"I know in the state of Mississippi it's awfully important," Coach Ed Orgeron said. "And it's the game."

"It means almost everything," tight end Robert Hough said. "It's bragging rights for an entire year between the two schools."

Hough is a native of Mississippi whose two brothers attended Ole Miss before him. One played football. The other ran track. On Saturday, it will be the guys on the other team that make an Egg Bowl victory critical for Hough.

"It's very important to me," he said. "I have high school teammates that are on the other side of the field...I just want to give them a little friendly tap on the shoulder or something."

The Rebels seemed to be in good spirits following a crushing loss at LSU that could have defined their season if it turned out differently. Orgeron saw encouraging signs when reviewing the film, and he said the Rebels had their best team meeting of the year earlier in the day. Dwelling on the LSU loss is over now. It's time to focus on Mississippi State.

"The Egg Bowl," senior defensive back Bryan Brown said, "that's the main thing for us. Well, one of the main things. Being able to have bragging rights like Hough said. Beating your in-state rival, having that Egg Bowl, having the actual trophy here. That's where it belongs. You know, that means a whole lot to this school."

It means just as much to every Ole Miss fan that will be cheering for the Rebels on Senior Day this weekend.

"The crowd is just unbelievable," Brown said. "Especially here at home, or even there, it's just wild."

It's been only two days since we saw Alabama and Auburn fans show us what college football is really all about. Now I feel like it's all starting up again with two new teams this week.

Brown compared the Iron Bowl and the Egg Bowl.

"It's just the same. We have one of the longest rivalries in the history of college football. So I believe that it's basically about the same."

Defensive back Charles Clark is an Ole Miss senior that came to Mississippi from the Sunshine State. For Clark, Mississippi-Mississippi State draws comparisons to another classic college football rivalry.

"I'm from Florida," Clark said. "So it's kind of like the Florida-Florida State rivalry."

I know that one is just about as heated as it gets, so I can't wait for Saturday to roll around.

Both teams will enter the final game of the season as improving squads that are playing better than they were a few weeks ago. The records might not indicate that, but Mississippi State just beat Alabama and stayed with Arkansas. Ole Miss took LSU to overtime.

I doubt anyone in the state will care about the teams' wins and losses when kickoff arrives.

Perhaps Orgeron said it best when he was talking about getting ready for Mississippi State.

"One thing I learned last year (is) that they're gonna come prepared to play," the second-year Ole Miss coach said.

Sounds a lot like Alabama-Auburn. I'm sure it will be just as much fun.