Don’t count your chickens before they hatch, Rebel fans
There is a huge lesson to be learned from this year’s Egg Bowl for those Rebel fans who are willing to learn it. The question is – will they actually learn it?
Like everyone who cheers for the Bulldogs, I’m downright giddy about the way Saturday’s Egg Bowl turned out. And who wouldn’t be? We won the game by FIVE TOUCHDOWNS! Let that sink in for a moment – FIVE TOUCHDOWNS. Thirty five points. That’s our biggest margin of victory in an Egg Bowl in exactly 100 years. It’s taken a while for that to truly sink in with me.
But my giddiness about the game is not only just about how it turned out, but about how my personal view of the Egg Bowl rivalry was once again validated. I’ve been watching this thing for a long time, longer probably than the majority of you who are reading this. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that neither side is likely to completely dominate the rivalry for an extended period of time. The other side is always going to come back.
Consider 2012. MSU had won three Egg Bowls in a row. They were bowl bound and favored heading into that matchup with 5-6 Ole Miss. The Rebels had been beaten down the previous year, fired Houston Nutt and hired this new coach that many in the fan base were not 100% sold on. Everything seemed to be going State’s way.
We all know what happened – the series momentum turned in a big way. Ole Miss would win that game and three of the next four. Their fortunes were definitely up and while State wasn’t exactly down and out during those years, the Egg Bowl losses in 2014 and 2015 really put a bitter taste in our mouths.
Or how about 2009? MSU was utterly destroyed the previous year by Ole Miss and the Rebels were on their way to a second straight Cotton Bowl. Not too many believed the Bulldogs had a chance in that game. Yet, it would be the first of three straight wins for Mullen’s Bulldogs and a turning point in the rivalry.
More from Mississippi State Football
- Meeting the Opponent: Week 4 – South Carolina Gamecocks
- Mississippi State football vs LSU: The good, bad, and ugly
- The Wednesday Wrap: Maybe Mississippi State Football Coach Zach Arnett shouldn’t do it his way
- Mississippi State football history vs. South Carolina: Records, streaks, and more
- Mississippi State football bowl projections after Bulldogs crushed by LSU
I’ve seen so many of these turnabouts that I’ve lost count. One side will have the other program on its back, with their boot on their throat, just waiting to stomp. Then miraculously, the other program comes up off the mat and delivers a knockout punch. That’s the history of the Egg Bowl rivalry and those of us with a few more years of living under our belts know this.
In fact, if you take out the John Vaught era in which Ole Miss truly dominated MSU for over two decades (18-2-4), this rivalry is pretty much an even match. It’s been that way since Vaught retired. Aside from those years (1947-1970), MSU leads the series 44-43-2 not counting the forfeits in 1976 and 1977.
At the beginning of the season, Ole Miss fans were not only celebrating their chances of actually going to the SEC championship and perhaps being a playoff team, but they were pretty sure they had passed Mississippi State and left them for dead. A third consecutive Egg Bowl win was a virtual guarantee and their fans let us all know about it on Twitter.
A few of us cautioned them they might want to step on the brakes a bit. Chad Kelly was a great QB and they had some great receivers, but there were questions on the O-line and on defense. And then there are injuries. I don’t care how good you are, every team needs a little bit of luck with injuries. We were mocked for saying that. But as it turned out, Ole Miss ended up having really rotten luck with injuries in 2016.
So let this be a lesson to you, Rebels and Bulldogs alike. No matter how good you think you’re going to be as you go into a season, sometimes it doesn’t work out the way you think it will. Is there a single person at the first of the year who would have predicted Ole Miss would not only lose the Egg Bowl, but lose it by 5 touchdowns and not be bowl eligible? I don’t think anyone on either side saw that coming.
But some of us knew it was at least a possibility. Because that’s just how football works sometimes. Perhaps you young bucks on Twitter will know this next time before you start running your mouths in August. As the old saying goes, that’s why we play the games.