Battle of the Golden Egg (Egg Bowl) Football Game – Ole Miss Rebels and Mississippi State University

One of the most historic and high-profile annual matchups during the college football season is the always-anticipated scrum between the intrastate rivals Ole Miss Rebels and the Mississippi State University Bulldogs when they play in a contest dubbed the Battle of the Egg. Gold, or the Egg Bowl as it is commonly abbreviated. Of the multitude of rivalry games with specific titles and trophies, this particular series that determines who has the Golden Egg Trophy for the following year is the 10th oldest continuously played rivalry in all of college football. The longevity of this annual event is especially impressive when you consider that it’s more common for states on the East Coast to hold US records for longevity because that area was populated earlier.

Mississippi State and Ole Miss (the University of Mississippi at Oxford) have been playing each other in football since 1901, but the nickname of the Battle for the Golden Egg didn’t catch on until 1927. Many casual fans of the rivalry are confused. about the meaning of the word egg and assume it is a southern reference indicative of Mississippi culture. In the case of the Battle of the Golden Egg, the word egg actually refers to a soccer ball. Early 20th century versions of soccer balls were rounder than the oblong-shaped devices in use today and have more defined pointed ends. The slang term for what became an old-style soccer ball was an egg. Calling a rounded football an egg is similar to basketball players calling a basketball a rock simply because of the shared shape.

The Egg Bowl moniker can be confusing for two reasons. In addition to the alternate meaning of the word egg discussed in the previous paragraph, the word bowl typically refers to a postseason game such as the Orange Bowl or Sugar Bowl. The annual meeting between Ole Miss and Mississippi State is just another regular season game played between conference opponents currently competing in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) West division, arguably the best conference in college football on a regular basis. . The use of the word bowl is simply used to convey the importance of this important game that trumps other more pedestrian regular season competitions.

While the two competing higher education institutions in the state of Mississippi have been playing each other since 1901, several football historians only recognize games beginning in 1927 for the purpose of explaining which team leads the Egg Battle rivalry. de Oro. The year 1927 has been chosen as the cut-off point because it was when the traveling Golden Egg Trophy was introduced. Looking at the numbers from 1927 and beyond shows Ole Miss leading the series with a 53-23-6 record against their in-state rival Bulldogs.