepare for the Davis Wade Stadium crowd. But he and linebacker Chance Campbell both acknowledged the noise can’t compare to what Ole Miss will actually face.
“I was told that that’s a good start, but it doesn’t really match what’s down there,” said Campbell, a transfer from Maryland. “It’s probably good to get a little bit of an idea what’s going on there, but it’ll be exciting to see what that’s like.”
Ole Miss junior running back Jerrion Ealy knows it well. The Walnut Grove native delivered the sharpest words on either side of the rivalry so far when asked for his advice to younger players about playing at Davis Wade.
“You’re going to hate the sound of cowbells,” Ealy said. “You’re probably going to hear cowbells for about two weeks after the game.
“It’s Stinkville to me,” he added. “It stinks there. I don’t like mud. It’s just so muddy. I don’t know; I just don’t like it.”
Mississippi State has fired its own shots in the past. After winning the College World Series in June, star outfielder Tanner Allen said he couldn’t be happier for the entire state of Mississippi — “except Oxford, of course.”
But the Bulldogs who spoke to the media after Saturday’s win over Ole Miss refrained from insulting the Rebels — publicly, anyway.
Linebacker Jett Johnson grew up in Tupelo, where there is roughly a 50/50 split between Rebels and Bulldogs fans. Johnson has plenty of friends who attend Ole Miss, but his conversations with them haven’t gone too far.
“I try to just keep it all about the game and stuff,” Johnson said. “I don’t talk to them too much because they get pretty chippy.”
Johnson said he grew up going to Mississippi State because his father, an alum, had season tickets at Davis Wade. His mother? Not so much.
“My mom was actually a little bit of an Ole Miss fan, but we converted her,” Johnson said.
Wide receiver Austin Williams also knows plenty about growing up in an area where fans of both teams abound. Williams said his native Ocean Springs is filled with both Ole Miss and MSU graduates, although he was “always on the maroon and white side.”
“Obviously, it’s the most important game of the year,” Williams said. “There’s just that certain edge to it, that certain feel in the air. It means a lot to people in this state, and I’m really looking forward to it.”
Johnson said the contest “means a ton” to him. With a Thanksgiving night kickoff on national TV, he expects an “electric” crowd in Starkville — and hopes for a similar performance from his team.
“I think it’s going to be a great atmosphere and a great game,” Johnson said.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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