In the face of adversity, whether it was season-ending injuries or heartbreaking losses, Ole Miss reclaimed the Egg Bowl with a 31-17 win over No. 4 Mississippi State to cap a 9-3 regular season, their best regular season since 2003.
“To win a rivalry game against a very good football team and reclaim the prize of this program in the Egg Bowl, it’s a priority we have every year,” head coach Hugh Freeze said. “To get that done tonight facing some adversity with injuries and other things, I’m so proud of our young men that put everything in the trash and prepare for this one with clear hearts, mind and eyes.”
No. 18 Ole Miss (9-3, 5-3 Southeastern Conference) held Mississippi State (10-1, 6-2 SEC) to 17 points, tied for their fewest points scored in a game this season, and a red-zone stand sealed the win for the Rebels. Offensively, senior quarterback Bo Wallace threw for nearly 300 yards, and junior running back Jaylen Walton and sophomore tight end Evan Engram turned in career games.
Walton finished with a career-high 148 yards on 14 carries, including a highlight-reel 91-yard touchdown run that proved to be the game-winning score for the Rebels.
With injuries to Laquon Treadwell and then to Vince Sanders, who suffered a knee injury in the second quarter, Engram stepped up, hauling in five catches for a career-high 176 yards, the fourth-most receiving yards in a game in school history. He moved into second place on the school’s all-time list in receiving yards among tight ends.
Despite those injuries, the Rebels accumulated 532 yards of total offense, their fourth game with 500-plus total yards this season and the second-most against an SEC opponent.
Ole Miss struck first, as Wallace found Engram over the middle for a 46-yard to the 1-yard line. On the next play, Wallace punched it in for the 7-0 lead.
Mississippi State answered with a 45-yard field goal on its next drive, the last scoring play before halftime. The Rebels held the Bulldogs to 128 total yards and just 3.6 yards per play in the first half.
Coming out of halftime, the Bulldogs took their first lead, 10-7, on a 1-yard touchdown run by junior quarterback Dak Prescott. The Rebels would score on their next three drives to build a 24-17 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Ole Miss answered the Mississippi State score with another big play from Engram, as Wallace found him over the middle before going 83 yards to the 1-yard line. After being stopped short on first and second down, sophomore quarterback Jeremy Liggins powered in from two yards out to put the Rebels back up 14-10.
Mississippi State threatened to regain the lead on its next drive, moving the ball to the Ole Miss 18-yard line, but the Ole Miss defense held and forced a missed 34-yard field goal. On their next drive, the Rebels moved the ball back down the field, and a 39-yard field goal from freshman Gary Wunderlich stretched the lead to 17-10.
Looked to be stopped for no gain, junior running back Jaylen Walton reversed field, made a couple of Mississippi State defenders miss, and took it 91 yards to the house, the longest play this season and third-longest touchdown run in school history.
“(Running back coach Derrick) Nix and I talked this week about Jaylen, and we said we were going to run him until his wheels came off, if we got the opportunity,” Freeze said. “If we’re having success running it, we’re going to hand it to him.”
The Bulldogs made it a one-score game, 24-17 after a nine-play, 75-yard drive, capped by a 32-yard touchdown pass from Prescott to sophomore wide receiver De’Runnya Wilson.
Freeze reached deep into his bag of tricks to increase the Rebels’ lead once again, behind the legs and arm of redshirt freshman running back Jordan Wilkins.
He scampered 41 yards out of the Wildcat package with Liggins at quarterback, and then he took a toss from Wallace, faked like he was going to run it and then found junior wide receiver Cody Core for a 31-yard touchdown.
“I think they’re all going to work when I call them, trick plays anyway,” Freeze said. “We worked really hard on that play for a month. We hadn’t pulled the trigger on the play. Jordan did a heck of a job selling the run. He carried out that run, almost to the numbers, before he pulled the trigger, and then he threw a perfect ball.”
Down 31-17, Mississippi State drove the ball to the Ole Miss 5-yard line, looking to make it a one-score game, before the defense held on four straight plays to force a turnover on downs.
On the last possession of the game, facing 3rd-and-2, Walton moved the chains with a three-yard run, and Wallace took two knees to run out the clock.
“For all the seniors, to see them take selfies in the locker room with the Egg Bowl and rejoicing over what we consider to be, in year three, a solid year,” Freeze said. “We accomplished some good things in building this program back up. It’s a great night for the University of Mississippi.”
Courtesy of Ole Miss Sports Information
Golden Egg Trophy Returns to Oxford
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