Three reasons why Ole Miss should be confident in upcoming Egg Bowl

The Rebels have a lot of drama surrounding them this week, but they're still one of the best teams in the nation.

Mississippi Rebels running back Kewan Lacy (5) reacts with a belt after defeating the Florida Gators at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. | Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

The 122nd edition of the Battle for the Golden Egg is shaping up to be one of the most dramatic.

There’s the ongoing drama at Ole Miss with its head coach amidst a historic season that’ll see the Rebels go to the playoffs with win a win. Maybe even keep its head coach from leaving, too.

Then there’s Mississippi State who is three plays away from being 8-3 and should already be bowl eligible (the loss to Florida looks worse each week). But its not and desperately needs a win for reasons other than going to a bowl game.

The odds, unsurprisingly, are not in the Bulldogs’ favor.

But it’s the Egg Bowl. Things like records and odds don’t matter when the Bulldogs and Rebels faceoff.

Each side has their own reasons why they should be confident in winning Friday morning’s game at Davis Wade Stadium.

We’ll start with No. 7 Ole Miss and its three reasons:

Rebels can run the ball

This is a standard reason for any team facing Mississippi State because, as is repeatedly said, the Bulldogs can’t stop the run.

Missouri’s Ahmad Hardy just ran for 300 yards against the Bulldogs, who is allowing 189.8 rushing yards per game. Hardy was named one of three finalists for the Doak Walker Award on Tuesday and Ole Miss has one of the other two.

Kewan Lacy was named a finalist for the award and just ran for a career-high 224 yards and three touchdowns against Florida. For the season, Lacy leads the nation in rushing touchdowns with 19 and sixth in rushing yards with 1,136.

Lacy could run up and down the Scott Field all day against the Bulldogs and nobody would be surprised.

Ole Miss has pass blocking advantage

Neither the Rebels nor Bulldogs have great pass rushers. Ole Miss is averaging just 2.0 sacks per game which is only slightly better than Mississippi State’s 1.82.

Where Ole Miss has the advantage is in pass blocking. The Rebels are allowing opponents just 1.45 sacks per game, which ranks No. 4 in the SEC and No. 34 in FBS.

The Bulldogs, meanwhile are near the bottom in both SEC and FBS with 3.36 sacks allowed per game.

Of course, elite pass rushing teams, like Missouri, have a lot of success getting after Blake Shapen or Kamario Taylor. But so do not-so-great teams like Georgia.

Rebels defense strong against passes

What does Mississippi State do best on offense? Throw the ball.

What is Ole Miss’s defense best at stopping? Teams throwing the ball.

The Rebels’ are allowing 183 passing yards per game and 14.16 yards per completion. That puts them into elite-level territory. They don’t force a lot of turnovers, but they get off the field.

The Bulldogs’ passing attack wouldn’t be labeled as elite, but the offensive scheme and speedy receivers Brenen Thompson and Anthony Evans III do make for a great passing attack.

However, when there’s a strength vs. strength matchup, the defense more often than not wins the battle.