STARKVILLE — The steady, pouring rain that fell on Davis Wade Stadium on Saturday night provided an apt metaphor for Ole Miss’ season. Mississippi State was happy to dump more rain on its arch-rival.

Vick Ballard rushed for 144 yards and a touchdown, and caught a touchdown pass from Chris Relf as Mississippi State laid a 31-3 beatdown on Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl.

The Bulldogs (6-6, 2-6 Southeastern Conference) finished with 247 yards rushing to become bowl eligible for the second straight year. This was also their third straight Egg Bowl victory under coach Dan Mullen.

MSU will find out its bowl destination after next Saturday’s SEC championship game, but the Music City or Liberty Bowls are the most likely landing places.

“This is where you need to come if you want to win championships,” an elated Mullen said in his post-game press conference. “For the next year, we get to keep the big ole smile on our face when we go out through the state of Mississippi. We’ve made this a priority to win this game. We want to win this game every year.”

Relf, who threw two touchdown passes and led three first-half scoring drives, said he was told midweek by Mullen that he would start. Mullen had told the media that all three Bulldog quarterbacks — Relf, Tyler Russell and Dylan Favre — would play. Relf, however, played all but the final series.

“It was all about execution,” Relf said. “We had a good week of practice and the offensive line blocked real well.”

Ballard had a big game as well. He caught an 18-yard TD pass from Relf for State’s first touchdown, then scored on a 25-yard run early in the third quarter to make it 28-0. LaDarius Perkins added 64 yards and a touchdown on only seven carries for the Bulldogs, and he also caught a touchdown pass.

“We felt if we set the tone early, they would lay down,” Ballard said of State’s plan. “Chris was ready. He always does his best job in the Egg Bowl.”

The loss was a bitter one for Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt, whose team finished 2-10 and 0-8 in SEC play. The Egg Bowl was his last game at Ole Miss. He was told after a 30-13 loss to Kentucky that he would not be retained for a fifth season.

“We have a fragile team, and when things go bad, they go bad,” Nutt said. “We needed to have something go good for us early, but that didn’t happen because we fumbled our first kickoff. This is not the way I wanted to go out.”

Relf made sure it would be another long night for Nutt and his team. The senior opened the game with two first down runs on State’s initial drive. The 11-play, 68-yard march was capped when Relf tossed an 18-yard TD pass on a screen to Vick Ballard just five minutes into the game.

Relf then directed an eight-play, 98-yard drive that made it 14-0 late in the first quarter. A 15-yard facemask penalty after a short run by Relf on third down set in motion the march. Ballard followed the flag with a 21-yard run to midfield. Three plays later, Perkins busted an option read for a 36-yard TD run with 1:22 left in the first quarter.

Ole Miss had a brief chance to get back in it after Relf was intercepted at the Bulldogs 40 by Cody Prewitt. The Rebels advanced just five yards before being stopped on fourth down.

Even when Ole Miss appeared to get a break when Ballard’s 50-yard TD run got wiped out by a holding penalty, it didn’t last. State came back with a 20-yard TD pass to Perkins, who broke loose from a feeble tackle attempt for the score that made it 21-0 after DePasquale’s kick.

An Ole Miss fumble on its second play of the second half set up State’s fourth touchdown. Ballard got it on his 25-yard run to make it 28-0 with 13:38 to go in the third quarter.

A pair of field goals finished the scoring. Ole Miss got on the board on Bryson Rose’s 28-yard kick and DePasquale hit a 36-yarder in the fourth quarter to make it 31-3.

Ole Miss had a 61-yard pass play in the final minute, but finished with just 202 yards. Mississippi State’s second team kept quarterback Barry Brunetti from scoring on the game’s final play.