- 1 week ago
Most college football rivalries need some extra juice to enter "beef" territory. For Ole Miss and Mississippi State, there's a chance they've only ever known beef, but some extra juice let the rest of the nation take a look and say, "oh yeah, that's some Grade A stuff down there."
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00:00Ole Miss and Mississippi State's beef began with an NCAA investigation.
00:05It ended with a player pretending to pee like a dog.
00:09And it all could have been prevented had a trophy done its one stupid job.
00:16In 2011, no one knew what was in store for Mississippi college football.
00:21Mississippi State was a couple years into the Dan Mullen experience and things looked
00:26good.
00:26But Ole Miss readied to make a hire that would draw the entire sport's attention.
00:32Not necessarily on day one of Hugh Freeze stepping in, more so with what eventually followed.
00:39Both coaches stepped into programs needing repairs, but along with that, they took the
00:44reins to one of the nation's greatest, most chaotic, and soon to be most scrutinized rivalries
00:51in all of college football.
00:52Good football, bad football, it never mattered.
00:56This rivalry runs on hate.
00:59If you're thinking it can't be that bad, well, do you know another feud that commissioned
01:04a trophy to stop drunk fans from fighting after games?
01:09This guy was meant to manifest good sportsmanship.
01:12Or, at worst, provide a post-game distraction that the crowd could focus on.
01:18Unfortunately, everyone focused on how it looks like a big gold egg.
01:22So the attempted civility instead inspired a name.
01:26The Battle for the Golden Egg.
01:28Eventually, it just became the Egg Bowl, an annual tradition birthed from violence.
01:35Science is unclear how many trophies it would take for Mississippi to behave, but surely it's
01:41more than one.
01:42Realistically, the hate is coded into their DNA.
01:45These are two schools, separated by 112 miles of Route 45, with fan bases sharing every populated
01:54space in the state, leaning into opposing identities on the verge of caricature.
02:00As the future crooked senator Steven Godfrey put it, Mississippi State is the rednecks.
02:06Ole Miss, the country club.
02:07In Oxford, you've got bow tie-wearing future lawyers.
02:10In Starkville, it's engineers rattling cowbells.
02:14It colors in everything, from NFL matchups to the high school version, a perfectly named
02:20Little Egg Bowl.
02:22We've seen Assault by Cowbell, fandom interfering with peeping a jaw, and since it's typically
02:30played on or around Thanksgiving, every matchup either carries bowl ramifications or serves
02:36as the bowl that Mississippi actually cares about.
02:40Within the state, this has maybe always been more beef than rivalry.
02:46Flames are easier to fan if no one's looking, and for a long time on the national level, folks
02:53weren't looking.
02:54In 1991, Sports Illustrated called this the saddest rivalry in college football.
02:59Outsiders didn't care about or understand their pride, so something special was needed to
03:07get the rest of the sport to take notice.
03:09It started simply.
03:11Both teams got good at the same time.
03:14Mullen got a jump start on his turnaround in Starkville.
03:18After year two in 2009, the Bulldogs were a top 20 team for just the seventh time in the
03:25last 50 years.
03:26That 2010 season actually sparked a bull streak that would outlast Mullen himself.
03:32In 2014, thanks to some Dak Prescott heroics, he turned MSU into the best team in the nation
03:39poised to land in college football's first ever playoff.
03:43They just needed to get past an Ole Miss team that was one month removed from being the third
03:48best team in the nation.
03:50By the time of the Egg Bowl, the Rebels' playoff chances were already dashed, but for everyone
03:55in Oxford, what might be just as great as making the playoffs yourself is preventing State
04:01from getting in.
04:02And that's exactly what they did.
04:06Freeze had made quick work of turning the two-win program he inherited into a national threat.
04:12It really kicked off in February 2013.
04:16Freeze landed one of the best recruiting classes in the nation, seemingly out of nowhere.
04:21To the unwashed masses, or as it was called at the time, Twitter, only one thing leads to
04:28such a result in college football.
04:30Cheatin'.
04:31Freeze heard the accusations.
04:32He saw his players being dragged through the digital mud, so he took a stand.
04:37We aren't cheating, that's a serious allegation.
04:40So serious, that if you have proof, here is the email to use to let Ole Miss know about
04:45such infractions.
04:47He'd regret this.
04:49In 2014, the NCAA showed up in Oxford.
04:52They weren't there for freeze, it was actually the women's basketball team that sparked an investigation,
04:58but through that process, the NCAA dug up some dirt on the football team.
05:03All of that came out in January 2016.
05:07Don't worry, Freeze said, those violations were actually committed under the last guy's
05:12watch.
05:12We'll respect the process, but my program is clean.
05:16And then, three months later, this happened.
05:19On the night of the NFL Draft's first round, soon to be first rounder and Ole Miss stud,
05:25Laramie Tunsil had his socials hacked.
05:27Video of him using a gas mask bong stole the headlines, but it was screenshots of text
05:33messages that really changed everything.
05:35They alleged to show Tunsil asking members of Ole Miss for cash.
05:40This came under Freeze's watch.
05:43Tunsil was one of his prized recruits from that storied 2013 class.
05:48Later on draft night, by then a Miami Dolphin, Tunsil appeared to admit to taking money from
05:54Ole Miss.
05:56Seeing that, concerned citizens flooded the email address, so conveniently provided by
06:01Freeze three years earlier, making sure that no one was asleep at the wheel.
06:05And the NCAA quickly reopened their investigation.
06:11Everything having to do with this moment, the investigation, the lead up and fallout, that
06:15story has been told and told very well by Steven Godfrey if you want to check out Foul Play
06:21next.
06:22But here's how it played into our beef.
06:25As part of the investigation, the NCAA sought out players who had been recruited by Ole Miss
06:31and were willing to speak on record with immunity.
06:34They spoke to members of various SEC schools, but in particular, some players from Mississippi
06:41State who had also been recruited by Freeze.
06:44Bulldogs linebacker Leo Lewis played a huge part, claiming to have received cash payments
06:51from the Rebels.
06:52Ole Miss, the school, responded by turning over evidence of their own, claiming Mississippi State
06:57committed recruiting malpractice themselves to land Lewis.
07:01Ole Miss, the fans, responded with accusations of MSU orchestrating the more serious allegations.
07:09But ultimately, things became so stacked against Ole Miss that even a state representative tried
07:15to reshape the power dynamics of the entire NCAA.
07:19Defamation suits flew all over the place.
07:22Rebel Rags, an Oxford-based clothing store, found itself at the center of the conversation
07:28and claimed this all to be one big overarching conspiracy to bring down their brand.
07:33That same summer, Ole Miss' former coach, Houston Nutt, filed a lawsuit of his own against the
07:40school, naming Freeze as a central figure, which proved to be the juiciest case of them all.
07:48As part of that lawsuit, Freeze turned over phone records that had failed to redact calls
07:54he made on his work phone to an escort service.
07:58Particularly of note to our beef, because the man who uncovered those happened to be a life
08:03long Mississippi State fan whose fandom could not be hid without gloves.
08:08After a very eventful 2017 off-season, those phone calls were what ruined Freeze.
08:16As a result of the actual investigation, the school accepted punishments and self-imposed a two-year bowl ban,
08:22which importantly for our beef, cemented the Egg Bowl as the game that would matter most in Oxford no matter
08:28what happened.
08:30All of this had the nation glued to Mississippi football.
08:34So with everyone watching, for the wrong reasons, the school attempted to save face.
08:40Ole Miss took the classic route of calling their 2017 showdown just another game.
08:45You know, exactly what a cheatin' liar would say.
08:48Both schools felt the need to drop a joint statement, begging fans to be civil.
08:53Come on now, how bad could it really be?
08:56Okay, sure, a local sports writer penned the column because his Twitter mentions had become more of a cesspool than
09:03normal.
09:03But cess is in the eyes of the beholder.
09:06To me, this just looks like some Ole Miss fans gathering around the digital water cooler building community,
09:12reveling in a shared interest related to a hated rival getting very extremely hurt.
09:18As for Mississippi State fans, wait, were they proselytizing this rivalry?
09:25I mean, this could border on thoughtfulness, right?
09:31Nah, okay, I think CBS knew what they were doing with this list.
09:35Everybody knew it could not be contained in 2017.
09:40So when Ole Miss traveled to Starkville, the festivities started early and went late.
09:47This game had everything.
09:49The teams needed to be separated during warmups.
09:52Leo Lewis blew kisses at Ole Miss before kickoff.
09:56The visiting Rebels jumped on their ranked hosts, making sure all of Starkville took note.
10:03And in return to his hometown, Rebels receiver A.J. Brown let the crowd know whose city this was.
10:10Breeland Speaks found a loose ball, then found the camera for one of the most iconic images of the whole
10:16season.
10:16Which, in reality, was even better when we learned he was waving to Coach Mullen on the MSU sideline.
10:23Then, later after getting kicked out for multiple personal fouls, Speaks kept on waving to anyone that would look his
10:29way.
10:29And finally, after DK Metcalf brought in a long bomb touchdown that looked to put things out of reach, he
10:36celebrated in a way that somewhere Joe Buck surely got upset about.
10:41Honestly, after everything up to this point, it would have been weird if the teams didn't fight.
10:47With State fighting back late, some jawing in the end zone right here turned into the offense and defense needing
10:54to be separated.
10:56And then taking their sweet time to be finger-wagged back to their respective sidelines.
11:01While MSU made it close at the end, it was too little, too late.
11:06Ole Miss celebrated by planting their flag on State's turf, courtesy of Metcalf.
11:11And the state of Mississippi began counting down to Egg Bowl 2018.
11:16The national spotlight began to fade a little bit, though.
11:21Dan Mullen left State for Florida, so both schools now entered new eras that quickly proved mediocre.
11:27With coaches and expectations gone, it seemed like a new dawn.
11:33One where civility would hold.
11:35One where a trophy was able to do its job.
11:38For their 2018 showdown, Ole Miss remained within their bowl ban, and MSU had locked themselves into a lower-tier
11:45bowl.
11:45So, for anyone driving by, this game didn't matter.
11:49But the Egg Bowl always matters to those actually involved.
11:53And when Mississippi State turned it into a boat race, we remembered that Sparks cared not for rank or investigations
12:00or expectations.
12:02A.J. Brown crossed the goal line, appearing to cut Ole Miss' deficit to 19.
12:07MSU defenders continued to fight for the ball, then everyone from both sides fought for their pride.
12:14The benches cleared.
12:16The dance floated from sideline to end zone.
12:20A.J. Brown and Jonathan Abrams swapped punch slaps with each other.
12:24This right here, coach is gonna hate that.
12:27That's Ole Miss starting QB Matt Corral getting his helmet ripped off him.
12:30After a pretty peaceful three quarters, the Egg Bowl's beautiful atrocities proved undefeated.
12:38And ultimately, none of that should have even happened.
12:41Ole Miss hadn't snapped the ball before the clock hit zeroes on the third quarter.
12:45Instead of the touchdown, every single player on both sides received a personal foul.
12:53158 unsportsmanlike conducts on a single play.
12:57For most beefs, that would be the high point.
13:01SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey tried his best to wrap things up there.
13:04He called out both teams during the 2019 offseason, singling out Corral and Brown for their involvement.
13:11Both schools' athletic directors got an earful.
13:15Fueled by a reasonable fear of what happens on the field being parroted by drunk fans in the stands.
13:20And what are you gonna do, make a second trophy? We've learned nothing.
13:24By the sound of things, the message was received by both schools, though.
13:28The NCAA probably felt relieved when Ole Miss and State limped towards the finish line in 2019.
13:35Gone were the days of playoff aspirations.
13:38It looked like whoever lost would be moving on to another coach.
13:42Now, it was time to just play a great, stupid game.
13:47And for the first time in three years, a tightly contested Egg Bowl came down to the final second.
13:52Needing a touchdown and extra point to tie,
13:55Ole Miss managed the hard part with just four seconds left.
13:59Elijah Moore, potential Egg Bowl hero, celebrated his score with the worst timed callback.
14:07This lift of the leg pushed the extra point back 15 yards, which proved far enough for a game-sealing
14:14miss.
14:15The piss and the miss.
14:18And that was effectively that.
14:20Both sides moved on from their head coach afterwards.
14:23And both chose directions that truly signaled new eras.
14:29State brought in the lovable Mike Leach.
14:31Ole Miss brought in the loathable Lane Kiffin.
14:35In addition to setting sights on something greater than the rivalry,
14:39the coaches brought a completely different energy.
14:42Just because they were friends didn't prohibit future Egg Bowl absurdity,
14:46but it would be on terms more typical to the rivalry.
14:50Breeze's recruits were gone.
14:52Investigations had came and went.
14:54And then popped up by Starkville to come and go there as well.
14:59But the beef, at least on a national level, was done.
15:03The blood had always been bad between the schools.
15:07And when it could no longer be contained by state lines,
15:10the nation was treated to a three-year stretch of football
15:13that was incredible in every sense of the word.
15:16But Mississippi never needed us.
15:20Even if no one was watching,
15:22the Egg Bowl would always be ready to deliver something truly unique.
15:33Well, it was a great place in the Jaya.
15:35The End
15:37Equal Toh
15:38The End
15:43The End
15:45The End
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