Nothing gets Ole Miss and Mississippi State fans more riled up than a controversy surrounding the Egg Bowl.
The flames engulfing the bitter rivalry were stoked on Wednesday when Mississippi State linebacker John Lewis took a shot at his in-state counterpart’s “Come to the Sip” slogan at SEC Media Days in Dallas, Texas.
Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin and company coined the catchphrase as part of their efforts to lure out-of-state players from both the transfer portal and high school ranks to make Oxford their home. Lewis, who claimed that Mississippi State championed the motto first, also contended that the Bulldogs are superior to the Rebels.
“It’s overrated. This is our state. Everybody knows that,” Lewis said. “We run the Sip because we run Mississippi. We’ve been saying it. They’re just following us, so it’s okay. They literally want to be us.”
While Lewis took a shot at the rivaling in-state school, his head coach called out the program’s frontman, calling Kiffin’s usage of social media “a little childish,” while simultaneously reiterating that he respects his former boss.
Shortly after being hired to take over the Ole Miss football team in 2019, Kiffin gave now Mississippi State top dog Jeff Lebby his first gig in the SEC as the Rebels’ offensive coordinator. The two worked hand-in-hand in developing Ole Miss into one of the top offenses in the country with a lethal passing attack led by All-SEC quarterback Matt Corral and one of the nation’s best ground games for the next two seasons.
Then, Lebby jumped ship to Norman, Okla., to serve as Brent Venables’ offensive coordinator for the following two campaigns. Once Mississippi State came calling with a chance for Lebby to make his head coaching debut, the offensive mastermind accepted, but not without a little social media trolling from Kiffin.
From time to time, Kiffin would take to social media platform X, formerly Twitter, to throw a little shade at Lebby with memes and jabs meant to be light-hearted and mostly friendly. Lebby, who has yet to respond to the posts in kind, noted that though he admires what Kiffin has done at Ole Miss, he will not fall into a social media war with his former boss.
“I have a ton of respect for Lane and what he’s done — the energy he’s created. I’m not going to talk a ton about the social [media] presence. I’ll let him continue to tend to that game,” Lebby said during his inaugural podium appearance at SEC Media Days.
The scuttlebutt driven by comments made by Lewis and Lebby on Wednesday paired with Kiffin’s prior antics online have rekindled a myriad of debates between the Mississippi State and Ole Miss fanbases, highlighting why the rivalry between the two programs is often categorized as one of the most bitter feuds in college football.
While all of these remarks have been made off the field, both programs will have a lot to prove on the gridiron when the annual matchup rolls around. For Mississippi State, it is an opportunity to turn the pendulum in the other direction as Ole Miss has won three of the last four battles. On Ole Miss’ side, the Rebels could stamp what is anticipated to be one of the best seasons in program history with a victory and begin to separate from the Bulldogs on a national stage.
For the coaches personally, Lebby could best his former boss and prove to the college football world that he is not only capable of winning a big game, but that he is also a quality head coach in one of the toughest conferences. Kiffin will be afforded the opportunity to build upon the momentum he’s garnered the past four seasons and prove to the nation that Ole Miss is the premier football program in Mississippi.
This year’s Egg Bowl has been moved to Black Friday, ending the tradition of the annual rivalry taking place on Thanksgiving Day.
