What Lane Kiffin has learned about the Egg Bowl at Ole Miss

After losing in a close one last season, Ole Miss was able to take back the Golden Egg on Thanksgiving in the Egg Bowl with a 17-7 win over in-state rival Mississippi State.

The win wasn’t the prettiest, but the Rebels showed a ton of toughness in a defensive dogfight to secure their tenth win of the season for the second time in head coach Lane Kiffin‘s tenure.

Following the win, Kiffin took to social media, letting Mississippi State know who has bragging rights in the state in a quote tweet that can be seen below.

Ole Miss’ defense came up big again on Thursday shutting out the Bulldogs for the entire first half and holding them to just 303 total yards of offense on the night. The performance marked the third time in the last five games that Ole Miss has held an opponent to under double digits on the score board.

Safety Daijahn Anthony and linebacker Jeremiah Jean-Baptiste were all over the field ending the game with 15 and 10 tackles respectively to lead the defense while running back Quinshon Judkins led the offensive charge with 119 rushing yards and a touchdown on the evening.

There isn’t much sweeter of a feeling than getting revenge on a rival, as the Rebels now extend their record over the Bulldogs to 65–46–6 all time and await to see what bowl game they’ll participate in.

Lane Kiffin reacts to 2023 Egg Bowl win

Kiffin personally now extends his record to 3-1 versus Mississippi State, and after the game shared his thoughts and emotions surrounding the big-time rivalry win over the Bulldogs with ESPN’s Cole Cubelic.

“It’s just really cool,” Kiffin told. ‘It’s one of those things that you appreciate it more once you’ve lost it. To have it back for our players, for our fans… I just want to thank God for the opportunity to coach these guys because it’s just really cool. Half these guys are brand new and just came in here, and to win 10 games awesome.”

Kiffin’s work in recruiting through the transfer portal was well documented this offseason, but that did not get in the way of his players displaying the toughness and physicality you’d expect versus a rival, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

“That’s a cool way to win. To play a defensive game like that, run the ball in to win,” Kiffin said. “I’m really proud of our guys and blessed to coach these guys — a really cool group of guys.”