Ole Miss Schedule Preview: Egg Bowl vs. Mississippi State Bulldogs

The 2024 college football season is still about a month away, but with SEC Media Days in the rearview mirror, now is the time to begin previewing the Ole Miss Rebels’ schedule.

Ole Miss is coming off an 11-2 season that saw it capture a Peach Bowl victory over the Penn State Nittany Lions in December. The Rebels return a plethora of talent from last year’s team (including quarterback Jaxson Dart, wide receiver Tre Harris, tight end Caden Prieskron and others), but they also made a huge haul in the transfer portal to shore up some holes on its roster.

It’s this combination of talent and a seemingly-managble SEC schedule that have many believing the Rebels can qualify for the new 12-team College Football Playoff.

Over the next few days, Ole Miss OnSI will preview each of the Rebels’ 2024 regular season opponents. We last looked at the Florida Gators, and today, we analyze the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

Mississippi State Bulldogs

After a lackluster year in 2023, Mississippi State added a new layer of intrigue to the annual Egg Bowl with its hiring of Jeff Lebby as head coach this offseason.

Lebby served as the offensive coordinator at Ole Miss for the first two years of Lane Kiffin’s regime, and after spending time in the same position at his alma mater, he has taken on his first big-time head coaching job. He has some work to do in Starkville to turn things around.

Newcomers galore are expected to make an impact for the Bulldogs this season, beginning with transfer quarterback Blake Shapen. Shapen spent the last three years at Baylor, throwing for over 2,000 yards the last two seasons and boasting a career total of 36 passing touchdowns. Lebby is known for his offensive prowess, and he will try to mold Shapen into the program’s spark plug under center.

State also added running back Davon Booth to the backfield from Utah State. He rushed for over 800 yards and six scores a season ago, and he will look to replace leading rusher Woody Marks for the Bulldogs.

Much of Mississippi State’s wide receiver production will also be new in 2024 after the additions of Kelly Akharaiyi (UTEP) and Kevin Coleman (Louisville) from the transfer portal. Akharaiyi could be a nice addition in Lebby’s scheme after posting over 1,000 yards receiving last season.

On defense, Stone Blanton is one of the bigger additions for the Bulldogs after tallying 52 total tackles last season with the South Carolina Gamecocks.

On paper, Ole Miss appears to be the better team in this year’s Egg Bowl, but if history has taught us anything, it’s that this game can get weird in a hurry. The Rebels will look to win their second straight game in this series and their fourth in the last five years when the Bulldogs come to town.

Kickoff in this game is set for 2:30 p.m. CT on Black Friday (Nov. 29), and it will be televised on ABC.