Mississippi State is the No. 1 team in the country and we’re not talking about baseball.

No, really.

For the first time since maroon and white were fashionably linked together, the Bulldogs from Starkville (not Athens) are No. 1 in both college football’s Associated Press and Amway coaches polls. Before Gus Malzahn had time to adjust his turtleneck Saturday, Mississippi State had struck three backbreaking times in nine minutes to burst out to a 21-0 lead over No. 2 Auburn. That lead ballooned to 38-20 in the fourth quarter despite the Dawgs practically begging Auburn to limp back into the game. Not even two Dak Prescott picks and Dan Mullen’s best Les Miles impersonation could give the defending SEC champs breathing room, and Mississippi State cruised to an impressive 38-23 win that has the whole world betting on Starkvegas.

Mississippi State is 14-to-1 to win the national championship right now. Your odds of falling off a building are 325-to-1.

This ain’t your daddy’s MSU team. Or your grandaddy’s. Or even your older brother’s who was a freshman in 1999. These guys are the best team in college football right now, as their shiny new No. 1 ranking will tell you. Throw everything you used to know about them out the door. And while you’re at it, toss out those Starkvegas shoes Mullen was wearing too. Not even the Pikes at Southern Miss would steal those.

All of those feel-good, happy-go-lucky, goshdarnnit ain’t Mississippi grand pieces being pumped through the national media gauntlet right now are more than deserved, because the inaugural college football playoff runs through Mississippi. Because it’s not just the Bulldogs.

What Ole Miss is doing simultaneously is almost as impressive. The Rebels’ defense has stonewalled more opponents than Jackson en route to a similar 6-0 record. Dr. Bo Wallace looks surgical in his precision. Ole Miss is now No. 3, just two spots below Mississippi State in both major polls. Each of the Magnolia State’s SEC teams would make the four-team playoff right now.

The Egg Bowl is going to be eggscrutiatingly eggciting and force writers everywhere to scramble up and eggsercise egg puns like they’re fresh off the skillet (that was the most annoying sentence ever written). William Faulkner will rise up out of his grave and walk into the stadium with a high ball. David Banner will sing the national anthem. Kermit the Frog will be College GameDay’s guest picker.

Ole Miss has a strong case for being the No. 1 team in the country right alongside the Dawgs, but for now Mississippi State gets all the glory. It would be the same if the roles were reversed, and rightfully so.

It might not last. History has shown it probably won’t. But enjoy it while you can, all of you. Because right now, this is your state.

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Cory Gunkel is a reporter. He can be reached at 601-636-4545, Ext. 178 or by email at cory.gunkel@vicksburgpost.com