The University of Mississippi Athletics
History Of The Egg Bowl
8/10/2000 | Football
The following is the background as to how the Ole Miss-Mississippi State football game came to be known as the "Battle of the Golden Egg" or even "The Egg Bowl." Excerpts are reprinted from the book "Mississippi Mayhem," written by WIlliam Banner III.
1926
Up until the 1926 meeting in Starkville, Ole Miss had only claimed five victories in the previous 23 football contests between the Rebels and Bulldogs. Thus, when Ole Miss claimed a 7-6 victory over then Mississippi A&M College, a celebration was due at Scott Field after that '26 contest. Oddly, huge roars went up from both sides at the final whistle, not just from the Ole Miss stands. While the A&M players walked slowly off the field with heads bowed, wrote one newsman, the Maroon student section stood and sang the alma mater.
But on the east side, pandemonium. Well wishers rushed "like madmen onto the field," Webb Burke said in his 1957 interview. Some fans made a dash for the goal posts. Irate Aggie supporters took after the ambitious Ole Miss group with cane bottom chairs, and fights broke out. The mayhem continued until most of the chairs were splintered.
As explained by the Reveille, A&M yearbook, "A few chairs had to be sacrificed over the heads of these to persuade them that was entirely the wrong attitude."
As described in a story for the Commercial Appeal by Ben Hilbun, who one day would become president of the Starkville school, "The phantom of victory, that for thirteen years eluded Ole Miss, returned to the bearded Berserkers ... and they won over A&M, their traditional rivals, 7 to 6." Ole Miss students fought for the goal posts, he continued, "but were restrained."
Ole Miss fans couldn't believe their victory. Through all their 13 defeats since 1910 (they did not play in 1912, 1913 and 1914) they had only scored in three games, counted just 33 points to A&M's 327, an average of 25-3.
Injuries to players were expected. But not to spectators. Ole Miss and A&M students, shocked by the battle that erupted after the game, vowed that it must not happen again.
The result was the Golden Egg, a trophy to cool the heat of battle, instituted the following season by joint agreement of the two student bodies.
Meanwhile, "The Battle of Starkville" continued in student newspapers. The Reflector denounced other newspaper stories complimenting the clean play, especially that of Ole Miss. The Aggie writers thought the Ole Miss players used some unfair tactics. The Mississippian asked, "Why 'gripe,' ye Aggie Scribe? Wait til 'next year'."
The Reflector described the post-game battle. Only a band of "hoodlums," a writer declared, would swarm onto a field of victory to secure souvenirs. The Mississippian replied that the Aggie chair brigade which defended the goal posts "came to the field with malice aforethought ... with the intent of staging a 'free for all' ..."
1927
The Golden Egg was first proposed by members of Sigma Iota, an Ole Miss honorary society. As thoughts of last year's game, Sigma Iota proposed that a trophy be awarded in a dignified ceremony designed to calm excited fans. One proposal that was rejected was to send the goal posts to the winning side each year.
A&M approved the suggestion of an award, and Ole Miss, two weeks before the game, officially added its approval. The trophy, to be called "The Golden Egg", would be a regulation-size gold-plated football mounted on a pedestal. Cost approximately $250 would be shared by both schools. Ole Miss students held a tag day to raise funds.
The joint resolution of the two student bodies declared they agreed on the trophy "in order to effect a better understanding in athletic relations, to foster clean sportsmanship, and to promote a lasting tradition..." A brand-new series between the University of Mississippi and Mississippi A&M College began on Thanksgiving Day, 1927, The first Battle of the Golden Egg.
Of course, it was the Ole Miss-A&M slugfest, played before a crowd of 14,000 for the first possession of the gold football which was to become symbolic of supremacy in this annual feud-battle.
It was actually the 25th meeting of the two combatants. And for the second time in four years it was Push versus Pass, a heavier line versus a lighter passing attack. And once again the Pushers prevailed, except this time the pushing team was Ole Miss. The score was 20-12.
Purser Hewitt of the Clarion-Ledger described it best: "On the sidelines a band garbed in red and blue played 'Give 'em Hell, Mississippi' and on the gridiron a team wearing the same colors did that very thing..." Unlike last year's brawl ending, the 1927 game closed with a highly dignified ceremony, the first presentation of the Golden Egg. As previously agreed in the inception of the egg, the schools first sang their alma maters, Ole Miss, as winner, sang first. The captains of the two teams, presidents of the two student bodies and the heads of the two schools met in the center of the field. B.M. Walker, president of A&M, presented the trophy to Alfred Hume, chancellor of the University, who turned it over to Ole Miss captain Applewhite.
The Mississippian, Ole Miss student newspaper, reported "sincere handshaking" among players of both teams. And, "Throughout the day not a single demonstration of violence was committed..."
Captain Applewhite proudly holding the Golden Egg, was carried from the field on the shoulders of "a score of students."
The Egg is one of the most treasured possessions of either school. It is engraved with the score of each year's game and stands in a place of honor.
When a tie occured, the previous year's winner kept it for the first half of the year, then it went to the other school.
1978
The Ole Miss-Mississippi State series took on a new twist in 1978, a season which saw the Rebels 4-6 and the Bulldogs 6-4 heading into the season finale. As Steve Doyle of the Jackson, Miss., Clarion-Ledger reported in the Nov. 20 edition, "In a year in which neither team will be remembered, the Battle of the Golden Egg is a bowl game. Intense, heated, unbelievable in its lore, this one is for supremacy of the season. Bragging rights, recruiting edges and sheer pride are the guts of it. Every cliche you've ever heard about a single game applies to it."
A year earlier, the Clarion-Ledger headline on game day had been "Egg Bowl Is Up For Scramble" and the following day it was "Egg Bowl '77: State 18, Ole Miss 14." In 1978, with both teams apparently out of the bowl picture, Executive Sports Editor Tom Patterson decided to do something extra to spice up coverage of the annual grudge match, instructing his staff to follow the "Egg Bowl" theme throughout the week. The result was an award winning special section on Sunday, which recounted in great detail the Rebels' stunning 27-7 victory over the highly-favored Bulldogs. In that game, John Fourcade made his first start at quarterback to become the first Ole Miss freshman since 1945 to receive the starting node at the signal-caller slot. The special section was a big success and the die was cast. Patterson's idea, for the most part, has been continued by the paper since 1978. Although it's officially the "Battle of the Golden Egg," most members of the media now refer to the annual bloodletting simply as the "Egg Bowl."
1991
"The Battle of the Golden Egg" returned to campus in 1991 as Mississippi State hosted Ole Miss in Starkville. It marked the first on-campus meeting between the two teams since 1972. Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford was the site of the 1992 game, which Ole Miss won, 17-10 thanks to a thrilling goal-line stand. The series continues to rotate between campus sites.
1997
The 1997 contest provided another close contest and perhaps the most exciting finish ever in the series. Stewart Patridge hit Andre Rone for a 10-yard TD pass with 25 seconds left and then found Cory Peterson over the middle on the two-point conversion attempt to give the Rebels a 15-14 win over Mississippi State. The win propelled the Rebels to their first bowl game since the 1992 Liberty Bowl when they were rewarded with an invite to the inaugural Ford Motor City Bowl in Pontiac, Mich.
For the fifth straight year "The Battle of the Golden Egg" will be televised Thanksgiving Night, Nov. 28, on ESPN. This year's contest will be back in Oxford.
The "Egg Bowl" Series
Ole Miss Leads 49-20-5
| Date | Site | Results |
| Nov. 24, 1927 | Oxford | Ole Miss 20, Mississippi State 12 |
| Nov. 29, 1928 | Starkville | Ole Miss 20, Mississippi State 19 |
| Nov. 30, 1929 | Oxford | Ole Miss 7, Mississippi State 7 |
| Nov. 27, 1930 | Starkville | Ole Miss 20, Mississippi State 0 |
| Nov. 26, 1931 | Oxford | Ole Miss 25, Mississippi State 14 |
| Nov. 24, 1932 | Starkville | Ole Miss 13, Mississippi State 0 |
| Dec. 2, 1933 | Oxford | Ole Miss 31, Mississippi State 0 |
| Dec. 1, 1934 | Jackson | Ole Miss 7, Mississippi State 3 |
| Nov. 30, 1935 | Oxford | Ole Miss 14, Mississippi State 6 |
| Nov. 21, 1936 | Starkville | Mississippi State 26, Ole Miss 6 |
| Nov. 25, 1937 | Oxford | Mississippi State 9, Ole Miss 7 |
| Nov. 26, 1938 | Starkville | Ole Miss 19, Mississippi State 6 |
| Nov. 25, 1939 | Oxford | Mississippi State 18, Ole Miss 6 |
| Nov. 23, 1940 | Starkville | Mississippi State 19, Ole Miss 0 |
| Nov. 29, 1941 | Oxford | Mississippi State 6, Ole Miss 0 |
| Nov. 21, 1942 | Starkville | Mississippi State 34, Ole Miss 13 |
| Nov. 26, 1944 | Oxford | Ole Miss 13, Mississippi State 8 |
| Nov. 24, 1945 | Starkville | Ole Miss 7, Mississippi State 6 |
| Nov. 23, 1946 | Oxford | Mississippi State 20, Ole Miss 0 |
| Nov. 29, 1947 | Starkville | Ole Miss 33, Mississippi State 14 |
| Nov. 27, 1948 | Oxford | Ole Miss 34, Missisippi State 7 |
| Nov. 26, 1949 | Starkville | Ole Miss 26, Mississippi State 0 |
| Dec. 2, 1950 | Oxford | Ole Miss 27, Mississippi State 20 |
| Dec. 1, 1951 | Starkville | Ole Miss 49, Mississippi State 7 |
| Nov. 29, 1952 | Oxford | Ole Miss 20, Mississippi State 14 |
| Nov. 28, 1953 | Starkville | Ole Miss 7, Mississippi State 7 |
| Nov. 27, 1954 | Oxford | Ole Miss 14, Mississippi State 0 |
| Nov. 24, 1955 | Starkville | Ole Miss 26, Mississippi State 0 |
| Dec. 1, 1956 | Oxford | Ole Miss 13, Mississippi State 7 |
| Nov. 30, 1957 | Starkville | Ole Miss 7, Mississippi State 7 |
| Nov. 29, 1958 | Oxford | Ole Miss 21, Mississippi State 0 |
| Nov. 28, 1959 | Starkville | Ole Miss 42, Mississippi State 0 |
| Nov. 26, 1960 | Oxford | Ole Miss 35, Mississippi State 9 |
| Dec. 2, 1961 | Starkville | Ole Miss 37, Mississippi State 7 |
| Nov. 30, 1963 | Starkville | Ole Miss 10, Mississippi State 10 |
| Dec. 5, 1964 | Oxford | Mississippi State 20, Ole Miss 17 |
| Nov. 27, 1965 | Starkville | Ole Miss 21, Mississippi State 0 |
| Nov. 26, 1966 | Oxford | Ole Miss 24, Mississippi State 0 |
| Dec. 2, 1967 | Starkville | Ole Miss 10, Mississippi State 3 |
| Nov. 30, 1968 | Oxford | Ole Miss 17, Mississippi State 17 |
| Nov. 27, 1969 | Starkville | Ole Miss 48, Mississippi State 22 |
| Nov. 26, 1970 | Oxford | Mississippi State 19, Ole Miss 14 |
| Nov. 25, 1971 | Starkville | Ole Miss 48, Mississippi State 0 |
| Nov. 25, 1972 | Oxford | Ole Miss 51, Mississippi State 14 |
| Nov. 24, 1973 | Jackson | Ole Miss 38, Mississippi State 10 |
| Nov. 23, 1974 | Jackson | Mississippi State 31, Ole Miss 13 |
| Nov. 22, 1975 | Jackson | Ole Miss 13, Mississippi State 7 |
| Nov. 20, 1976 | Jackson | **Mississippi State 28, Ole Miss 11 |
| Nov. 19, 1977 | Jackson | **Mississippi State 18, Ole Miss 14 |
| Nov. 25, 1978 | Jackson | Ole Miss 27, Mississippi State 7 |
| Nov. 24, 1979 | Jackson | Ole Miss 14, Mississippi State 9 |
| Nov. 22, 1980 | Jackson | Mississippi State 19, Ole Miss 14 |
| Nov. 21, 1981 | Jackson | Ole Miss 21, Mississippi State 17 |
| Nov. 20, 1982 | Jackson | Mississippi State 27, Ole Miss 10 |
| Nov. 19, 1983 | Jackson | Ole Miss 24, Mississippi State 23 |
| Nov. 24, 1984 | Jackson | Ole Miss 24, Mississippi State 3 |
| Nov. 23, 1985 | Jackson | Ole Miss 45, Mississippi State 27 |
| Nov. 22, 1986 | Jackson | Ole Miss 24, Mississippi State 3 |
| Nov. 21, 1987 | Jackson | Mississippi State 30, Ole Miss 20 |
| Nov. 26, 1988 | Jackson | Ole Miss 33, Mississippi State 6 |
| Nov. 25, 1989 | Jackson | Ole Miss 21, Mississippi State 11 |
| Nov. 24, 1990 | Jackson | Ole Miss 21, Mississippi State 9 |
| Nov. 23, 1991 | Starkville | Mississippi State 24, Ole Miss 9 |
| Nov. 28, 1992 | Oxford | Ole Miss 17, Mississippi State 10 |
| Nov. 27, 1993 | Starkville | Mississippi State 20, Ole Miss 13 |
| Nov. 26, 1994 | Oxford | Mississippi State 21, Ole Miss 17 |
| Nov. 25, 1995 | Starkville | Ole Miss 13, Mississippi State 10 |
| Nov. 30, 1996 | Oxford | Mississippi State 17, Ole Miss 0 |
| Nov. 29, 1997 | Starkville | Ole Miss 15, Mississippi State 14 |
| Nov. 26, 1998 | Oxford | Mississippi State 28, Ole Miss 6 |
| Nov. 25, 1999 | Starkville | Mississippi State 23, Ole Miss 20 |
| Nov. 23, 2000 | Oxford | Ole Miss 45, Mississippi State 30 |
| Nov. 22, 2001 | Starkville | Mississippi State 36, Ole Miss 28 |
**Ole Miss won by forfeit