At midnight, the Southeastern Conference will officially have 16 teams with two new members in former Big 12 powers Texas and Oklahoma. This move also adds one of college football’s most storied rivalries to an already impressive portfolio when compared to the rest of the country.
The Red River Rivalry (played annually in the Cotton Bowl) has been synonymous with pageantry and tradition, with the stakes often being through the roof, as both programs have been considered for the longest time as among college football’s blue bloods. Texas leads the all-time series 63-51-5.
With this new chapter set to begin this season, it now begs the question of who actually owns the best rivalry in the SEC now? There’s definitely some good ones to choose from. However, very few put the absurdity of college football on full display like the Battle for the Golden Egg, played annually between the Ole Miss Rebels and Mississippi State Bulldogs.
In CBS Sports’ new SEC rivalry rankings, with Texas and Oklahoma soon to be SEC programs, the Egg Bowl has been debatably placed at No. 3, behind the Red River Rivalry (No. 1) and, as expected, the Iron Bowl (No. 2) between the Alabama Crimson Tide and Auburn Tigers.
This year’s Egg Bowl will actually have a small tweak to it, with this year’s matchup being played on Black Friday, Nov. 29, rather than Thanksgiving Day. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. CT inside Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, with the game being broadcasted on ABC.
Ole Miss enters this year’s Egg Bowl having won three of the last four matchups, having the Golden Egg sit in the Manning Center when the Bulldogs make their way 100 miles north up to Oxford. This year’s matchup will have the inevitable storyline regarding Jeff Lebby, Lane Kiffin‘s former Ole Miss offensive coordinator who’s now the head coach of the in-state rival. Lebby turned Kiffin’s first Ole Miss team in 2020 into the nation’s most explosive offense and also helped Matt Corral finish seventh in the Heisman Trophy voting in 2021
Kiffin arrived at Ole Miss the same year Mike Leach accepted the head coaching job at Mississippi State. The two were believed to be responsible for putting the rivalry in a somewhat civil state, coming off of years of toxicity during Ole Miss’ NCAA investigation during the mid 2010’s. Leach passed away soon after the Bulldogs took their most recent victory over Ole Miss. Current Ole Miss defensive analyst Zach Arnett lasted just 10 games as Leach’s successor, before Lebby left Norman for Starkville.
Ole Miss leads the all-time series over Mississippi State 65-46-6, with a 59-30-5 record under the “Battle for the Golden Egg” moniker that began in 1927. The Rebels have a 6-4 edge in the last 10 meetings, only adding evidence to how fierce of a rivalry the Egg Bowl is, with all the bizzare circumstances that contribute to it either on or off the field.
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