re: The Freeze / Mullen regimes were incredibly toxic for the state of Mississippi.

When Mullen won his third In a row against Ole Miss, and got on the PA at Davis Wade and announced "We are never losing to them again," it angered the Ole Miss network.

That was the moment that the rivalry went toxic. Mullen/Freeze were terrible for civility, but Moorhead/Luke were awful human beings and over their heads as SEC coaches. This resulted in mid-game fights, the pissing in the end zone, etc. These were awful human beings in charge of SEC football programs where the toxic level was already raised.

Moorhead almost came to blows with an Ole Miss official after an Egg Bowl in Oxford. The next year was the piss and miss. The best thing that happened to the Egg Bowl rivalry was Elijah Moore crawling those ten years and simulating a dog pissing in the back of the end zone - it literally led to both coaches being fired. Luke for performance and Moorhead for just not being an effective leader.

Leach and Kiffin are definitely big characters, but they aren't toxic. The rivalry is fun again. Southern Miss is irrelevant again. Big things on the horizon for the Mississippi schools.