Jaxson Dart claims the Egg Bowl is the most intense rivalry in college football

Few things make college football as compelling as its rivalries, the lifeblood of the sport in many ways. But there are always arguments about which rivalry is the best. Or the fiercest. Or the most personal. On and on.

Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart weighed in at SEC Media Days from his point of view.

“I think the Egg Bowl is the least talked about rivalry in college football but is the most intense rivalry in college football,” Dart said. “The whole state is completely divided over it and it’s super personal. It’s a very personal game.”

Ole Miss currently owns the lead in the series against Mississippi State at 65-49-6. But the rivalry has been pretty evenly balanced in recent years, even with a handful of coaching changes on both sides.

The last 16 games have been split 8-8, a remarkable string of parity in the annual rivalry game.

And the sheer meaning of the game is one of the things that makes it so intense. It doesn’t really matter how well each program is doing when that game rolls around.

“You could go from winning every game in the season and losing that one and then in some ways you feel like the season is a fail,” Dart explained.

The last few in the rivalry have been close affairs. Ole Miss won a surprisingly defensive contest 17-7 last year. The year before that Mississippi State pulled out a 24-22 win.

Dart’s seen both sides of the game, win and lose. So he feels pretty safe saying it’s legitimately one of the nation’s best rivalries.

“It’s a great atmosphere, great environment to play in,” he said. “Obviously I’m from Utah, so I didn’t grow up really understanding it, but I’ve been on both sides of it. Let’s just say it’s way easier going throughout an offseason with winning it.

“I love it. I love being a part of it.”

This year’s contest between the two programs will once again come late in the season. This time it’ll be a Black Friday showdown at 3:30 p.m. ET with a national audience on ABC.