Egg Bowl on Thanksgiving means short turnaround for Ole Miss, Mississippi State

Turkey and dressing. Mashed potatoes and green bean casserole. Cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. Blocking and tackling.

Those are some of the better known Thanksgiving traditions in America. From a football perspective, while Turkey Day traditionally belongs to the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions in the NFL, the college game is part of that cocktail, too.

This will be the second year in a row that the SEC participates. Last season, LSU traveled to Texas A&M and stuffed the home team like a turkey. Tigers running back Derrius Guice ran for 285 yards — an all-time school record — and 4 touchdowns on 37 carries, while quarterback Danny Etling set a career high in purple and gold with 324 yards passing and 2 TDs.

This season, Ole Miss makes the 93-mile trip from Oxford to Starkville for its Magnolia State matchup with Mississippi State.

Needless to say, these two programs are headed in different directions. The Bulldogs are 8-3 and No. 14 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings, so they’re battling for double-digit wins and a New Year’s Six bowl game.

The Rebels, on the other hand, are 5-6 and won’t get anywhere near the postseason. The university announced a self-imposed bowl ban back in February, as NCAA sanctions have hit them hard — more are supposedly on the way, as well. Former coach Hugh Freeze fell on his sword in July amid some embarrassing circumstances, which led to interim coach Matt Luke inheriting quite a mess.

MSU blew out Mississippi by a score of 55-20 in the Egg Bowl a year ago, and there appears to be even more separation between these two rivals now.

The holiday season can be tough on football families, as they’re rarely afforded an opportunity to take time out and truly be festive. It’s part of the price paid by coaches and players alike in order to succeed at this level.

When fans are loosening their belts and looking for a comfy spot on the couch — fighting tryptophan every step of the way — the ‘Dogs and Rebs will be getting ready to knock each other’s teeth out in the name of bragging rights. We want to be entertained. They’re the entertainers. It’s easy to forget that they enjoy cornbread stuffing just like the rest of us.

Fortunately for Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen, despite having to work Thursday, his loved ones are creative with the calendar.

“It allows us to enjoy the holiday a little bit because Friday I got some family coming into town, and so Friday we’ll have a big Thanksgiving dinner at our house,” he said Wednesday on the weekly SEC coaches teleconference. “My brother and his family. My dad’s coming in. The Thursday game gives you an opportunity to enjoy a Thanksgiving on Friday with the family. I’m certainly looking forward to that.”

The Bulldogs have only five days between games, not the usual seven, so that means less time to recover from Saturday’s W at Arkansas and then prepare for Ole Miss. According to Mullen (above), the fact that it’s Week 13 and not, say, Week 3 makes a difference.

“The benefit is you’re at the final game of the season,” he said. “A lot of stuff is in throughout the whole course of the year. What you do is, what we’ve done is, we’ve played several Thursday night games. We think we have a really good schedule for it.

“What you do is you take off a lot of the physicality in what you do in practicing this week. I think you can still get everything in. You’re just not gonna do it maybe at the tempo, the speed and the physicalness you would in a normal week. You’re doing it a little bit more in a walkthrough and an extended meeting time just to make sure you’re fresh playing in the game.”

Unlike Mullen, Luke is in no position to be so happy-go-lucky ahead of this contest. Not only is Mississippi a 15-point underdog on the road — the Rebs lost by 35 last year at home — but he could be coaching for the last time at his alma mater. While he’s on record saying that this is his dream job, there’s no guarantee he’ll keep it.

But considering the fact that Luke has generational ties to Ole Miss on both sides of his family, he’s prone to nostalgia.

“Football is part of Thanksgiving,” he said. “And then obviously we’ve had this on Thanksgiving for a while before, and then it changed. Now it’s back, so it’s just a unique opportunity. And I believe we’re the only college game on that night, so you get a chance to play in front of a national TV audience. They may be sleeping on the couch because they’ve eaten so much, but they will. It’ll at least be on the TV.”

Working on a shorter week, Luke acknowledged that getting his players physically ready to play is a delicate balancing act. They’ll find time for all the film work and game planning, but some wounds need more than a token lick.

“Mentally, I think you could get it all in,” he said. “But it always makes you nervous as a coach because you’ve got to take the pads off of them and give them a chance to recuperate from the previous game, and then by the time they recover, you got to keep them fresh for the game coming up. So from a physical standpoint, it’s always hard to get everything you want to get in.”

All things considered — he was an anonymous offensive line coach prior to Freeze’s scandalous ouster — Luke should be commended for the way he’s handled a sticky situation. Remember, his star quarterback, Shea Patterson, went down in Week 8. A .500 finish might be enough to get the interim tag removed from his title, especially if it’s highlighted by an upset of MSU.

Win or lose, Luke should enjoy a late Thanksgiving like Mullen. The 2017 campaign will soon be over for the Rebels.

John Crist

John Crist is an award-winning contributor to Saturday Down South.