Loving the long ball? Both sides of Egg Bowl weigh in on Matt Corral's big plays
Ole Miss QB Matt Corral had touchdown passes of 48 and 81 yards in the first half, and they drew predictable reactions from both sides of the Egg Bowl rivalry.
When Ole Miss built a 14-0 lead, the Ole Miss fans were out for blood, to run up the score, and pounded the drum of the Rebels having the better offense than Mike Leach’s “Air Raid” at Mississippi State. Bulldog fans, as if on cue, criticized the defense, or Leach’s play calling. A third and inches play when MSU lined up at shotgun drew particular ire from the State faithful. But the similar distance and alignment was successful on fourth down. Then the Bulldogs eventually scored to cap a 93-yard drive.
One beat writer noted after the 81-yard touchdown a comment that summarized both sides: “That throw was beautiful but the coverage was yikes.”
In a matchup many fans have looked forward to for months because of the personalties of Leach and Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin saw Ole Miss largely control the game. However, the Rebels had their offense bog down more than once near the goal line.
Here’s a sampling of the reaction from the first half:
Watching the #EggBowl and thankful it’s in Oxford so we don’t hear those stupid cowbells. And those “STATE” sideline sweatshirts look like ads for a generic college. 🤦🏻♀️#FailState #GoRebs #HottyToddy
— Alli GumboDiplomacy Cat1214⚜️ (@allicat1214) November 28, 2020
Takeaways from the 1st quarter:
1. Will Rogers has a lot of potential
2. I wish Plumlee was playing qb instead of Corral
3. If our defense can somehow score, we have a chance.— Ian (@Ianmcadams13) November 28, 2020
Lane Kiffin Offense > Mike Leach Offense
— Penalty Talk (@PenaltyTalk) November 28, 2020
Lane Kiffin trying to demolish Leach
— T.J. Bradford, Ph.D. – Masked Doctor (@TJBradford1) November 28, 2020
I was kinda hoping Leach and Kiffin would run all these crazy plays and have the score end up 77-70.
— Matt McClearin (@McMattRadio) November 28, 2020
Corral’s deep ball…lordy.
— Matt Smith (@MattSmithCFB) November 28, 2020
If I were Kiffin, I’d just call Four Verticals, until Corral’s arm came out of its socket. There is no answer for the deep ball.
— Guy From Gulfport (@GuyFromGulfport) November 28, 2020
I get Leach wants to commit to the air raid, but if Ole Miss is putting 4 guys in the box…
(deeeeeeeeeep breath)
run the dang ball
— Matthew Jacobson (@Matt_Jacobson25) November 28, 2020
Reminder: Ole Miss gets the ball after the half. A TD here could set up a double-dip that would make things really, really hard for MSU to come back.
Of course, that’s looking pretty far ahead but still. https://t.co/zsiYE4hDK1
— Nick Suss (@nicksuss) November 28, 2020
Miss state has the announcers talkin ab corral like he’s a heisman contender 🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️
— Snider🤪 (@elijahsnider21) November 28, 2020
Pretty well defended by Miss. State, just an unbelievable throw by Corral. https://t.co/1dFRYu9hsj
— Brad Logan (@BradLoganCOTE) November 28, 2020
Mississippi State has to stop giving #OleMiss man coverage without safety help.
Corral connects with Braylon Sanders for 81 yards and a TD on 3rd-and-18. Rebs go up 21-7, 9:44 Q2 and Corral is up to 219 yards with 2 TDs.
btw that throw was beautiful but the coverage was yikes
— Nick Suss (@nicksuss) November 28, 2020
Mike Leach night have an “air raid offense” but it’s sure looking like @Lane_Kiffin brought out the anti-aircraft guns on defense today #HYDR #EggBowl #EggBowl2020
— Ben Hicks (@tnbhicks) November 28, 2020
mike leach isn’t even wearing a sanctioned ms state sweatshirt. it looks like something from Animal house. kiffen has his mask mic’d! #eggbowl #waom
— Rob Cornelius (@BentleyTock) November 28, 2020
Mike Leach and the Air Raid was supposed to turn this program around!! #EggBowl pic.twitter.com/BFpd2bVNVh
— J.S. (@JonJ_07) November 28, 2020
Third and inches and we run shotgun pass. This is where Leach loses the fan base. #EggBowl
— Sarthak Sharma (@sasharma22) November 28, 2020