NFL prospect-laden Egg Bowl no longer just Mississippi's hidden gem
The battle for Mississippi is all grown up.
The Egg Bowl, which got its name in part because its two participants often had little else to play for aside from bragging rights, will pit two ranked rivals against each other for the second consecutive year.
That doesn’t sound like much if you’re from Alabama, South Carolina or Florida, but it’s never happened in Mississippi — until Saturday, when No. 18 Ole Miss visits No. 21 Mississippi State, a year after No. 19 Ole Miss stunned No. 4 MSU.
“From a national standpoint, sometimes it’s not considered that big, but in our state, we get in our little box and it’s huge,” said David Kellum, the veteran voice of Ole Miss football. “One team could have 3 wins and the other could have 4, and we still think we’re playing for all the marbles.
“But it’s a whole lot better now. You look at the Iron Bowl and every year one of those two teams is playing for something very significant. A shot at the national championship, a shot at the SEC title.
“It’s kinda neat that Ole Miss and State have followed that.”
Stars add national interest to regional treasure
Kellum is looking forward to calling his 28th Egg Bowl on Saturday.
“I’m 14-13, in Ole Miss’ favor,” he quickly adds.
He said he can’t recall a more star-laden matchup than the one he’ll see at Davis Wade Stadium, where Chad Kelly and Dak Prescott might engage in a race to 50.
“Maybe the best quarterback matchup in the Egg Bowl, in my time for sure,” he said. “Dak Prescott, by far, is the top quarterback Mississippi State has had. He’s nearly 80 percent of their offense but you still can’t stop him. You think slow him down, you have a chance to win, but that’s easier said than done.
“And Chad Kelly has just been phenomenal, broken a lot of Eli (Manning’s) records.
“You’ve got several pro quality players on either side. There have been years where you’ve had one or two, but to have this many … several on both sides who can play at the next level.
“It does push it to a different level, little bit more of a national flavor. More people are probably interested in the Egg Bowl the last two years nationally than we’ve ever had.”
That relatively new national spotlight isn’t lost on Johnthan Banks.
Banks grew up near Starkville and attended Egg Bowl games as a child before starring in them as a Mississippi State defensive back. He is thrilled that the Egg Bowl has grown too big for its state borders.
“It’s great. Both of those coaches, Coach (Dan) Mullen and Hugh Freeze, they’ve both done a great job with those programs, bringing them back to life and getting their schools some national attention,” said Banks, now with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. “And not just their schools, but the state of Mississippi as a whole. They’ve made it a big game. Now hopefully Mississippi State comes out on top!”
Excuse Banks for his lack of objectivity on the matter.
He went 3-1 against Ole Miss. The memories run as deep as the emotions.
“My favorite memory is from my junior year (in 2011),” he said. “It was probably the best game of my college career. I had a forced fumble, a few tackles, a few pass breakups, and we beat Ole Miss pretty good.”
And …
“One of their coaches even got fired after that game,” he said.
That wasn’t even the best part, of course.
Nothing beats a post-game celebration that lasts 364 days.
What’s at stake? Only everything
Mississippi doesn’t have a major league team. It has this game. It has the anticipation and the exclamation, and it has families sitting on the same couch wearing different colors.
Better believe, the result will find you — and follow you.
“You have to go to Thanksgiving dinner with these people, and there’s hardly any family that doesn’t have a combination of both fan bases in some form or fashion,” Kellum said, laughing.
He said the rivalry runs so deep in his family that the day he got the Ole Miss radio job, his uncle, a Bulldogs fan, couldn’t wait to congratulate him.
“He said, ‘I’m so proud of you. Maybe someday when Jack Cristil retires, you can move to Mississippi State,'” Kellum said.
Kellum laughs at the memory.
Banks can laugh too, regardless of what happens Saturday.
One of his better friends — “I call him my little brother” — Derrick Jones, is a junior receiver at Ole Miss.
“I usually don’t hear from him until after the game, though, then we can see who won,” Banks said.
Jones could score 3 touchdowns, and Banks might still be smiling.
“I have lifetime bragging rights,” he said. “If you go 3-1 in the Egg Bowl, you get that.”
Saturday bragging rights are up for grabs again. Talk of Ole Miss’ convincing victory last November matters less and less as kickoff nears. There will be new winners to crown, new jokes to crack.
Kellum won’t predict a score, but he already knows the outcome.
“Before social media it was all about the coffee shop, and one fan base or the other was not going to show up at the coffee shop on the Monday after losing that game,” he said.
As much as the rivalry has changed, that part never will.