Great Moments in Egg Bowl History: The Immaculate Deflection (With Video)

The last full week of the college football season is mostly known as rivalry week, and one of the NCAA’s most colorful and storied rivalries pits Ole Miss against Mississippi State in the annual Egg Bowl.
These two teams will meet on the gridiron again on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 23, to add yet another chapter to both schools’ history books. In honor of this year’s Egg Bowl, Hotty Toddy will look back at some of the greatest games between the Rebels and Bulldogs over the next few days.
The one that comes to mind for today is the 1983 Egg Bowl, played at what was then known as the Hinds County War Memorial Stadium (now the Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium) in Jackson.
Ole Miss, under then-Head Coach Billy Brewer, needed a win to go to a bowl game, and as the game was winding down, the Bulldogs trailed the Rebels 24-23 with 24 ticks left on the clock. On third down and five, Mississippi State elected to go for a field goal that would put them in the lead and most likely win the game. The Bulldogs called on the right leg of freshman Artie Crosby to attempt a 26-yard chip shot. Crosby had enough leg, and it looked like the kick would be true … until a sudden gust of wind stopped the ball in midair.
Mother Nature, it seemed, had stepped in to block the field goal.
With the victory, the Rebels ended the regular season with a 6-5 record. Many fans believe the failed field goal attempt, known to this day as the Immaculate Deflection, was proof-positive that God is an Ole Miss fan or, at the very least, hates the sound of those dang cowbells.
Watch the video below and relive this glorious moment in Egg Bowl history!

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Adam Brown is the sports editor of HottyToddy.com. He can be reached at adam.brown@hottytoddy.com.
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