For the better part of the last forty years both Mississippi State and Ole Miss have essentially held hands together while stumbling around in this dark, giant forest called the SEC.
Make no mistake, Ole Miss always had more potential than Mississippi State-particularly in football-but its lazy, visionless athletics department turned the Rebels into MSU's permanent sidekick at the SEC party. You've heard countless references to the "Mississippi Schools" over the years usually followed by a punch line or negative remark. For the SEC media, the cluster of two irrelevant schools was easy to cover.
With an Ole Miss administration overtly dedicated to mediocrity and accepting its "place" in the SEC hierarchy, MSU could rest easy knowing its bitter rival would never be a threat to leave them behind. You could argue, that for a significant period of time, MSU was superior to Ole Miss in athletics. And from the early nineties to early 00s ,the better part of a decade, that is probably true. Multiple CWS appearances, a Final Four, and at the very least a respectable football team which consistently held its own in the Egg Bowl.
Perhaps Ole Miss finally exhausted every bad impulse it had after the Ed Orgeron and Houston Nutt experiments. Two life threatening, self-inflicted wounds. You couldn't do any worse. Embarrassment, humiliation, pain, and chaos finally evaporated from the UM landscape and form followed. Enter Hugh Freeze and Ross Bjork. Both created a vision matched with ambition and competence which has led Ole Miss into unfamiliar territory. Obviously the football program is the immediate beneficiary of these changes which really began with the 2013 class.
That class was a result of hard work, luck, and good timing. And as everyone now knows, it a created a firestorm of suspicion both regionally and nationally. For MSU fans, it was startling but acceptable because they quickly created the narrative that this was a one time deal and a portion of that class was a result of cheating. Concerning yes, but they won the 2013 Egg Bowl, convinced themselves that the the 2013 class was overrated and enjoyed a significant portion of the following season ranked # 1. There were still whispers from their camp regarding our recruiting "tactics" but hey, life was good. There was gameday, there was Dak, and of course the dynamic player developer in Dan Mullen. All was good. Until.........the best team in the history of MSU football was defeated by an Ole Miss squad coming off a 30-0 blow out to Arkansas. Couple this with the recent commitment from the #1 quarterback in the nation and every MSU insecurity began to surface to the top. Another 2013 class? They simply can't accept that their partner in mediocrity is figuring this thing out. Not only have they figured it out but now there is a real threat to leave them behind. This simply can't happen. So you cling to your life long narrative. That Ole Miss is no better than State therefore any UM success must be the result of improper recruiting strategies.
It has always been my contention that the vast majority of MSU male fans, ages 30-55, would rather sit in a deer stand than watch an SEC football game. Please know I'm not making fun. Hunting is part of the culture in the state and plenty of Ole Miss fans participate. But MSU fans are not as invested as Ole Miss fans are when it comes to football. In fact, they gained satisfaction by simply watching UM trying to push itself back into relevance. Give them a buck, a beer, and an Egg Bowl victory at home and they're good. For many in Starkville, the Egg Bowl is an extension of life. It is personal, to them Ole Miss is a cultural mismatch as it relates to their lifestyle. They don't like it, they don't like us. This is why the general vibe at Egg Bowls is so hostile. This is not a group of 18-22 year olds playing a kids game, this is me versus my neighbor that I have little in common with.
Finally, losing to, no not losing, getting throttled on your own home field has sent many MSU fans into Updyke type mental arenas. They are simply terrified of being left behind. It scares the living hell out of them that this is happening. And many will do anything to make it stop, no matter how delusional they become. Mississippi State? Damn right. It will only get worse.
Make no mistake, Ole Miss always had more potential than Mississippi State-particularly in football-but its lazy, visionless athletics department turned the Rebels into MSU's permanent sidekick at the SEC party. You've heard countless references to the "Mississippi Schools" over the years usually followed by a punch line or negative remark. For the SEC media, the cluster of two irrelevant schools was easy to cover.
With an Ole Miss administration overtly dedicated to mediocrity and accepting its "place" in the SEC hierarchy, MSU could rest easy knowing its bitter rival would never be a threat to leave them behind. You could argue, that for a significant period of time, MSU was superior to Ole Miss in athletics. And from the early nineties to early 00s ,the better part of a decade, that is probably true. Multiple CWS appearances, a Final Four, and at the very least a respectable football team which consistently held its own in the Egg Bowl.
Perhaps Ole Miss finally exhausted every bad impulse it had after the Ed Orgeron and Houston Nutt experiments. Two life threatening, self-inflicted wounds. You couldn't do any worse. Embarrassment, humiliation, pain, and chaos finally evaporated from the UM landscape and form followed. Enter Hugh Freeze and Ross Bjork. Both created a vision matched with ambition and competence which has led Ole Miss into unfamiliar territory. Obviously the football program is the immediate beneficiary of these changes which really began with the 2013 class.
That class was a result of hard work, luck, and good timing. And as everyone now knows, it a created a firestorm of suspicion both regionally and nationally. For MSU fans, it was startling but acceptable because they quickly created the narrative that this was a one time deal and a portion of that class was a result of cheating. Concerning yes, but they won the 2013 Egg Bowl, convinced themselves that the the 2013 class was overrated and enjoyed a significant portion of the following season ranked # 1. There were still whispers from their camp regarding our recruiting "tactics" but hey, life was good. There was gameday, there was Dak, and of course the dynamic player developer in Dan Mullen. All was good. Until.........the best team in the history of MSU football was defeated by an Ole Miss squad coming off a 30-0 blow out to Arkansas. Couple this with the recent commitment from the #1 quarterback in the nation and every MSU insecurity began to surface to the top. Another 2013 class? They simply can't accept that their partner in mediocrity is figuring this thing out. Not only have they figured it out but now there is a real threat to leave them behind. This simply can't happen. So you cling to your life long narrative. That Ole Miss is no better than State therefore any UM success must be the result of improper recruiting strategies.
It has always been my contention that the vast majority of MSU male fans, ages 30-55, would rather sit in a deer stand than watch an SEC football game. Please know I'm not making fun. Hunting is part of the culture in the state and plenty of Ole Miss fans participate. But MSU fans are not as invested as Ole Miss fans are when it comes to football. In fact, they gained satisfaction by simply watching UM trying to push itself back into relevance. Give them a buck, a beer, and an Egg Bowl victory at home and they're good. For many in Starkville, the Egg Bowl is an extension of life. It is personal, to them Ole Miss is a cultural mismatch as it relates to their lifestyle. They don't like it, they don't like us. This is why the general vibe at Egg Bowls is so hostile. This is not a group of 18-22 year olds playing a kids game, this is me versus my neighbor that I have little in common with.
Finally, losing to, no not losing, getting throttled on your own home field has sent many MSU fans into Updyke type mental arenas. They are simply terrified of being left behind. It scares the living hell out of them that this is happening. And many will do anything to make it stop, no matter how delusional they become. Mississippi State? Damn right. It will only get worse.
