STARKVILLE — The Golden Egg Trophy will stay in Starkville.
The Mississippi State football team won the annual in-state rivalry for the third straight year for the first time since World War II with a 31-3 victory against the University of Mississippi on Saturday night.
“It’s great for our seniors to go out that way,” MSU coach Dan Mullen said. “They know how important it is for us and how important it is for our fans.”
The Bulldogs matched their longest winning streak in the series since they won four consecutive games from 1939-42. The 28-point victory is the largest victory for MSU against its archrival since a 33-0 triumph on Nov. 8, 1919.
MSU (6-6, 2-6 Southeastern Conference) wasted little time taking the opening drive 68 yards to the end zone on a rollout and throwback pass that connected seniors in Chris Relf to Vick Ballard. A similar call resulted in a 36-yard touchdown pass to LaDarius Perkins last year against Ole Miss in Oxford. Ballard powered through a tackle by linebacker Joel Knight on his way to the end zone.
“We came out and scored points because we had something to play for going into the bowl season,” Ballard said.
Perkins wasn’t going to be outdone. A little more than eight minutes later, the sophomore tailback took an option pitch from Relf and had nothing but green grass in front of him. Before he crossed the goal line, the 190-pound speedster juked freshman Cody Prewitt to the point the defensive back almost fell down.
The score helped give MSU 14 points before Ole Miss (2-10, 0-8) had accumulated 38 yards.
Relf finished with 119 total yards (70 passing, 49 rushing) in his final game at Davis Wade Stadium. The senior from Montgomery, Ala., went 3-0 record against Ole Miss. He was 24 of 33 passing with 401 yards and seven touchdowns. He also rushed for 263 yards and a touchdown on 47 carries against the Rebels.
“I’m really happy Chris came out strong with some focus and intensity we wanted to see,” MSU offensive coordinator Les Koenning said. “He was beat up toward the middle of the year and just kept doing his job.”
After the MSU stuffed Ole Miss on fourth-and-5, Relf found Perkins seven plays later for a 20-yard touchdown strike down the middle of the defense to give the Bulldogs a 21-point halftime lead.
The touchdown helped Perkins record a receiving and rushing score in the same game for only the second time in his college career. He last accomplished the feat in a 29-24 victory against the University of Alabama at Birmingham on Oct. 23, 2010, in Starkville.
Perkins finished with a team-high three catches for 27 yards and 64 rushing yards, his largest total yardage performance of the 2011 season.
“Some of his big plays, especially in the first half, set the tempo for us,” Mullen said. “We talked about how in big games you have to step up and play your best, and our guys did.”
Ole Miss suffered a winless season in the SEC for only the fifth time in school history since 1942.
“We are a team that is very fragile,” Ole Miss head coach Houston Nutt said. “When things go bad, they go bad. This is a team that just lacks a little confidence.”
MSU continued to attack Ole Miss’ linebackers. MSU’s strategy helped it dominate in the running game for a season-high home total of 247 yards on 48 carries.
“Something just wasn’t right (and) we stopped executing,” Ole Miss senior defensive end Kentrell Lockett said. “This is not how we wanted to go out, but this was a reflection of the entire season.”
Saturday night marked the first time since 1996 Ole Miss was held scoreless in the first half of a game in the rivalry. MSU has outscored its opponents in the first half by a 70-9 margin in its past three victories.
“Our plan was to get them down early and make them give up,” Perkins said. “The coaches kept telling us if we jumped out early then they’d lay down. That’s exactly what they did.”
MSU held Ole Miss to its lowest Egg Bowl output since 1996, when MSU won 17-0.
MSU is bowl eligible in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1999-2000, when it beat Clemson in the Peach Bowl and Texas A&M in the Independence Bowl.
“Hopefully all the kids in the state of Mississippi understand this is the place to come to win championships,” Mullen said.
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