Despite the fact that Davis Wade Stadium was only a few rain drops away from becoming a pond, it seemed nothing could dampen the efforts of the Mississippi State Bulldogs and their quest for a third straight Egg Bowl victory over bitter rival Ole Miss. Coach Mullen was probably already wet enough that he barely felt the Gatorade bath he received in celebration of the 31-3 win.
The win was Mississippi State's sixth of the season and enough to earn bowl eligibility.
Senior Chris Relf (8/13 for 70 yards and 2 passing TD's) was Coach Dan Mullen's choice as starting quarterback. Much of the speculation regarding the decision has been pointed toward the fact that Relf is a senior and the game would be his last at Davis Wade. Others believe the decision was an effort to throw off the Ole Miss coaching staff (Mullen originally stated Tyler Russell would be the starter). Chris Relf wasted no time getting things clicking early leading the Bulldogs to an early 7-0 lead and pretty much never looked back.
Relf played well enough that Mullen left him in for almost the entire game. Tyler Russell only stepped onto the field after the game was well in hand.
Despite a lot of heart and effort by Ole Miss quarterback Barry Brunetti, the rest of the Rebel offense just never seemed to play with any fire. The Rebel defense wasn't much better. Defensively, there were moments in the game where Ole Miss players seemed to completely give up on plays. Houston Nutt's lame-duck situation couldn't have been more obvious.
Vick Ballard made good on his promise to eclipse the 1,000 rushing yards mark with a final regular season total of 1009 yards.
It appeared that Ole Miss caught a late touchdown pass in the final seconds of the game, but the receiver's heel landed out of bounds. An official review overturned the call and the last attempt to score six for the Rebel's was brought to an abrupt halt by a ruthless Mississippi State defense. It was a fitting end to a season that Ole Miss fans would love to soon forget.