The Egg Bowl is one of the most popular rivalries in Southern sports with good reason. There is so much bad blood between Mississippi State University and University of Mississippi, friendships have been torn apart and family get-togethers can be unbearable.
I am going to be honest: I did not grow up an MSU fan. I grew up an Alabama fan, so the biggest rivalry to me was always the Iron Bowl. However, never once in my 17 years prior to coming to MSU did I ever have as much disdain for Auburn as I now have for Ole Miss, after only three and a half years here.
The Mississippi State-Ole Miss rivalry has been dubbed the most hate-filled college football rivalry by Tom Fornelli of CBS Sports.
However, I am not here to sell you on thinking it is the best rivalry. I have already proven it is.
This rivalry is a big deal, and we have so much animosity for the other Mississippi school just 104 miles to the north of us. All the hate toward Ole Miss can be justified from history, current events and other aspects of the school.
First, the campus layout of Ole Miss is horrendous. There is no order to the buildings; they are scattered about, unlike our campus, which has a focal point of all activities. However, an orderly campus layout must be insignificant when all you really need to know is where the fraternity and sorority houses are.
According to the Office of Admissions at Ole Miss, 42 percent of the student body is affiliated with Greek-life. Whereas only 21.5 percent of the student body at MSU is Greek, according to The Princeton Review.
They also have an on-going identity crisis. Their fight song says it best, “Who the hell are we?” They answer back with “Ole Miss,” but their poor mascot must be the most confused in all college sports.
While the student body obviously knows they are Ole Miss, they are awfully confused about what their mascot should be. Just seven years ago, they forfeited Colonel Reb in favor of a much less racist black bear, but in September, they decided to change it yet again to a landshark.
There could have easily been a more terrifying fake animal to make as a mascot. While it comes from the name of their defense, it could not have been less original. This methodology is the same Alabama used to get their mascot, Big Al the Elephant, which is what the Tide was called after they played Ole Miss, in 1930, according to University of Alabama Athletics.
On top of all this, the Ole Miss athletics have been part of an alarming amount of scandals. Richard Johnson with SB Nation points out Ole Miss has gone in front of the NCAA Committee On Infractions for 21 allegations, 15 of which are the most serious level of infractions. Not to mention the scandal which absolutely rocked the sports world: Hugh Freeze, the escorts and the Twitter Bible verses, which is decidedly classless.
In any sport, fans are going to be rude. It is the nature of rivalries. However, I and many other MSU fans, alumni and students have dealt with outstanding rudeness from Ole Miss fans.
I have experienced true rivalry from multiple sports, but I have never encountered something quite like this. While there are tame instances, such as people telling you to burn merchandise or your degree, there have also been more disgusting instances, like in 2014 when a friend of mine at the Egg Bowl had vomit thrown on her, or when our women’s basketball team went to The Square and promptly had alcohol doused all over them.
All of this pales in comparison to the racism many people have dealt with through Ole Miss. From KKK rallies on campus, to nooses around James Meredith’s statue, it has created a toxic environment for students of color, and most white students unabashedly support President Donald Trump, who has gone out of his way to make sure white supremacists do not feel attacked. Most people of color I know refuse to go to Oxford because it terrifies them.
Overall, the rivalry game makes for excellent sporting events whether it is football or not. This rivalry is not exclusive to sports, however, and it never will be. This is what makes a rivalry so intense and amazing in the end. Just make sure you yell, “Hail State.”