This Year's Egg Bowl Could Be Last Year's Iron Bowl

Raise your hand if you saw this coming.

Mississippi State ranked first in the nation, Ole Miss ranked third. I didn’t.

I thought they would both be good, maybe one of them would even win ten games, and as usual, would be dangerous in every game they played.

But I never saw this coming. One at a time, two weekends in a row, the perceived powers in the SEC traveled a short distance to the left and limped back with its sole loss of the season, first Alabama and then Auburn.

Two weekends in a row, Mississippi State and Ole Miss proved that, at least this year, there just might be a new power state in college football.

We’re in the middle of a season in which Kentucky could win the SEC East, and that’s not even the biggest surprise, thanks to Dan Mullen and Hugh Freeze.

This is unprecedented. It’s astonishing. It’s exciting.

As of right now, the road to the SEC championship goes through Mississippi. And no, that’s not the punchline to a joke I didn’t tell the right way.

Ole Miss and Mississippi State have unexpectedly made it through half of the nation’s toughest division unscathed, and have turned some heads while doing so.

Mississippi State has taken down Auburn and LSU. Ole Miss beat Alabama. Both teams handily defeated Texas A&M. All that’s left is Arkansas.

When was the last time that the state of Mississippi beat every other team in the West?

You’d have to go back to 1998, when Mississippi State defeated Alabama, Auburn, and Arkansas, while Ole Miss took down LSU.

That was the last time every SEC West team was beaten by at least one of the Mississippi schools (Texas A&M has only been in the league three years, not enough to count toward this record).

It’s been a very special year in the Magnolia State, and it’s only going to get better.

At the end of the season both Mississippi State and Ole Miss could find themselves undefeated, with a victory in the Egg Bowl propelling them to the SEC Championship Game and the College Football Playoff.

Kind of like last year’s Iron Bowl, right? And we all remember how that game ended.

Both teams have a clear path to the championship, and the final stop before the big game is in Oxford, Mississippi.

Much like last year, the Egg Bowl will match up two teams with elite talent but different personnel and methods.

Mississippi State ranks in the top 15 in scoring, rushing, and total offense, while Ole Miss ranks in the top 25 in every major defensive category.

Mississippi State’s defense has been soft at times, but allows only 28 percent of opponent third downs to be converted and 120 rushing yards a game. Ole Miss’s offense can be stagnant and turnover-prone, but the Rebels still post 36 points and 442 yards of total offense per game.

Both teams have different strengths, but utilize their personnel to its fullest potential, and as a result, each is sitting in the top three of the national rankings.

Mississippi State has an explosive, high-octane offense predicated on the strength of its running game, and a bend-but-don’t-break defense that forces turnovers and steps up with its back against the wall.

You know who else that sounds like? The 2013 Auburn Tigers.

Ole Miss has a dominant defense, with athletes all over the field to stream to the ball and deliver crushing hits, while the offense moves the ball consistently.

That last sentence also describes the 2013 Alabama Crimson Tide.

The similarities in this potential high-stakes Egg Bowl are remarkable. In 2013, the game’s Heisman hopeful was A.J. McCarron. This year, it’s Dak Prescott. If both teams win out, they will certainly both be in the top five, probably first and second in the nation.

But they both have to reach the game with a lot to lose, and even more to win.

Ole Miss’s toughest game left before Mississippi State is against Auburn, whom they play at home. The Rebels travel to LSU and Arkansas, and get a visit from Tennessee, all potential trap games, but nothing Hugh Freeze’s squad can’t handle.

Mississippi State has the more difficult path ahead, with a road matchup with Alabama looming, as well as a trip to Kentucky and a visit from Arkansas, before travelling to Oxford at the end of the year.

If each team survives the rest of what is a nightmarish SEC West schedule with a few East games sprinkled throughout, get ready for an exciting finish in Mississippi.

No one saw this coming, which is what makes it so awesome.

The state of Mississippi is experiencing something that very few have paid witness to in college football history. It’s a rare occurrence to have two of the nation’s premier teams occupy the same state, mere miles from one another.

We love it two teams that have an intense rivalry now find themselves with more at stake than ever before, within reach of heights never previously dreamt of.

This is where Mississippi State and Ole Miss find themselves now. And if they continue to win, they will collide in a colossal meeting with not only conference or national championship implications, but the chance at making history.

The Iron Bowl is always an exciting contest, but this year, the Egg Bowl will be the game to watch.

The road to Dallas goes through Mississippi.