No. 23 Mississippi State (8-3) will close out its regular season with the “Battle for the Golden Egg” against arch-rival No. 19 Ole Miss (8-3). Both teams are coming off of big victories. MSU just beat Arkansas 51-50 in a thriller while Ole Miss beat LSU by a score of 38-17.
The Rebels are led by junior college transfer Chad Kelly. Kelly is having a spectacular season. He has 3504 passing yards this year, which leads the SEC. He has 25 passing touchdowns but also has thrown 12 interceptions. He has rushed 86 times for 353 yards and nine touchdowns.
It helps when Kelly has one of the best targets in the SEC: Laquan Treadwell. Treadwell has 1060 receiving yards and eight touchdowns. He is averaging 14.7 yards a catch and has had 74 catches. The Rebels also have Quincy Adeboyejo who has 545 yards on 35 catches with seven touchdowns.
MSU struggled in stopping the passing game against Arkansas. With the loss of Kendrick Market and Will Redmond the secondary has been week as they gave up 406 passing yards to Arkansas last weekend. But where the secondary has been weak, the front seven has proven to be one of the best in the country.
The front seven is led by Beniquez Brown. Brown had 12 tackles last Saturday and also a game winning blocked field goal. He has a team leading 89 tackles on the season, 9.5 of which are for loss. He also has 5.5 sacks and has a single interception. One the defensive line MSU is led by A.J. Jefferson. Jefferson has 43 total tackles and a team leading 13.5 tackles for loss. He also is responsible for five sacks.
On offense, MSU still has the best Quarterback in the SEC and possibly the country in Dak Prescott. Prescott is completing 66.2 percent of his passes and has 23 passing touchdowns to just three interceptions. He has accounted for 3159 passing yards and is also the team’s leading rusher. He has 478 yards and nine rushing touchdowns.
He has a dynamic duo on the outside at receiver with Fred Ross and De’Runnya “Bear” Wilson. Wilson is leading the team in touchdowns catches with nine, second best in the SEC. He also has 50 catches and 757 receiving yards. Fred Ross is just five catches away from breaking the single season catch record at MSU. He has 69 catches on the season 816 yards and four touchdowns.
Ole Miss has the 64th ranked defense in the country as they have given up 4248 yards and an average of 22.5 points a game. MSU’s defense is not ranked much higher at 59th in the country with 4182 yards given up and are giving up an average of 19.5 points a game.
Both teams make up for a lack of defense with strong offenses. Ole Miss is ranked 10th in the country with 5698 yards and is averaging 40.5 points. MSU is ranked 31st in the country with 5015 yards and is averaging 33.5 points.
Everything is setup for another thriller in the Egg Bowl as these two rivals clash. The game is this Saturday, November 28th and will kickoff at 6:15pm central time and will air on ESPN2.
