Following a 39-20 home loss to Missouri, Mississippi State heads northwest to Oxford to battle rival Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl on Friday at 2:30 p.m. on ABC.
The Rebels, in their fifth season under head coach Lane Kiffin, won a program-record 11 games last year and entered this fall feeling good about their chances to reach the 12-team College Football Playoff. But Ole Miss has lost three one-score games, including last Saturday at Florida, and now faces an uphill battle to be able to play for a national championship.
What: Mississippi State at Ole Miss
When: 2:30 p.m. Friday
Where: Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, Oxford
TV: ABC
Betting line: Ole Miss by 26.5
Weather: Sunny skies with a high of 48 degrees and winds out of the north-northwest at 8 miles per hour, per AccuWeather
Records/rankings: The Bulldogs are 2-9 overall and 0-7 in Southeastern Conference play, while the Rebels are 8-3 and 4-3 in the SEC. Ole Miss is No. 15 in the latest AP Top 25 and No. 16 in the AFCA Coaches Poll.
Series history: Ole Miss leads 65-47 with six ties. The Rebels won 17-7 in Starkville last year, but MSU won 24-22 in the last game in Oxford in 2022. The teams have been much more evenly matched since the game moved back to campus sites from Jackson in 1991, with the Bulldogs holding a 17-16 edge.
Mississippi State update: Freshman wide receiver Mario Craver missed last Saturday’s game against Missouri due to a team-issued suspension, but head coach Jeff Lebby said Monday that Craver is back with the team this week. MSU needs as many healthy receivers as possible against Ole Miss’ ball-hawking secondary, but the bigger problem will be getting the ball their way against the Rebels’ pass rush that leads the nation in sack rate.
The Bulldogs had the ball for less than four minutes in the second half against the Tigers, but Davon Booth had his best game of the year, rushing for 124 yards and a touchdown on just 12 carries. Freshman quarterback Michael Van Buren rebounded from a rough outing at Tennessee with much better numbers last week, but a strip sack leading to a defensive touchdown sapped the energy out of MSU.
Ole Miss update: All of the Rebels’ wins have been comfortable this year, but they’ve lost the only three close games they’ve played in. That included a 24-17 loss to the Gators this past Saturday in which star quarterback Jaxson Dart threw two interceptions and was sacked four times. Leading receiver Tre Harris has gone over 1,000 yards for the season in just eight games, but has dealt with injuries for much of the year.
Ole Miss has five pass rushers who live in opposing backfields with Princely Umanmielen, Jared Ivey, Suntarine Perkins, JJ Pegues and Walter Nolen, to go along with leading tackler Chris Paul Jr. The Rebels lead the SEC in rush defense and are strong in the back end as well, with two of the conference’s leaders in pass breakups.
Ole Miss players to watch: QB Jaxson Dart, WR Tre Harris, DE Suntarine Perkins, LB Chris Paul Jr., CB Trey Amos.
Prediction: The Egg Bowl is never normal, but the Rebels are outstanding at pressuring quarterbacks and stopping the run, and the Bulldogs have had a lot of trouble in pass protection. That’s where this game will be won and lost. Ole Miss 48, Mississippi State 10.
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