The bell tolls on Rebels in Egg Bowl defeat

In what could have been a positive end to a disappointing season, Ole Miss fell 31-23 to in-state rival No. 25 Mississippi State Saturday night in the Egg Bowl at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

It marked the second-straight Egg Bowl win for the Bulldogs (8-4, 4-4 SEC) and their first in Oxford since 1998.

“MSU had a great defense tonight,” UM coach Houston Nutt said. “Our offense did not do enough to help our defense when they were playing well. That has been our story this year. That is what makes it tough. When our defense is on target, our offense isn’t. We didn’t capitalize on turnovers and opportunities like we should have.”

Mississippi State’s offensive duo of quarterback Chris Relf and redshirt freshman running back LaDarius Perkins powered the Bulldogs to victory.

Relf threw for a career-high 288 yards and three touchdowns while Perkins tallied 319 all-purpose yards along with two second-quarter scores.

Ole Miss (4-8, 1-7 SEC) led 9-7 in the second quarter, but Mississippi State would go on to score 24 unanswered points to take a 31-9 lead with 2:49 remaining in the third quarter.

But on senior day, the Rebels wouldn’t go away without a fight.

“Thinking about your last time walking through the tunnel, thinking about your last time being with the guys on the field, it’s real emotional,” senior cornerback Jeremy McGee said.

Ole Miss narrowed the Bulldogs’ lead to eight with 4:21 to play when senior quarterback Jeremiah Masoli threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Ja-Mes Logan.

Masoli completed 24 of 44 passes for 261 yards in his final collegiate game.

“I don’t regret anything that happened this year,” Masoli said. “I’m just glad Coach Nutt gave me the chance again. This is my family.”

On Mississippi State’s next offensive series, the Rebel defense forced the Bulldogs to punt, which provided Ole Miss a chance to send the game into overtime.

The Rebels began their final drive on their own 11-yard line with 2:30 remaining in the contest. However a series of incomplete passes by Masoli and a 15-yard illegal block penalty from freshman offensive lineman Patrick Junen doomed the Rebels’ chances at a comeback.

“I really felt like the look in our guys’ eyes was that we were going to score,” Nutt said of the final offensive drive. “We had a lot of momentum from the last previous drive.”

After back-to-back Cotton Bowl wins, the Rebels’ finish will be at home during the postseason, while the Bulldogs will be playing in their first bowl game since a win over Central Florida in the 2007 Liberty Bowl.

“The thing I appreciate about them is their ability to fight,” Nutt said of this year’s team. ”They kept fighting all through the year when they could have easily let go of the rope. They kept fighting till the end.”