By almost any measure, it’s been a disappointing season for Mississippi State.

The Bulldogs are one more loss away from having a winless record in the Southeastern Conference for the first time since 2002. At 2-9, their overall record will be the program’s worst since a 1-10 finish in 1988.

There’s one thing that can always brighten up even the darkest days in Starkville, though, and that’s what the Bulldogs (2-9, 0-7 SEC) are after Friday when they head north to Oxford to play Ole Miss (8-3, 4-3) in the Egg Bowl.

“For me, there’s a great understanding that this game is a huge deal. Knowing what it means to our fan base, to our university, to our community in Starkville, it’s a big deal,” first-year Mississippi State head coach Jeff Lebby said. “From a recruiting standpoint, and how we recruit against each other inside the state, so on Friday afternoon we’ve got a to to play for.”

Maybe not as much as Ole Miss, though.

The Rebels’ hopes of earning a berth in the College Football Playoffs took a major hit with last week’s 24-17 road loss at Florida, but did not disappear entirely.

Ole Miss was No. 14 in the latest CFP rankings that were released Tuesday night. It’s on the outside looking in — for the moment. In a season filled with upsets, a bit more chaos involving the teams ranked just ahead of them could allow the Rebels to worm their way back into the 12-team bracket.

At his weekly press conference, Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin said winning the in-state rivalry with Mississippi State is often motivation enough, but wasn’t afraid to push the Playoff button if it helped a little more.

Kiffin added that playing in a prime spot on Black Friday afternoon, rather than a crowded Saturday spot on the schedule, might also help his team’s cause.

“I think there should be so much motivation to keep the Egg Bowl trophy here and win this game and play really well,” Kiffin said. “But that’s added and helps them to know that the playoffs are still alive and that they get kind of the first shot to show everybody on a national stage, as opposed to a Saturday game where you know these people that make these decisions don’t necessarily see all the games because there’s so many going on. You’ve got a shot to show everybody.”

Ole Miss has won three of the last four Egg Bowl games, including a 17-7 decision last year in Starkville. It enters this one as a 27-point favorite.

Kiffin said one of the coaching staff’s missions this week is to impress upon the players — more than 40 of whom will be playing in their first Egg Bowl — how none of that matters because of the intensity of the rivalry.

“Somebody said in our team room there’s 48 players that are new so it’s a lot of guys to try to get to understand the magnitude of this, and how records don’t matter in this game, and how much passion there is and how hard players play in this game,” Kiffin said.

MISSISSIPPI STATE AT OLE MISS
• Friday, 2:30 p.m.
• TV: ABC
• Radio: 105.5 FM (Mississippi State) and 107.7 FM (Ole Miss)