You never forget your first time. 
Think about that sentence however you will, but Mike Leach won’t be forgetting his first Egg Bowl win any time soon. His Mississippi State University Bulldogs traveled to Oxford, Mississippi, this past Thanksgiving night and didn’t disappoint. 
“That locker room looks like it’s on fire,” said Leach of the cigars his players were smoking after the game. “It looks like a damn dumpster fire.”
It might have been a nail biter, but a last minute two-point conversion stop via a Randy Charlton shovel pass deflection wound up being the play that sealed the deal for MSU. 
The stop came 99 yards and 15 plays after junior signal caller Will Rogers fumbled on the one yard line and sucked the air out of all Bulldog fans in attendance. 
MSU finished the regular season 8-4 with the same record as Ole Miss. It was how the team got there, however, that made the biggest of differences. 
Zac Arnett’s defense has been stellar all year long, and that was, yet again, no exception on Thursday. The Bulldogs held one of the country’s most potent rushing attacks to under 80 yards. 
“We were just trying to be physical,” said redshirt senior linebacker Nathaniel Watson. “We were just harping on stopping the run … we knew it was going to be a physical run game.”
As for what the future holds, this MSU team awaits their bowl bid. According to several metrics, the Bulldogs should be due a beach vacation at one of the Florida bowls, barring any unforeseen circumstances. If they win said bowl, they’ll almost certainly finish the season ranked and with the most wins in a single season during Leach’s tenure. 
Leach tied Dan Mullen with his 7th win against a top 25 ranked team. It took Mullen 106 tries. It’s taken Mike Leach 36. 
“This game had a season’s work of excitement,” Leach said. “It was a very up and down game, and about the time you thought it couldn’t get crazier it did.”
To quote an old archive of The Reflector, “What’s the matter with Ole Miss?”
“She’s Dead.”
Hail State.