Cowbell Corner

Mississippi State vs Ole Miss: 2025 Recruiting Battle Heats Up

Bulldog fans probably won’t like the team that jumped ahead in the rankings, but there's still plenty of time.

Taylor Hodges

Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart (2) shares the Egg Bowl trophy with fans after defeating the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Davis Wade Stadium. If Mississippi State fans hope to celebrate an Egg Bowl, they'll need to stay ahead of the Rebels in recruting.
Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart (2) shares the Egg Bowl trophy with fans after defeating the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Davis Wade Stadium. If Mississippi State fans hope to celebrate an Egg Bowl, they'll need to stay ahead of the Rebels in recruting. / Petre Thomas-Imagn Images
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If Mississippi State wants to reign supreme in the Magnolia State, there's only one school it needs to outperform: the school up north. The easiest way to do that is by winning the Egg Bowl at the end of the season, but there are other ways to help.

One way to achieve this is by bringing in higher-rated recruiting classes, and before Wednesday, Mississippi State’s 2025 class was ranked ahead of Ole Miss. However, that changed with the release of the latest ESPN’s ranking of college football’s 40 best 2025 recruiting classes.

Mississippi State actually fell two spots in the ranking from 30th to 32nd. Ole Miss moved up two spots to No. 31. It’s not entirely clear what led to the swapping of places.

Both schools have thee ESPN 300 recruits and are close in total number of recruits. Ole Miss has gotten at least one new commitment since the last rankings were released Aug. 22 and the Bulldogs haven’t.

It could be that simple and in the grand scheme of things, recruiting rankings before signing day don’t matter much. We’ve all seen recruits make last-minute changes so these rankings will definitely change over the next five months.

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Taylor Hodges
TAYLOR HODGES

Award-winning sports editor, writer, columnist, and photographer with 15 years’ experience offering his opinion and insight about the sports world in Mississippi and Texas. Taylor has covered all levels of sports, from small high schools in the Mississippi Delta to NFL games. Follow Taylor on Twitter and Facebook.

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