Bush joins MSU, Ole Miss fans at Egg Bowl
STARKVILLE - A spontaneous cacophony of cowbells erupted from the tailgating area known as the Junction at Mississippi State University Saturday when Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush made an appearance prior to the famed Egg Bowl between MSU and the University of Mississippi.
“This not a political day; it is an American day,” Bush said shortly after ringing a cowbell. “College football on a Saturday afternoon — there is nothing better.”
The former Florida governor, currently running fifth in the GOP race, according to multiple polls, has put an emphasis on strengthening his Southern ties.
Bush spoke for a few minutes before shaking hands and taking pictures with the hundreds in attendance outside a stage set up by the College Republicans chapter.
“I have plans as it relates to our national security; how we grow our economy; how we fix our student loan problem,” Bush said. “All of these things we can fix, and when we do, this country will take off.”
Bush’s stop in Starkville was the fourth such appearance at a Southeastern Conference game this season. His last visit was to Baton Rouge before the game between LSU and Alabama.
“I think it’s important for students our age to be involved in the process,” said Gavin King, College Republicans chapter president. “It’s important to note how important (Bush) finds the college vote and particularly the primaries in the Southeastern Conference."
Chelsey Haike and Dustin Wolfe traveled to Starkville from Greenville for the game and listened to Bush speak. “I never thought he’d show up in Starkville for a game,” Wolfe said.
Haike, an Ole Miss fan, and Wolfe, an MSU fan, were one of many conflicted couples in Starkville for the game.
Shannon and Jana Lewis and their three children posed with a bulldog statue outside of Davis-Wade Stadium hours before game time. Adam and Aiden stood with their father, decked out in Ole Miss gear, while Jana and son Eli wore maroon and white.
“We brought (Eli) up here one day, and he decided he was going to be a State fan just like me,” said Jana Lewis, who met her husband while in high school at East Holmes Academy in Attala County.
“I don’t like them jumping on our case if we lose. I don’t rub it in if we win,” Shannon Lewis said of the rivalry dynamic.
Jana was quick to point out that the entire side of her family is Mississippi State fans, including her first cousin, who ironically named her children Cooper and Peyton, after the oldest two children of famous Ole Miss quarterback Archie Manning.
Joseph Katool, an Ole Miss fan, walked through the Junction with his girlfriend Daisy Edwards, a Mississippi State student, while enjoying the unseasonably warm Southern weather after making the trip from his home in Los Angeles.
“I missed being back in South,” Katool said. “I made it back for LSU-Ole Miss, and now I’m here. It’s the party that I’m missing on the West Coast. She wants me to carry a cowbell. I choose to carry beer instead.”
There were many examples of Ole Miss and MSU fans existing harmoniously while tailgating, but it was a different feeling as game time approached. Each team entered the game hoping a win and a stumble by Florida down the stretch would propel them to a Sugar Bowl berth.
Fred Nichols started going to games in Starkville in 1960 before becoming a student in 1969. He traveled from Brandon to tailgate with a giant “Beat the Bears” sign, in reference to the Ole Miss mascot.
“A lot of the old-timers like me remember the drought we had for about 25 years when Ole Miss won them all, but once Jackie Sherrill got here and convinced us we could win, then it’s been pretty competitive,” Nichols said. “We hope to repay our friends from up north for what they did to us last year.”
Many MSU fans walked through the Junction in No. 15 jerseys in honor of the school's record-breaking quarterback, Dak Prescott.
“He’s our version of Archie Manning. The last transcendent player we had was Jackie Lee Parker back in the early '50s,” Nichols said. “When his mom passed away, the MSU community adopted him. He’s a great representative of the university.”
Contact Jacob Threadgill at (601) 961-7192 or jthreadgil@gannett.com. Follow @JacoboLaSombra on Twitter.