The University of Mississippi and Mississippi State University played each other in football for the first time in 1902. The game —  known as the Egg Bowl — has been played every year since 1944, and most every year from 1902 to 1942.

They’re sort of neighbors, with the Rebels’ campus in Oxford and the Bulldogs’ campus in Starkville sitting roughly 100 miles apart. They’re as familiar with each other as just about any set of rivals in college football.

Over the years, Mississippi has become better known regionally and nationally as Ole Miss; Mississippi State is often known simply as State,  which head coach Mike Leach often displays on his game-day sweatshirt.

Here are 10 things every fan needs to know about Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State:

10. It just meant more even before the SEC
The Rebels and the Bulldogs have been SEC rivals since both became charter members in 1933.

But their rivalry predates that and has gone through three eras. They 1st competed against each other as independents, meeting 15 times. Then they met as members of the Southern Conference 11 times (1922-32) until the SEC was formed.

9. Changing venues
The teams have alternated hosting this game on their campuses since 1991, but over the years they have met 35 times at neutral sites.

The neutral sites have been Jackson (29 times, including every season from 1973-90), Tupelo (1915-17), Greenwood (1920-21), Clarksdale (1919) and Columbus (1904). Throw in Oxford and Starkville and that’s a total of 7 venues to host the game.

8. State wasn’t always the Bulldogs
When the rivalry began, Mississippi State was known as Mississippi A&M and the team’s nickname, fittingly, was the Aggies.

Along the way the team was also known as the Mississippi State College Maroons (1933-60) before officially becoming the Mississippi State Bulldogs in 1961.

7. Battle for the Golden Egg
After Ole Miss snapped a 13-game losing streak in the series with a 7-6 victory in 1926, Rebels fans ran onto the field in Starkville and tried to tear down the goal posts and fights ensued.

The schools’ student bodies, hoping to keep that from happening again, established a trophy the next season that would go to the winner. The football-shaped trophy resembled an egg and was named the Golden Egg, and hence the game was named “The Battle for the Golden Egg.” Ole Miss won the inaugural trophy, 20-12, in 1927.

6. Becoming a bowl
Though the trophy was called the Golden Egg from its creation, it was a half a century before the Egg Bowl name appeared. That came in 1977 in a headline in the Jackson Clarion-Ledger, and the name stuck.

5. Double dipping
The Egg Bowl is the only “bowl” in which the Rebels and the Bulldogs have met.

But they did meet twice in 1918, when games were canceled due to the Spanish flu pandemic and the schools were left scrambling to find opponents.

4. Ties and overtimes
The Rebels and the Bulldogs played to a tie 5 times before the NCAA instituted overtime play.

The games have gone into overtime just once, with State prevailing 17-10 in 2013.

3. Longest streaks
State’s longest winning streak is 13 games (between 1911-25), back when the teams didn’t play every season. Nine of those wins were by shutout. Ole Miss’ longest winning streak is just 6 games (twice, 1930-35 and 1947-52), but the Rebels went 17 years without a loss from 1947-1963. They won 6 in row, then tied, won 3 in a row, tied, won 5 in a row and tied again before the Bulldogs broke through.

2. Highest rankings
The highest that State has been ranked going into the Ole Miss game is No. 4 in 2014, when the Bulldogs lost to the 18th-ranked Rebels 31-17.

The highest that Ole Miss has been ranked facing State was No. 2 in 1959 and the Rebels won 42-0. That started a streak of 5 consecutive seasons in which Ole Miss was ranked in the Top 5 when it faced State. The Rebels were No. 3 in 1960, No. 5 in 1961 and No. 3 again in 1962 and 1963. The Rebels won those 1st 4 meetings by a combined score of 127-22 before the teams played to a 10-all tie in 1963.

1. Thanksgiving Day tradition
The Egg Bowl has been played on Thanksgiving several times. But we’re not sure exactly how many times because the schools don’t agree on a few of the dates.

There seems to be agreement that the game was played on Thanksgiving in 1905, 1907, 1909-11, 1918, 1926-32, 1937, 1969, 1971, 2013, 2017-19, 2021-22. The dates in 1906, 1908, 1929 and 1970 are unclear, according to the Clarion-Ledger.