Rapid Reaction: Ole Miss blows by Mississippi State for Egg Bowl win
By Chris Wright
Published:
Forget the Lane Kiffin storylines for a moment. Ole Miss wrestled the narrative back on Friday afternoon, reminding the country that the reason Kiffin is such a sought-after coach is because his team is pretty darn good.
Led by a near-flawless performance from quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, the seventh-ranked Rebels rolled past Mississippi State for a 38-19 victory. The result secured Ole Miss its 11th regular-season win of the season and set a new program record.
When Kiffin won the Peach Bowl to close out the 2023 season, it was the first time the program had ever won 11 games in a single season. Now, 2 years later, with a different cast of characters but the same dynamite offense, Ole Miss has won more regular-season games than it ever has before.
The Rebels will play for the SEC Championship if both Texas A&M and Alabama lose. Absent a title appearance, they still feel like locks to earn their first-ever College Football Playoff bid. And that’s true regardless of what happens with Kiffin in the coming days.
The Ole Miss head coach was interviewed by ESPN multiple times throughout the game. His future was talked about ad nauseam during the broadcast and on social media. All that did was distract from Chambliss’s day.
A Heisman darkhorse, Chambliss threw for 359 yards, pushing his way past the 3,000-yard mark for the season. He got help from Kewan Lacy, who ran 27 times for 143 yards and moved into third on the Ole Miss all-time single-season rushing list.
Mississippi State’s inability to stop Lacy early pulled safeties closer to the line of scrimmage throughout the day, and Chambliss took advantage. Chambliss had touchdown passes of 24, 23, and 88 yards. The latter came with 9:50 to play in the fourth after Mississippi State had cut into the lead and effectively iced the win.
Ole Miss won its third consecutive Egg Bowl, matching its longest winning streak in the series since 2002-04. Kiffin improved to 5-1 against the Bulldogs.
Ole Miss 38, Mississippi State 19
Here’s the Egg Bowl box score (use the dropdown menu to select team or player stats), followed by the complete play-by-play:
Managing Editor
A 30-time APSE award-winning editor with previous stints at the Miami Herald, The Indianapolis Star and News & Observer, Executive Editor Chris Wright oversees editorial operations for Saturday Down South.
