November 23, 2007
Scott Field , Starkville , MS
12:30 PM ET

The battle for the State of Mississippi football supremacy takes place in Starkville Friday afternoon as the Mississippi Rebels and Mississippi State Bulldogs partake in the 106th installment of the Egg Bowl.

The Rebels put forth a gritty home effort against LSU last week succumbing to the #1 ranked team in the country by a 41-24 final count, while the Bulldogs did their best not to suffer a letdown after defeating Alabama two weeks ago vs. Arkansas. It wasn’t to be however, as the Razorbacks pulled away for the eventual home win and cover by a 45-31 final count.

This is a series that the state of Mississippi gets up for year in and year out regardless of how bad each teams season has gone. The folks in Starkville would love nothing better than to see the Golden Egg sit perched atop the Bulldogs trophy case in the same year the Bulldogs managed to go bowling for the first time since 2000.

The Rebels have been solid at home all season long competing with Top 25 talent, but their story on the road is of a much different variety. Their lone win came against a putrid Memphis team at the beginning of the year that almost saw them squander a 20-point halftime lead to eventually win by a 23-21 final count. Their next three road affairs saw them lose to Vandy, Georgia, and Auburn by a combined 93-37. Needless to point out, but the Rebels are a much different team outside the comfy confines of Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

As for the Bulldogs, Head coach Sylvester Croom are already Bowl eligible, but they’d do themselves a huge favor by securing their seventh win of the season just in case. Since dropping a lopsided affair to LSU to open the season, the Bulldogs are 3-1 SU at home with an impressive win over Alabama a couple weeks ago. The Starkville faithful have only seen their team play once over the last month at home, so its safe to say the cowbells will be out of control as the 55,000+ pack the stands of Davis Wade Stadium.

The Rebels have gotten balanced production the last couple weeks with QB Schaeffer and RB Green-Ellis most recently doing some solid damage against the stout LSU defense. I expect that to continue here as the Rebels would love nothing more than to close out their disappointing season with a win ion this spot. That being said, the Bulldogs should have no problems moving the ball themselves, and they’ll look to its ground attack to take advantage of the Rebs “D” that’s allowed opponents to rush for 200 yards per game in 3 of its last 4 games. Last years Egg Bowl was a snoozer, but this one looks to be of the higher scoring variety. Expect Ole Miss to threaten early, but for the Dawgs to pull away in the second half thus allowing us to cash this ticket on the ‘Over’….

Place your bets on Mississippi vs. Mississippi State over 47…

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