Why is Egg Bowl not on Thanksgiving? Ole Miss-Mississippi State date change, explained

With college football in its final week of the regular season, it's time for another edition of one of the sport's richest and most-played rivalry matchups between Mississippi and Mississippi State.

But for the second consecutive season, the Rebels and the Bulldogs won't play on Thanksgiving Day as the majority of the country wakes up from their post-Thanksgiving dinner naps and prepares for dessert.

Instead, the Egg Bowl rivalry game between the two Magnolia State foes will kick off college football's Black Friday slate of games as holiday shopping takes place.

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There's an extra twist to the 2025 edition of the Egg Bowl this year, as Lane Kiffin is expected to make an announcement following the game on his future with the Rebels. He remains one of the top coach candidates for several high-profile job openings, most notably LSU.

Ole Miss and Mississippi State are slated for a noon ET kickoff on Friday, Nov. 28 at Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville, Mississippi. Here's why the Egg Bowl isn't on Thanksgiving:

Why is the Egg Bowl not on Thanksgiving?

It's rather straightforward: It has to do with the SEC's TV-rights deal with ESPN.

As previously noted by the Clarion-Ledger, part of the USA TODAY Network, when the SEC was coming to terms with ESPN and ABC, the idea of playing the Egg Bowl on Black Friday instead of Thanksgiving was brought to the table.

"In that negotiation, ABC came to us and said we want this date, and we wanna play at this time," Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter said at a June 2024 event to Ole Miss alumni. "And we actually did have a little negotiating power on another game that we got scheduled at the time we wanted on the road."

Last year's edition of the Egg Bowl marked the first time that Ole Miss and Mississippi State played their annual rivalry game on a Friday in over two decades. The last such occurrence was in 2008, when the Rebels shut out the Bulldogs, 45-0.

The change in the date of the Egg Bowl immediately saw a positive return in TV ratings. As noted by Sports Media Watch, last year's Egg Bowl drew in 4.33 million in the Black Friday mid-day time slot, marking the game's largest audience since it last aired on broadcast TV in 2014 (5.1 million).

When is Egg Bowl between Ole Miss, Mississippi State this year?

• Date: Friday, Nov. 28

• Time: Noon ET

• Location: Davis Wade Stadium (Starkville, Miss.)

The 121st edition of the Egg Bowl between Ole Miss and Mississippi State is scheduled to kick off at noon ET on Friday, Nov. 28 at Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville, Mississippi.

Egg Bowl series record between Ole Miss, Mississippi State

• Series record: Ole Miss leads 66-49-6

• Ole Miss' last win: 2024 (26-14)

• Mississippi State's last win: 2022 (24-22)

Ole Miss leads the all-time Egg Bowl series with a 66-49-6 advantage over Mississippi State. The Rebels have won each of the last two games against the Bulldogs, including last year's 26-14 win in Oxford.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why is Ole Miss vs Mississippi State Egg Bowl game not on Thanksgiving?