Egg Bowl 2014 to Air on CBS; Network Passed on Iron Bowl in Favor of Alabama - Mississippi State
ByCBS is going to miss out on airing the 2014 Iron Bowl because they already had their fill of the Alabama Crimson Tide for one season.
According to the Jackson Clarion-Ledger, CBS announced it will air Alabama's game against Mississippi State this Saturday, which brings the network to its limit of Tide games. Those are part of the Southeastern Conference's (SEC) media agreements with partners.
This season, CBS had first pick among SEC matchups for each week's slate of games and chose to air Alabama's games against Florida, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, LSU and now Mississippi State. Now the 2014 Iron Bowl, the Tide's rivalry game against Auburn that will be played on Nov. 29 in Tuscaloosa this year, will pass to ESPN.
The silver lining is that CBS will instead air the Egg Bow, the Nov. 29 matchup between Mississippi State and Ole Miss. This season, both teams unexpectedly emerged as SEC West powerhouses. Undefeated amidst a grueling schedule, Mississippi State shot straight up to the top of the Associated Press poll while Ole Miss has hung around the top half with a 7-2 record.
This is the first time since 1964 that the Egg Bowl will be on network television, the Ledger reported. In fact, the game was often played early in the day or morning in past seasons to make way for bigger games later on.
CBS may have passed on the Iron Bowl due to Auburn's loss to Texas A&M, which resulted in the latter losing significant ground in the conference. Last year's Iron Bowl victory vaulted Auburn to an SEC Championship win, which then put them in the National Championship game.
CBS may have chosen to air the Alabama - Mississippi State game becauase they felt it would have a more significant impact on the SEC standings than the Iron Bowl potentially could. Plus, they knew they stood also no chance of topping last year's Iron Bowl and the now-legendary call from Verne Lundquist, a broadcaster ubiquitous with Alabama football.