Today the annual Egg Bowl takes place between Mississippi State and Ole Miss...below is the history behind the Egg Bowl and the Golden Egg Trophy... (Golden Egg Trophy, photo, right)
Up until 1926, Ole Miss had claimed only five wins in the previous twenty-three meetings of the teams. When Ole Miss beat what was then known as Mississippi A&M College 7 to 6, the Ole Miss fans were celebratory, rushing the field, some trying to tear the goalposts down. A&M fans did not take well to the Ole Miss fans celebrations, and fights broke out all over the field between the schools' fans. Some A&M fans defended the goal posts with wooden chairs, and several injuries were reported. Ole Miss and A&M students vowed then that such an incident should not happen again.
The result was the "Golden Egg", a trophy to cool the heat of battle - the trophy, not the goalposts, would be the winners' reward. The name derives from a large trophy which has been awarded to the winning team each year since 1927. The trophy consists of a large football-shaped brass piece mounted to a wooden base and traditionally symbolizes supremacy in college football in the state of Mississippi for the year. The footballs used in American football in the 1920s were considerably more ovoid and blunter than those in use today and similar to the balls still used in rugby; the shape of the football on the trophy naturally depicts a football from the era when the trophy was first awarded. The trophy thus, to modern eyes, more resembles an egg than a football. The awarding of the "Golden Egg" was instituted in 1927 by joint agreement between the two schools student bodies.[3]
For many years this game was played at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson, which seats approximately 62,000 spectators. There were several reasons behind this. Besides being centrally located in the state, at the time it was the only venue in the state capable of seating the anticipated crowd; for many years Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford seated only about 32,000 and Scott Field in Starkville seated only about 31,000.
Both have been considerably expanded and are now capable of accommodating the crowds which can realistically be expected, and both on-campus venues have been continually upgraded to the point where they are actually superior in amenities to Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium, so the decision was made to move the game into a home-and-home series in the 1990s. It was decided that the on-campus atmosphere is generally better; the game is now more useful for both schools as a recruiting tool, and this has the additional advantage of only requiring the bulk of one team's core fan base to make a road trip rather than both of them as was previously the case.
The 2:12 clip below is of the 2007 Egg Bowl in which Mississippi State won 17-14 on the last play...check out Mississippi State head coach Sly Croom running with the MSU flag after the game...
Back in the days of Jackie Sherrill, this was a rivalry game that Texas A&M usually won...but times have changed...the Aggies no longer build the annual bonfire, on campus, after the tragedy that took place about ten years ago...this year, this is a game the Longhorns must win - and win impressively...
Texas A&M @ Texas Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman writes about the demise of the Texas A&M football program... "Is Texas A&M the new Baylor? Was hiring Mike Sherman a mistake? How long will it take the Aggies to make up ground?" ...
Suzanne Haliburton of the Austin American-Statesman writes about Texas DE Brian Orakpo and his last game at Texas... "There's an argument to be made that Orakpo — the fifth-year senior playing in his final game at Royal-Memorial Stadium on Thursday — is representative of the surging Longhorns, who are making an unexpected national title run." ...
Here is how the annual Bonfire is done without the university's support... Despite the university's refusal to allow Bonfire to take place on campus, a non-university sanctioned bonfire took its place. The first unofficial Bonfire since the 1930s was held in 2002 and was known as the "Unity Project." This fire consisted of three piles of wood, with the center stack being 35 feet (11 m) high.
In 2003, the event became known as Student Bonfire. In a design approved by a professional engineer, Student Bonfire uses a wedding cake design, but, in a departure from tradition, every log in the stack touches the ground. For added support, four 24 feet (7.3 m) poles are spaced evenly around the stack and then bolted to the 45 feet (14 m) center pole with a steel pipe. These poles are known as Windle-sticks, after Levi Windle, a staunch supporter of Student Bonfire who died in an unrelated accident in 2003. Since the group does not receive funding, Student Bonfire charges a fee to each attendee to cover expenses. Attendance for Student Bonfire ranges from 8,000–15,000 people and the event is held in Brazos County or one of the surrounding counties.
Disgust...that is what I feel after Michigan's embarrassing performance on Saturday in Columbus against Ohio State...I was in attendance for the first game of the season when the Wolverines took on Utah...and I was there Saturday for Michigan's annual beating administered by the Buckeyes...over those 13 weeks, I saw no improvement with Michigan...
Zero...zilch...nada...
Michigan lacked the basic fundamentals of football, such as catching a punt and kick...Rich Rodriguez would state in his weekly press conference how the team is making progress in practice...but somehow that progress did not transfer to the field on Saturdays...
To think Michigan would ever finish with a 3-9 season would be unfathomable...but it is now part of our history...the 2009 football season will be the most crucial in the history of Michigan football...another poor season and a loss to Ohio State could set back the football program for years...Rodriguez MUST go at least 8-4 and beat Ohio State next season...if he cannot accomplish those two attainable goals, then the Michigan administration must swallow its pride, admit it made a mistake with Rodriguez, and move quickly to replace him as head coach...Michigan cannot sit back idly and wait as Nebraska did with former head coach Bill Callahan...
Over the last two years it is not acceptable to be losing at home to Appalachian State, Toledo, and Northwestern...it is not acceptable to lose seven of the last eight years to Ohio State...this current losing era to Ohio State is worse than when John Cooper was losing to Michigan...Cooper never lost five games in a row to Michigan...
All the blame should not be place on Rodriguez...former head coach Lloyd Carr is just as responsible for this downward spiral of Michigan football...his lack of preparation caused Michigan to lose to Appalachian State...and his lackadaisical approach to Ohio State allowed Jim Tressel to beat Carr in their match-ups...if Carr would have approached the OSU game with more emphasis, Michigan could have won at least two of their games against Tressel...over the last eight years, Tressel's aggressive approach to outrecruiting and outhustling Michigan has showed when the two teams meet...
Michigan is resting on his proud history...sure it is the winningest football program, but many of those records were set prior to World War I and II...in the BCS era, Michigan has been nothing but an above average football program who cannot win the big games...
Here are the following teams who have competed in the BCS title game since its inception during the 1998 season: Three times Ohio State, Florida State, Oklahoma Two times LSU, USC, Miami (Fla) One time Tennessee, Virginia Tech, Nebraska, Texas, Florida
Most of the traditional big-time football programs have competed in the title game except for Alabama, Notre Dame, Penn State, and MICHIGAN...Michigan needs to stop resting on its history from a century ago and start making a difference in today's era of ollege football...
Today the annual Egg Bowl takes place between Mississippi State and Ole Miss...below is the history behind the Egg Bowl and the Golden Egg Trophy... (Golden Egg Trophy, photo, right)
