It’s time for the Egg Bowl! No. 18 Mississippi State and Ole Miss will meet for the 115th time this Thanksgiving as the Rebels and Bulldogs are both looking to end the season on a high note.
No. 18 Mississippi State is on its way up to Oxford, Mississippi for one of the most heated rivalries in all of college football. The Bulldogs are getting ready to face the Ole Miss Rebels and MSU head coach Joe Moorhead is trying to get his first win in the rivalry. Ole Miss’s second-year head coach, Matt Luke, is trying to find a way to replicate the upset he managed at the end of last season.
In 2017, the Rebels were able to make a few explosive plays that enabled them to jump out ahead of the Bulldogs. MSU was without its starting quarterback as Nick Fitzgerald was taken out with a gruesome ankle injury early on in the game and true freshman Keytaon Thompson fell just short in orchestrating a major comeback in the first game that he truly got to play significant minutes in. Mississippi State lost 31-28 a year ago in Starkville and Dan Mullen left town shortly after that.
MSU’s fans certainly remember that, and there’s no doubt that the Bulldogs are planning on this year being completely different. For the result to be different this year, MSU needs to find a way to keep Jordan Ta’amu and the Ole Miss offense from moving up and down the field with ease. Ta’amu and the Rebels are torching defenses left and right, scoring 36.7 points per game and racking up 539.7 total yards of offense per game.
But even though the Rebels haven’t had many issues scoring against most opponents this season, they’ll have to find a way to score consistently against one of the best defenses in the country if they hope to win. As good as Ole Miss has been on offense this season, it’s fair to say that the Bulldogs have been better on defense. Mississippi State is currently holding teams to a meager 12.8 points and 276 yards per game. This should be an interesting matchup between a thrilling offense and an incredible defense.
How to bet on and watch Mississippi State vs. Ole Miss
- Date: Thursday, Nov. 22
- Start Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
- Location: Oxford, Mississippi
- Stadium: Vaught-Hemingway Stadium
- TV Info: ESPN
- Odds: Mississippi State -13.5
- Live Stream: WatchESPN
Prediction: The Mississippi State Bulldogs enter into this game as the more complete team. Ole Miss has a notably better offense than MSU this season, but the Bulldogs boast one of the best defenses in the country this year while having an offense that is still good enough to win games. If Joe Moorhead’s team can jump out and set the tone early, MSU should be able to control the game and get a decent win. Even though State has struggled on the road, the Bulldogs are the safer pick in this game.