Beating Mississippi State will take Ole Miss’ best effort on all fronts.
First, every coach and player will have to be and remain focused for four quarters. This is something the Rebels have not been able to do many times, if ever, this season.
I didn’t think the receivers were focused against LSU in Baton Rouge. Ole Miss has the best receiving corps in college football, but was not able to catch many passes against the Tigers and wound up losing the Magnolia Bowl.
The Rebel defense will have to play with pride to take the Egg Bowl. One should not have to need any incentive to beat the Bullies; just the fact that it is Mississippi State should be enough incentive for the Rebs. It was enough incentive a year ago and it should be enough this year as well.
Finally, Ole Miss will have to score touchdowns and not settle for field goals in order to beat the Maroons.
It’s really quite simple if Ole Miss Coach Matt Luke can come up with a game plan that encompasses the talent he has on his squad. He’s got the best collegiate wide receiver in the nation in A.J. Brown, who’s leading the nation in receptions, touchdown receptions and receiving yards going into the big game, and his quarterback, though no Shea Patterson, is no slouch.
As I see it, the Ole Miss defense must play four quarters and wrap up tackles if the Rebels are to stand a chance against the Bulldogs.
How many years has it been since the home team won the Egg Bowl? 2014, Ole Miss in Oxford, 26-0.
Even Archie didn’t go unbeaten against the Maroon and White. He went 1-1-1 against State, winning, 19-19 as a sophomore, winning, 48-22, as a junior, and losing, 19-14, as a senior. Just so you’ll know, the tie and the loss were at home.
When these two schools get together, you throw records out the window. Anything can, and probably will, happen. Stan Torgerson, the Rebel play-by-play radio announcer during the Archie years, used to say that nothing is impossible during an Egg Bowl.
If that is true, maybe the Ole Miss defense will play up to its potential tomorrow night.
Johnny Vaught, arguably the best Coach Ole Miss ever had, wouldn’t have wanted the Egg Bowl played on Thanksgiving night as he couldn’t eat on the day (or night) of this game. He preferred the game be played on Saturday.
But, for the Rebels to defeat the Bulldogs tomorrow night, it will take everything Luke can muster in the way of a (1) game plan, (2) overall team effort and (3) getting all the breaks. And different replay officials in Birmingham than those we had at Vanderbilt last Saturday night.
The Egg Bowl is the Rebels’ bowl game again this year. Self-imposed, no less. Of course, the NCAA would have imposed one had the Rebs not, but that’s beside the point.
Last year’s Egg Bowl win is what got Matt Luke’s interim tag removed from his title of head coach and he had best remember that tomorrow night. A 6-6 record is nothing to write home about, but it sure looks better than 5-7.
I am not saying Matt should be terminated if Ole Miss should lose the Egg Bowl tomorrow night. I just realize the importance that some administrators put on the Rebels beating Mississippi State. I just think Matt deserves at least another year as the Rebels’ head coach.
That’s all.
