why is it the egg bowl

The Egg Bowl gets its name from the Golden Egg trophy and from a late‑1970s newspaper headline that turned “Battle for the Golden Egg” into the catchy shorthand “Egg Bowl.”

What the Egg Bowl Is

• The Egg Bowl is the annual college football rivalry game between Ole Miss (University of Mississippi) and Mississippi State University, played since the early 1900s.

• It is one of the most intense in‑state rivalries in U.S. college football, regularly played around Thanksgiving and treated like a championship by both fanbases.

Where the “Egg” Comes From

• After a heated 1926 game that ended in a field‑storming and near‑riot, the schools agreed to introduce a trophy in 1927 to calm postgame chaos.

• Students created a gold‑plated football trophy that, because of its rounded, seam‑less shape, looked more like an egg than a modern football, so people started calling it the “Golden Egg.”

From “Battle for the Golden Egg” to “Egg Bowl”

• For decades the rivalry was officially known as “The Battle for the Golden Egg,” referring to that egg‑shaped trophy.

• In 1978–79, when both teams had poor records and no real postseason prospects, a Jackson newspaper sports editor labeled the matchup the “Egg Bowl” in his coverage, and the name stuck with fans and media.

Why the Name Stuck

• “Egg Bowl” is short, distinctive, and sounds like a postseason bowl game, which helped market the rivalry even in years when neither team was very good.

• Today, people use “Egg Bowl” as the primary name, but “Battle for the Golden Egg” still appears in historical and official references to the series.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.