On Thursday, Mississippi State looks to win its first Egg Bowl since 2019.
The Bulldogs (7-4, 3-4 Southeastern Conference) visit Ole Miss (8-3, 4-3 SEC) at 6 p.m. Thursday in the 118th rivalry meeting between the two teams.
For more on the Rebels, The Dispatch spoke with David Eckert, who covers Ole Miss for The Clarion-Ledger.
Eckert is in his first season covering Ole Miss.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
The last two weeks have been pretty tough for Ole Miss. I know you’re new to the beat, but are you getting a sense that this season has been a disappointment for the Rebels?
Eckert: Expectations evolve based on information. Pre-Alabama, yeah. From that baseline, it’s disappointing. But based on the preseason baseline, I don’t really think you can say that. This was kind of billed as a rebuilding year. Lane Kiffin bypassed that with his transfer portal activity, but I think 9-3 — which is still on the table — would have been a very OK, good outcome for most Ole Miss fans. There’s two ways to look at it, but overall, probably not a disappointment. If they lose on Thursday, maybe that changes.
Ole Miss found itself down 42-6 at one point against Arkansas on Saturday. What went wrong for Ole Miss in that game, and can it be easily corrected going forward?
Eckert: It was just weird — a weird, weird, weird football game. I guess problem No. 1 is the run defense — over 300 yards rushing for Arkansas, Raheim Sanders over 200 yards rushing. It was bad. It was really bad. But at the same time, Ole Miss moved the ball on offense like a team capable of keeping up with that. They just didn’t punch it in. They were terrible in that extended red zone area. They turned it over three times. They had over 700 yards of total offense, so when you only score 27 points from that, that’s bizarre and it kind of leaves you questioning what the takeaway is. Clearly, you’ve executed the major objective on offense, which is to move the football well. You just kind of lost in the margins a little bit. I’m not deriving any big-picture takeaways from it offensively. I think they’re going to be fine. Defensively, that run defense was a problem, and that has to be fixed.
Arkansas ran for 335 yards against Ole Miss, but Mississippi State’s strength is obviously not the run game. How does Ole Miss’ pass defense match up with the Air Raid?
Eckert: That’s going to be the thing that determines this game. I think it starts with the pass rush for Ole Miss — ‘what can they do to make Will Rogers uncomfortable back there?’ is the first question. As far as the secondary itself, I think they’re athletic. I think they’re pretty good. But you can’t give Rogers forever to throw. Their pass rush was not good against Arkansas when the Razorbacks did have to throw it. Typically, that has been a strength of theirs. They’ve got to get that dialed back up. If you let Rogers just stand there, that’s not going to be a good outcome for you.
Do you think Ole Miss’ run game is going to be able to do whatever it wants against Mississippi State, or do you think State’s run defense might be able to stop the Rebels?
Eckert: Ole Miss’ running game has done whatever it wants against just about everybody. It seems like Zach Evans is OK. He had an amazing game against Arkansas after his concussion against Alabama last week, so that’s big. That’s one of the things about this Ole Miss team that you just know you’re going to get. Quinshon Judkins and Zach Evans are going to run the ball well. Period. It’s what happens around that that is going to decide this game.
If you’re comfortable making a prediction, how do you see Thursday’s game playing out?
Eckert: I think Ole Miss wins close. I know better at this point than to pick a blowout in an Egg Bowl. I think Ole Miss has probably the better roster despite the recent results. Lane Kiffin has been better than Mike Leach in this game. I like Ole Miss in this game. I think it will be close. I think it will be exciting. I think there will be some nonsense, as the Egg Bowl tends to provide for us. But I think Ole Miss gets it done.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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