OXFORD — Jerrion Ealy grew up a Mississippi State fan.

There is still Mississippi State signage in his house. His Egg Bowl memories from his childhood, as he said Tuesday, aren’t ones Ole Miss fans hold dear to their hearts.

However, Ealy, now a sophomore running back at Ole Miss, views the game quite differently now that he’s wearing red and blue.

“This is the game that you only have to win,” Ealy said. “You can lose all the rest of them. This one, you must win. No matter what it takes, no matter what you have to do, you have to win this one. I’ve been stressing that importance to our young guys and to the guys from out-of-state. This is a big game. If you’re from Alabama, this is your Iron Bowl. If you’re from Florida, I don’t know who Florida plays when they play a rivalry game. Florida State? This is that game. This a big game.”

Ole Miss (3-4) faces Mississippi State (2-5) Saturday at 3 p.m. in Oxford. The Bulldogs are coming off a loss at Georgia in which they held UGA to eight rushing yards.

That doesn’t worry Ealy, who enters Saturday’s game with 608 yards rushing and 89 yards receiving.

“They’re always good up front,” Ealy said. “They always have a good front three or four and they always have some ‘backers. They’ve always been known as that defensive team and Ole Miss has kind of always been known as that offensive team. It is what it is. You just have to go out there and make every run a positive run.”

Ealy said he almost committed to Mississippi State early in his high school career.

“I loved that baseball program,” Ealy said. “It was just somewhere I really wanted to go. …Towards the end, I really didn’t have any aspirations of going there. There was only one school that I would go to if I were to stay in-state and that was the University of Mississippi. I didn’t like that football program and I don’t like that football program.”

Ealy said he hasn’t talked to his Mississippi State friends this week.

“I’ll tell them a lot about it after the game,” Ealy said.

NOT JUST ANOTHER GAME FOR REBELS’ BROWN: Ole Miss center Ben Brown admitted the Egg Bowl is “different” for him.

“I’ve had a head coach get hired and a head coach get fired from this game,” Brown said. “There’s a lot always on the line — bragging rights and it’s just a big deal. We’re going to attack it like it’s a big deal.”

Brown said first-year Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin and his staff haven’t changed anything this week getting ready for the Bulldogs.

“I think they emphasize every single game with the exact same mindset that we’re going to attack it always exactly the same,” Brown said. “We’re not going to do anything different. We’re going to still go to meetings. We’re going to still have the exact same practices. We’re going to attack it like we do every single game-week.”

ANDERSON UNSURE ON FUTURE: Ole Miss defensive lineman Ryder Anderson will participate in Senior Day festivities Saturday. However, Anderson said he hasn’t ruled out a return for the 2021 season, something the NCAA made possible due to the pandemic.

“I haven’t made up my mind on what I’m going to do,” Anderson said. “I’m just focusing on finishing up the season.”

Anderson said he plans to talk to his family and his coaches when the time comes.

“I’m not tilted either way right now because I just haven’t really even — I know it sounds funny to say — been thinking about it like that,” Anderson said. “I just feel like it’s really important to stay in the moment and focus on the task in front of me. There’s time to go through that after the season. So I’m not going to stress that right now. I’m going to stress winning this game.”