Instant Analysis: Mississippi State-Ole Miss

For the second time in the past six seasons, the Ole Miss Rebels will be picking Cotton in early January, and it’s all because they didn’t want any drama to drop from the latest rendition of the Egg Bowl.

After four years in the college football wilderness, the University of Mississippi’s gridiron heroes will once again go to Dallas for a postseason game, as Houston Nutt’s squad whacked a reeling Mississippi State team that couldn’t produce back-to-back bowl-bearing seasons. Despite the bitter emotions that define this in-state rivalry, the Rebels were able to rise above the moment and avoid a nail-biting finish. After blowing a 14-0 lead to lose last year’s Egg Bowl by three points in Starkville, Ole Miss decided to do things differently this time around.

Ole Miss jumped to a quick 10-0 lead against the Bulldogs, but that early burst didn’t create a sense of complacency on the Rebel sideline. Continuing to overwhelm Sly Croom’s crew with superior athleticism and playmaking ability, the Rebels surged against their anemic adversary to quickly remove any suspense from the proceedings in Oxford. Ole Miss quarterback Jevan Snead threw three touchdown passes, one of them a 72-yard strike to receiver Mike Wallace, to give the home team a 31-0 halftime bulge. That lopsided score wasn’t a freak occurrence inflated by lucky bounces or timely breaks; the Rebels outgained Mississippi State, 324 yards to 42, in the first 30 minutes of play. The second half was just a matter of playing out the string, and when it was all over, the SEC West’s most downtrodden program (since the SEC went to divisional play in 1992) had clinched a second-place finish behind division champion Alabama. The sensational 8-4 season, combined with the dramatic downfall of LSU, gives Ole Miss a spot in the Cotton Bowl, most likely against Texas Tech.

The Ed Orgeron years have now been fully and finally wiped away. Houston doesn’t have a problem in Oxford, as Ole Miss—under a new head coach—will once again play a high-profile bowl game.