Mississippi State Twitch: An Ole Miss Egg Bowl beatdown in our play-through
No. 14 Ole Miss (8-3, 4-3 SEC) needs style points to boost its College Football Playoff hopes Friday against in-state rival Mississippi State (2-9, 0-7).
The Rebels got just that in our Twitch play-through.
The Ole Miss Spirit’s Zach Berry took the Bulldogs for a ride in what we hope is an early preview of the annual Egg Bowl. Kickoff on Black Friday is 2:30 p.m. CT on ABC.
Ole Miss and Mississippi State will be meeting for the 121st time in history. Ole Miss holds a 65-47-6 edge in the series — one of college football’s most-played rivalries and dating back to 1901.
The Rebels are 22-14-3 in Oxford. Friday will be the 97th ‘Battle of the Golden Egg.’ The teams started playing for the trophy in 1927.
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OLE MISS AT A GLANCE
Ole Miss is fourth in the country in efficiency (86.5), according to ESPN’s Game Control metric, and sixth in FPI (21.3). The Bulldogs (23.2) and Rebels (23.4) are the two fastest offenses in SEC in seconds per play.
Third-year Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart needs just 49 passing yards to pass Eli Manning for the Ole Miss career record (10,119). He owns more passing yards through 11 games than eight of the last 10 Heisman-winning quarterback.
Dart leads the FBS in total offense (373.4), passing efficiency (181.6) and yards/attempt (11.0). Dart has thrown for 5,307 yards and 40 TDs at home as a Rebel. He has a 17-3 record.
Ole Miss has been the best of all FBS offenses since 2020 in yards per game (505.2). The Rebel are the only team to rank in the Top 10 in both rushing (6th, 208.5) and passing (5th, 296.8) in that span.
Rebel EDGE rushers Suntarine Perkins and Princely Umanmielen have 10.5 sacks apiece. Their each 2.0 shy of Ole Miss’ single-season record. Defensive tackle Walter Nolen is a finalist for the Outland Trophy. He’s the top-rated SEC interior defensive lineman in run defense (No. 2 FBS), according to Pro Football Focus.
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Ole Miss leads the country in sacks (46), breaking the single-season program record of 39 from both 2021 and 1992.
MISSISSIPPI STATE AT A GLANCE
Mississippi State is averaging 381.5 offensive yards per game, with 235 yards coming through the air.
True freshman Michael Van Buren, Jr., has taken over as MSU’s primary signal-caller following a season-ending injury to senior Blake Shapen. Van Buren Jr. has started seven games and thrown for 1,606 yards and 10 touchdowns.
His top receiver is Kevin Coleman, Jr. Coleman, Jr., has hauled in 68 cathes for 814 yards and five touchdowns. Utah State transfer Davon Booth paces Mississippi State in rushing. He has 721 yards and five scores.
MSU is giving up 462 yards per game on defense. The Bulldogs are allowing opponents to rush for more than 213 yards per game. They’ve given up 30 or more points in nine of 11 games this season.
Safety Isaac Smith and transfer Stone Blanton both rank Top 10 nationally in total tackles. The pair has 115 and 111, respectively.
