The Mississippi State University esports team is, once again, bringing home the golden egg with a nail-biting 4-3 victory over Ole Miss esports in the annual Esports Egg Bowl.
Taking place at the David H. Nutt Auditorium at the University of Mississippi, the Bulldogs set off early Sunday morning for a full day of competition in seven games. The ultimate victor is determined by the winner of the majority.
The tournament started with Rocket League, a soccer-based car title. During last year’s Egg Bowl, the MSU Esports team was demolished in a shutout win by the Landsharks. However, this year, State found its revenge by defeating Ole Miss in an impressive 3-1 upset, giving MSU Esports an early overall 1-0 lead.
However, during Street Fighter 6, a 1-v-1 fighting game, Ole Miss Esports evened the overall score with a close victory of 4-5.
This year, College Football 25 made its debut in the Esports Egg Bowl. Staying true to the Egg Bowl spirit, Ole Miss and MSU faced off in a digital version of Vaught Hemingway Stadium. Both teams balanced their offensive and defensive stats, compelling the players to depend more on skill and strategy. MSU Esports triumphed over the Landsharks with a score of 48-28. Notably, MSU executed a stunning 97-yard pick-six before the half. This victory gave MSU Esports another lead, making the overall score 2-1.
Technological difficulties plagued the tournament, forcing the game organizers to push Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, a Nintendo fighting title, to the middle of the tournament despite historically being the last game played.
Ole Miss started strong, but the game shifted dramatically when MSU’s last player walked on stage. Selecting Steve from Minecraft, he danced around the battlefield, placing blocks, mining, parrying and knocking his opponent off the map. MSU held off Ole Miss until the last stock, but with a critical hit, cheers erupted in the auditorium as Ole Miss, once again, tied the series 2-2.
The Bulldogs surged ahead once more in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, a first-person shooter. Released just two days before the tournament, the Esports Egg Bowl marked the inaugural LAN tournament featuring this title. Avery “Uhhowwey” Ladner, a sophomore studying business administration and a member of the MSU Esports COD team, said that the team had limited time to adapt to the game’s new features.
“The omni-movement is completely different than any [other Call of Duty game] we’ve ever had,” Ladner said. “It just opens up a lot of possibilities.”
Despite these challenges, MSU Esports shut out Ole Miss Esports.
The atmosphere was electric as the tournament moved into Overwatch 2, a first-person shooter title. With an Esports Egg Bowl record of 5-1, the crowd had faith in the MSU Overwatch team’s abilities.
Nevertheless, the rounds remained neck and neck, with the aggressive Ole Miss team defeating the younger MSU team. The Ole Miss players jumped and hugged each other as the score was tied once again.
Everything came down to Counter-Strike 2, another first-person shooter title. MSU flawlessly secured their victory, nearly blocking Ole Miss’s ability to win a single match. The game ended in a shutout victory of 2-0, securing the Esports Egg Bowl win for MSU Esports.
Will Bratton, a junior geoscience major and president of MSU Esports, was happy with the golden egg’s return home.
“It was just business as usual for us,” Bratton said. “We got the job done.”
Bratton said that after nearly doubling the team’s membership this semester, the campus should expect a lot from MSU Esports in the future.
“The only direction you can move is up,” Bratton said. “We are very much on the rise. MSU Esports is a name that will be heard regularly around campus within a couple of years.”
