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Mississippi State and Ole Miss fans are used to booing one another. Each SEC Saturday, a loss for the other is as good as a win, particularly for often less-than-classy social media purposes.
That typically stops when it comes to Rebels and Bulldogs facing off in the NFL. The ire isn’t quite the same. That could be because the one-on-one matchups aren’t very typical on Sundays. And when New England running back Brandon Bolden and Philadelphia DT Fletcher Cox are on the field at the same time, the social media smack is tough to find.
That might just change for a few hours on Sunday. At 4:25 ET in Arlington, the Dallas Cowboys host the New York Giants. Not-so-arguably the greatest quarterbacks in Mississippi collegiate history go one-on-one, Eli Manning vs. Dak Prescott.
Eli has earned his one-name moniker, 13 years in the NFL, two Super Bowl rings and two Super Bowl MVP awards. Dak, his first season out of Mississippi State, has temporarily earned his one-name recognition. Prescott has lit up the preseason, earning the respect of Cowboys veterans and claiming the starting spot when Tony Romo went down with an injury, again.
They are the faces of their schools. Manning set or tied 47 single-game, school and career records. That included 10,119 career passing yards and 81 touchdown passes.
Had he not had his foot stepped on by center Doug Buckles on Nov. 22, 2003 against LSU, the Rebels may have been in Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game for the first time. Instead it was No. 3 LSU 17, No. 15 Ole Miss 14. He finished third in Heisman voting and was the top pick in the 2004 NFL Draft.
Prescott became a legend, competing for a pair of Heisman trophies and leading the Bulldogs to an unprecedented No. 1 ranking. He left Starkville the owner of 38 school records, 15 of them career marks. He was the most outstanding player in the Senior Bowl and a Manning Award finalist.
Both are Louisiana natives who made the move to Mississippi to become college stars and hometown heroes. As much smack as might be talked, especially by the diehard haters on each side, the game represents just how much of a player Mississippi State and Ole Miss have become not only in the NCAA, but in placing talent at the next level.
The two are beloved in their adopted hometowns. Manning will be seen walking the Oxford Square and is wildly active in giving. He and wife Abby just donated $1 million to Children’s of Mississippi’s ‘Growing’ capital campaign.
Prescott’s legend has just started blooming. Mississippi State posted billboards across Dallas that read “Wherever you go, we go with you: Good luck Dak, From State to Sundays.”
Prescott was taken No. 135 overall in the fourth round. In the preseason, he completed a crazy 39-of-50 passes for 454 yards. The absurd 78 percent completion percentage came vertical, horizontal and all in between.
He quickly went from popular backup to the guy in Dallas.
Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi said not too long ago that the SEC should dump Ole Miss and Mississippi State. Now the two schools have NFL starters in Week 1.
It’s a credit to the job the schools do recruiting, and the job coaches do with the quarterback recruits.
It’s a day to celebrate, but a day that wouldn’t feel right if Ole Miss fans don’t make fun of Dak’s rookie mistakes or if Mississippi State fans don’t laugh when Eli makes the Manning pout face after a patented pick.
