Mississippi State Routs #25 Rebels In 41-27 Upset To Reclaim Golden Egg

Saturday, November 28

Starkville

11:21 AM

Mississippi State

5-7 , 3-5

#25 Ole Miss

8-4 , 4-4

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Ole Miss

Mississippi State

Mississippi State Routs #25 Rebels In 41-27 Upset To Reclaim Golden Egg

November 28, 2009 | Football

Box Score

By: hailstate.com

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STARKVILLE, Miss. - Mississippi State sophomore quarterback Chris Relf ran for a career- high 131 yards and senior running back Anthony Dixon set MSU's single-season rushing record as State (5-7, 3-5 SEC) reclaimed the Golden Egg with a 41-27 win against No. 25 Ole Miss (8-4, 4-4 SEC). Bulldog head coach Dan Mullen's first Egg Bowl victory came in front of a crowd of 55,375, the fourth-largest in school history.

Relf scored on his feet and in the air, rushing for one touchdown and passing for two more as he completed three of his five attempts for 43 yards. Relf also combined with Dixon for 264 of the Bulldogs' 317 rushing yards as the pair became the first MSU duo to rush for 100 or more yards in a game since Fred Reid and Jerious Norwood each passed the century mark against Kentucky in 2004.

Dixon registered his eighth 100-yard rushing game of the season as he capped his career with a 133-yard effort against the Rebels. The Jackson, Miss., product finished 2009 with 1,391 yards on the ground, pushing him past James Johnson's 1998 record of 1,383.

State's offense out-gained the Rebels 412-385, but limited Ole Miss to just 90 yards on the ground.

Rebel quarterback Jevan Snead was 17-of-29 for 275 yards, but was picked off three times, twice by sophomore Charles Mitchell and once by redshirt freshman Corey Broomfield for a 64-yard touchdown with 5:17 left in the game.

Mississippi State outscored Ole Miss 38 -14 in the second half after trailing 13-10 at halftime.

Relf guided State on a seven-play, 32-yard drive to open the third quarter. The sophomore ran for 20 yards to the Ole Miss 32-yard line. The Bulldogs worked the ball down to the 31 and Derek DePasquale connected on a career long 48-yard field goal to knot the game at 13.

The State defense stopped the Rebels on their first offensive possession of the final half, and the offense returned to the field and marched 70 yards in 13 plays. Relf capped the drive as he found Marcus Green on a two-yard touchdown pass that put State up 20-13.

On the ensuing Ole Miss possession, Mitchell picked off a Snead pass and gave the Bulldog offense the ball at the Ole Miss 34. On the fourth play of the drive, Relf connected with freshman Chad Bumphis, and the Tupelo native broke several tackles and scored a 34-yard touchdown that put State up 27 -13 with 38 seconds left in the third quarter.

Snead cut the lead back to seven (27-20) with a 48-yard fourth-quarter touchdown pass to Markeith Summers, but the Bulldogs immediately responded with an eight-play, 46-yard drive. After Bumphis returned the kickoff 55 yards to the Rebel 46-yard line, MSU marched down to the 10 where Relf ran in to put MSU up 34-20 with just under 11 minutes left.

Ole Miss' offense was shaken up again as Snead was intercepted by Mitchell for the second time in the game. State was unable to capitalize off the turnover, however, as Arnil Stallowrth fumbled the ball just shy of the goalline. The Rebel moved the ball to the Bulldog 40, but Broomfield stepped in front of a Snead pass and returned it 64-yards to give the Dawgs a 41-20 lead.

Snead hit Dexter McCluster on a 52-yard touchdown pass that put the icing on the Bulldogs' 41-27 victory.

State's dominating second-half effort followed an evenly-played opening half that saw UM take a 13-10 advantage into the lockerroom. Ole Miss put the first points on the scoreboard as Joshua Shene's 26-yard field goal capped a 13-play, 60-yard drive and gave the Rebels a 3-0 lead. The big play of the drive came from the MSU 36. With Ole Miss facing fourth down, the Rebels faked the punt and Billy Tapp found Reggie Hicks for a 20-yard completion down to the Bulldog 16-yard line.

State answered however, marching 69 yards in 13 plays. Starting at its own 20, the Bulldogs moved the ball out to the 47 on a Tyson Lee second-down pass that found Marcus Green for 23 yards. Two plays later, Lee again went to the air and found freshman Chad Bumphis who picked up 11 yards into Rebel territory at the 41.

Lee again picked up a big gain, but this time it came using his legs on second down. The Columbus, Miss., native scrambled out of the pocket and picked up 22 yards down to the UM 18. The Mississippi State drive stalled at that point, however, and Derek DePasquale opened the second quarter with a field goal from 28 yards that knotted the game at 3-3.

On the ensuing drive, junior linebacker K.J. Wright forced an Ole Miss fumble which was recovered by senior linebacker Jamar Chaney on the Ole Miss 35-yard line, only to give the ball back to the Rebels two plays later. Ole Miss linebacker Patrick Trahan intercepted Lee's pass and picked up 28 yards in the return which set up a seven-play, 28-yard scoring drive capped off by a 28-yard field goal by Shene.

On their next offensive possession, State began to use a two quarterback system incorporating Relf into the mix. Relf rushed for 54 yards on three carries to put the Bulldogs inside the five yard line. Dixon scored his 42^nd career rushing touchdown from two yards out to finish a nine-play, 8- yard drive and give MSU a 10-6 lead with 3:22 left in the half.

Ole Miss answered quickly, moving the ball 73 yards. The Rebels completed the drive as Snead found Shay Hodge in the endzone for the 13-10 advantage.

State ended the day with a new season attendance record of 376,574, bettering the old record of 306,545 set in 2004, and also set a season average attendance record, 53,792 surpassing the previous record set in 2007 by more that 4,00 per game.