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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Football Prepares For Thanksgiving Battle
6/21/1999 | Football
November 23, 1998
OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss football team will host this year's Egg Bowl versus in-state rival Mississippi State at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium/Hollingsworth Field Thanksgiving night. Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m. Thursday and will be televised on ESPN.
Ole Miss, 6-4 overall and 3-4 in the Southeastern Conference, is coming off its second consecutive conference loss. The Rebels fell to the Georgia Bulldogs, 24-17, in Athens on Saturday.
"It was a disappointing loss in Athens," said Rebel head coach Tommy Tuberville. "I thought we played one of the better football teams we've seen all year. We scratched, clawed and made some plays. Unfortunately, we didn't make the ones we needed to make."
Rebel running back Deuce McAllister recorded his fourth 100-yard performance of the season with 109 yards on 22 carries. He also added four catches for 64 yards on the afternoon. It was MaCallister's fourth 100-yard performance in five games. He is 95 yards shy of becoming just the second Ole Miss player to rush for 1,000 yards in a season. Kayo Dottley is the only Rebel runner to ever reach the 1,000 yard plateau in a single season, doing so in both 1949 and 1950. Magnifying the loss to Georgia was the injury to Ole Miss starting quarterback Romaro Miller, who broke the collarbone on the shoulder of his throwing arm on the final play of the game. He is expected to miss the next four-to-six weeks, which includes Thursday night's game.
"He's very disappointed," said Tuberville. "He's worked so hard to get to this situation, to play in a game like this, and to miss it just seems unfair, but that is how life is, and we will have to go on. David Morris will be our starting quarterback Thursday."
Morris, a freshman walk-on, will make his collegiate starting debut against Mississippi State in place of Miller. Morris has seen limited action this year against Memphis and Vanderbilt, completing 3-of-4 passes for 14 yards.
"David had his first practice as the starting quarterback yesterday," said Tuberville. "We will have to cut back on a few things that Romaro was doing, but we can't limit the team because of the quarterback. He knows the offense. He has run it everyday in practice. He just doesn't have the game experience. He has good mobility, and he can throw the football. The thing we have told our players is that they will have to pick it up a notch and raise their level of play above what they've been, to make up for David's inexperience."
Thursday's game will be the 95th meeting between Ole Miss and Mississippi State, and the 71st Battle of the Golden Egg. Ole Miss leads the series 54-34-6, and holds a 16-9-3 advantage in games played in Oxford. Since the Golden Egg trophy has been introduced to the rivalry, Ole Miss leads the series, 49-17-4. The two teams first met in 1901 and have played every year since 1915. The Rebels and the Bulldogs have split their eight meetings during the 1990s with the Rebels winning last year's contest, 15-14 in Starkville. Tuberville is 2-1 against Mississippi State.
"It's going to be a tough assignment," said Tuberville. "There's a lot added to this game. State's playing awfully well. I'd like to congratulate them on their big win over Arkansas. They got the job done."
No. 24 Mississippi State enters this year's Egg Bowl after a 22-21 win over Arkansas in Starkville last Saturday to raise its record to 7-3 overall and 5-2 in the SEC. A win over the Rebels would seal the SEC Western Division crown for the Bulldogs. Mississippi State's offense features the running of senior James Johnson, who has gained 1,311 yards rushing this season on 213 carries and has scored 10 touchdowns. Freshman quarterback Wayne Madkin has thrown for 1,284 yards, having completed 79-of-158 passes with 10 touchdowns and six interceptions. Senior Kevin Prentiss is the Bulldog's leading receiver with 33 receptions for 587 yards and three scores.
Mississippi State has outscored opponents, 297-188 this season, and is averaging 343.4 yards of total offense per game, while yielding just 313.1 yards per game.
"We play these in-state rival games for the fans," said Tuberville. "It will be a hard fought game. It is on ESPN on Thanksgiving night, so I know their will be a lot of people watching the game on television. We want a good game to let the people across the country know that Mississippi football is thriving."
