Dog-themed TD celebration gives Mississippi State Egg Bowl win

A dog-themed touchdown celebration gave Mississippi State the Egg Bowl win.

College football, especially in the Southeastern Conference, is weird. The latest proof? The Mississippi State Bulldogs won the Egg Bowl, their in-state rivalry game against the Ole Miss Rebels, last night on Thanksgiving day after a touchdown celebration gone wrong.

This victory means that Mississippi State is now bowl-eligible after getting their sixth win of the season. The Bulldogs were fifth in the SEC West this year with a 3-5 conference record.

Thanks to a run-based ground game, the Bulldogs held a slim lead, 21-14, late in the fourth quarter, but Ole Miss was driving towards the end zone, culminating with a touchdown pass from backup quarterback Matt Corral to wide receiver Elijah Moore with four seconds left.

And that’s when things got weird.

(See the video here on ESPN’s website.)

Moore celebrated with a unique touchdown dance, prancing around on all fours like a dog. And then, because dogs will be dogs and sometimes do embarrassing things, he pretended to mark his territory.

Yep, like that.

(We get it, the impersonation had to be authentic, and the logic behind the character’s actions makes sense – if dogs really played football they would likely mark the end zone – but still….WHAT THE HECK, DUDE?!)

Moore understandably drew a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct, and kicker Luke Logan missed the game-tying extra point, which meant that Bully’s team escaped with the 21-20 Egg Bowl victory.

Why is the battle for Magnolia State football supremacy called the Egg Bowl? Because the trophy is an old-timey (1930s-ish) football that’s been bronzed, with looks a little like a golden egg (and so it’s logically called the Golden Egg Trophy).

Ole Miss has won the Egg Bowl 62 times, Mississippi State has won 46 times, and there have been six ties in the game’s history, which dates back to 1901, and besides the home campuses in Oxford and Starkville, has also been competed in Clarksdale, Columbus, Greenwood, Jackson, and Tupelo.

MSU is now riding a two-game win streak in the series, and three of the past four meetings. They also have the longest winning streak, 13 in a row, from 1911-1925.

Overall, it was a great day to be a Bulldog, as Thor claimed Best in Show during the 2019 National Dog Show presented by Purina.

Anyway, these Rivalry Week shenanigans have us eagerly awaiting the Animal Planet Puppy Bowl in February on Super Bowl Sunday, which we speculate could be getting new team colors for Puppy Bowl XVI.