Will the Egg Bowl Mean More Than the Iron Bowl in 2014?
All eyes have been on the 2014 Iron Bowl ever since Auburn cornerback and kick returner Chris Davis took an Alabama field-goal attempt back 109 yards the other way as time expired to give the Tigers a 34-28 win over the Crimson Tide and a berth in the SEC Championship Game.
Were we focused on the wrong intrastate rivalry game with a clever nickname?
Halfway through the season, it looks like the Egg Bowl between co-No. 3 Mississippi State and co-No. 3 Ole Miss in Oxford has more of the makings to serve as the de facto SEC West title game.
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The folks in Mississippi are pumped, as Courtney Cronin of the Clarion-Ledger points out.
Is that a realistic possibility or an overreaction based on the Bulldogs' big win over Texas A&M and the Rebels' nail-biter over Alabama?
Realistic, sure.
After all, both programs currently share the No. 3 spot in the AP Top 25 Poll and Ole Miss will certainly be out for revenge after quarterback Bo Wallace fumbled in overtime to lose last year's edition.
Don't count out the Iron Bowl from getting back in the mix to become the most important game not just of the SEC's season, but the most important game played this year in all of college football.
Ole Miss still has major flaws, like its inability to run between the tackles, Wallace shouldering too much of the load in the running game after two years of shoulder issues and an offensive line that's shaky at best and mediocre at worst.
As mentioned in the bold predictions article from earlier this week, Texas A&M this weekend in College Station is setting up to be a heartbreaker for the Rebs, and there are still plenty of spots where they can trip up between then and the end of the regular season.
With a stifling front seven, a wildly efficient quarterback in Dak Prescott (180.69 passer rating) and an offense that poses a threat to stretch the field and run between the tackles, Mississippi State has much more staying power than—as head coach Dan Mullen refers to it—"the school up north."
The Bulldogs have to get by Auburn first, and that matchup with the No. 2 Tigers is no easy task.
If that happens—they're a 2.5-point underdog as of Monday afternoon, according to Odds Shark—the Bulldogs could certainly do their part to make it a must-win game to play for Atlanta and, thus, bigger than this year's Iron Bowl.
Mullen's crew would still have to spring the upset and then handle life as "the hunted" for the remainder of the season, which isn't the easiest thing to do—even for teams who are accustomed to it.
A far likelier scenario would be for Auburn to beat Mississippi State, enter the Iron Bowl undefeated or with one loss, and square off against a one-loss Crimson Tide team in Tuscaloosa.
Would that make it bigger than last year's Iron Bowl? Based on record, of course not. But the ramifications in this day and age of the College Football Playoff could be very similar.
Either way, it'd likely be bigger than the Egg Bowl.
Despite Alabama's loss to Ole Miss on Saturday, the SEC West still goes through the Iron Bowl until further notice.
Barrett Sallee is the Lead SEC college football writer and video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a co-host of the CFB Hangover on Bleacher Report Radio (Sundays, 9-11 a.m. ET) on Sirius 93, XM 208.
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of CFBStats.com and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports.
Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.
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