Rebels goes for back-to-back Egg Bowl wins
Ole Miss begins its final week of the season — a short week with a Thanksgiving Night game against rival Mississippi State — reeling from its most painful setback in a four-game losing streak.
Coaches and players left Vanderbilt Stadium last Saturday wondering why an apparent overtime touchdown catch by A.J. Brown was ruled incomplete after replays showed Brown maintain possession for a couple of steps in the end zone and fall backward all the way to the ground before having the ball knocked away.
The touchdown was overturned on review, and Vanderbilt won 36-29.
Ole Miss athletics director Ross Bjork was seeking an explanation for the call late Saturday, but one was not immediately available.
The win gives Vanderbilt a shot a bowl-eligibility, something Ole Miss, at 5-6 overall, 1-6 in SEC play, does not have regardless of the Egg Bowl against MSU.
The Rebels are in the second year of a two-year bowl ban handed down as part of the recently concluded NCAA investigation.
Ole Miss will be at home, which would seem to be an advantage for the Rebels.
However, the home team has not won in this series since 2014 when No. 18 Ole Miss defeated No. 4 MSU, 31-17. Both teams would go on to New Year’s Six bowl games that season.
Mississippi upset of No. 16-ranked Mississippi State, 31-28, in Starkville last year after Bulldogs’ starting quarterback Nick Fitzgerald left the game in the first quarter with an ankle injury.
Ole Miss is 3-0 under Matt Luke in games in which the opposing starting quarterback has left with injury. That also occurred against Texas Tech and Arkansas this season.
The Rebels played without Scottie Phillips at Vanderbilt, and their starting running back is listed as probable for the Bulldogs. If he plays, Phillips needs only 73 yards to reach 1,000 for the season, no easy task against a Mississippi State defense allowing just 110.4 rushing yards a game to rank No. 2 in the SEC and No. 10 nationally.
Minus Phillips, the Rebels got 107 yards on 16 carries from backup Isaiah Woullard at Vanderbilt.
