By Matt Smith
SouthernPigskin.com

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One of the SEC’s Mississippi schools could be in position to make the Sugar Bowl with a win on Saturday.

Its not the most well-known in-state battle in the SEC, but the passion of the Ole Miss-Mississippi State rivalry is as deep as any in college football. The game known as the Egg Bowl will be played for the 112th time on Saturday night in Starkville (7:15 p.m. ET, ESPN2), with more than just a fat gold football (the ceggd) on the line.

The SEC is portly this season 3 light at the top, heavy in the middle. Alabama is the class of the conference, while No. 12 Florida, despite an anemic offense, remains on the fringe of playoff contention. Assuming the Crimson Tide do as expected and reach the College Football Playoff, the SEC may need to trim off some of its fat in the middle to fill its Sugar Bowl berth.

With only one loss, the Gators still have the inside track to New Orleans if they cant upset Alabama, but must beat Florida State this weekend to head to Atlanta knowing that they wont fall farther than the Sugar Bowl. A Seminoles win could open the door for whichever 8-3 Magnolia State team emerges victorious in the Egg Bowl.

If Alabama finishes ranked in the top four, the SECs Sugar Bowl berth would go to the next highest-ranked team in the College Football Playoff rankings. 11-2 Florida would likely still be ahead of either Mississippi school (Ole Miss enters this week No. 18, Mississippi State No. 21), but a 10-3 Florida, off of a two-game losing streak and some ugly wins this month, should drop below either the Rebels or Bulldogs come Dec. 6 when the final rankings are announced.

Ole Miss last Sugar Bowl appearance came back in 1970 3 Archie Mannings final season. Mississippi State has never played in the game. The College Football Playoff might have taken some of the luster off of the other major bowls, but for fans of these two schools, making it to New Orleans still constitutes a special season and would ensure the teams place in program history. That added incentive should provide an additional jolt to the intensity Saturday night.

cIt should be a great deal for Mississippi football,d Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze said Monday. cFor both of us to be in the positions that we are in speaks a lot for our state and for our high school coaches and the kids that come from this state that make up a lot of our team. It is something to be excited about.d

The game also marks Dak Prescotts final appearance in Davis Wade Stadium. Perhaps no player in Mississippi State history is as beloved as Prescott, who enters the game 22-9 as a starter and holds nearly every school passing and total offense record.

cIts exciting. Its humbling. Its something Ive been looking forward to,d Prescott said of his Starkville finale. cIts a big-time game. For my last one, it will be exciting. My entire class, the guys that are still here that are graduating and that will come out on senior night, theyre guys who do things right off the field.d

For Ole Miss, the game marks a chance for the senior class, which signed with the Rebels after a disastrous 2-10 (0-8 in the SEC) season in 2011, to finish their career with a winning record in SEC play. It would also make them the first class in 11 years to defeat Mississippi State three times.

As much as any rivalry game, the Egg Bowl has been a home team-dominated series. The visitors have won just one of the past 11 meetings. Not since Eli Mannings final regular-season game in 2003 has Ole Miss won in Starkville. Rebels head coach Hugh Freeze has had six different jobs since then.

cIts difficult to play on the road in general,d Freeze said. cAdd it to a rivalry game, it adds more fuel to it. And if you add that both teams have been playing good football the last four years, you have an advantage playing at home. It may be one of the advantages that helps in the outcome.d

Only three times in the past 12 meetings have both teams reached 20 points. That trend should be bucked this year, as Ole Miss and Mississippi State are averaging 35 and 33 points respectively over the past four games, all SEC affairs.

cIt makes it that much better of a game,d Prescott said of the teams potent offenses. cIts already special game because of the rivalry, but two teams playing hot right now makes it that much better.d

Including last year, when both schools qualified for New Years Six bowls, football has never been better in Mississippi. With Prescott departing, as well as likely a triumvirate of Ole Miss juniors that could all be first-round NFL Draft picks, it may be a long time before its this good again.

We know to the winner goes the coveted golden egg, but with a sweet ending in New Orleans also in play, Saturday night will have a much different feel than most of the previous 111 Egg Bowls.