The “Egg Bowl” gets its name from the trophy and a newspaper headline that turned “Battle for the Golden Egg” into a catchy nickname. It has nothing to do with breakfast.

Origin of the name

  • Ole Miss and Mississippi State play an annual rivalry football game that long carried the formal title “Battle for the Golden Egg.”
  • In 1927 a trophy was created: a gold‑plated, regulation‑size football mounted on a base, meant to symbolize state supremacy in football.

Why “egg”?

  • Footballs in the 1920s were more rounded and ovoid, so the shiny brass football on the trophy looked a lot like a big egg to modern eyes.
  • Because of that shape, fans and writers began informally referring to it as the “Golden Egg,” and the nickname stuck for the rivalry game.

How “Egg Bowl” specifically started

  • For decades, the matchup was just called the Battle for the Golden Egg or simply the Golden Egg game.
  • In 1979, a Mississippi newspaper sports editor used the headline “Egg Bowl” to hype the season finale between two mediocre teams, and the phrase caught on and became the rivalry’s common name.

Today’s meaning

  • “Egg Bowl” now refers to the entire Ole Miss–Mississippi State rivalry game, with the Golden Egg trophy still awarded to the winner each year.
  • The name is part tradition, part media branding, but it all traces back to that egg‑shaped golden football on the trophy.

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