STARKVILLE — For the first time since 2013, the 2017 Battle for the Golden Egg will be played on Thanksgiving night, the Southeastern Conference announced Tuesday.
MSU will play host to Ole Miss on Thursday, Nov. 23, 2017, at Davis Wade Stadium. It marks the first year of a multi-year agreement to play the Egg Bowl on Thanksgiving night. MSU didn’t specify what years past 2017 the Egg Bowl will be on Thanksgiving.
The 2013 Egg Bowl, won by MSU 17-10 in overtime, was the first to be played on Thanksgiving since the 2003 Egg Bowl. The rivalry was a Thanksgiving night fixture for six-straight years form 1998-2003.
The first time MSU and Ole Miss played for the Golden Egg Trophy was on Thanksgiving Day in 1927.
The SEC released the rest of 2017 schedules for its 14 football teams Tuesday night. MSU will play seven home games and make five road trips. MSU will host SEC opponents LSU (Sept. 16), Kentucky (Oct. 21), Alabama (Nov. 18), and Ole Miss. MSU will go to Georgia (Sept. 23), Auburn (Sept. 30), Texas A&M (Oct. 28), and Arkansas (Nov. 18).
The trip to Athens, Georgia, is the first for MSU since a 24-10 loss to Georgia in 2011.
MSU will play host to non-conference opponents Charleston Southern (the opener, Sept. 2), BYU (Oct. 14), and UMass (Nov. 4). MSU will play at Louisiana Tech (Sept. 9) in the second game.
MSU plays at BYU (Oct. 14) and UMass (Sept. 24) this season. MSU’s last trip to Ruston, Louisiana, to take on Louisiana Tech was a 22-14 loss in 2008.
Ole Miss will open the season with games against South Alabama (Sept. 2) and Tennessee-Martin (Sept. 9). It will play seven games at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium for the 11th-consecutive year since the regular season expanded from 11 games to 12.
Three-straight road games, along with a bye week, will keep Ole Miss away from Oxford for four weeks. Ole Miss will play California (Sept. 16) in an SEC vs. Pac-12 showdown. After a bye week, games at Alabama (Sept. 30) and at Auburn (Oct. 7) will follow.
Five of the Rebels’ final seven games of the regular season will take place at home: Vanderbilt (Oct. 14), LSU (Oct. 21), Arkansas (Oct. 28), Louisiana-Lafayette (Nov. 11), and Texas A&M (Nov. 18). A road game at Kentucky (Nov. 4) is sandwiched in between the home matchups.
Alabama will play seven games at Bryant-Denny Stadium plus a neutral-site game against Florida State and four SEC road games.
Alabama will open the season Sept. 2 against Florida State in the first regular-season college football game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. It will mark the fifth-consecutive year Alabama will open the season with a neutral-site game, and the fifth time in the Nick Saban era that the Crimson Tide will open the season in Atlanta.
Alabama will play host to Ole Miss, Arkansas, Tennessee, and LSU and will travel to Vanderbilt, Texas A&M, MSU, and Auburn.
Alabama will play host to three non-conference games — Fresno State (Sept. 9), Colorado State (Sept. 16), and Mercer (Nov. 18) — at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
The 2017 SEC Championship Game will be Saturday, Dec. 2, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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