OXFORD — The Egg Bowls leave us with many lasting images. These include a field goal that is blown up and back, a wild victory parade on the field with the Golden Egg Trophy, or a good old-fashioned brawl. The most memorable image from Saturday’s victory for Mississippi State 55-20 was Nick Fitzgerald, tall, strong, and fast, in jersey No. 7 in all white running through red-jerseyed Rebels one after another. Then again. It was almost like we were watching replays. However, these replays had different results. Fitzgerald running left. Fitzgerald running right. Fitzgerald sprinting up the middle. Fitzgerald running up the middle. Fitzgerald would often pause and wait for an Ole Miss line to form before he would shoot through it. He was rarely stopped by the first Rebel who hit him. He was frequently only 10 to 15 yards from the nearest person before someone touched him. Fitzgerald ran for 258 yards on 14 runs, a school record. That’s 18.4 yards per carry. According to the game program, Fitzgerald is a 6′ 5″ tall man from Richmond Hill, Ga. and weighs in at 230 pounds. As 66,038 people and TV viewers saw, Fitzgerald was unable to be caught by a group of 185-pounders. Dan Mullen stated, “He’s fast.” You saw that. He’s fast. Aeris Williams ran 25 times for 191 yards. State ran for 457 yards, nearly 10 yards per carry together. The Rebels could not get off blocks and even when they did manage to tackle, couldn’t move. Dave Wommack was a veteran defensive coordinator and a successful coach. It almost seemed as if his players had retired along with him. The Rebels made far more tackles than they missed. Hugh Freeze stated, “We weren’t good, and when they can’t stop them base stuff, it is… (pause). We have to figure out if it is the process or are it people. Freeze promised an “exhaustive study” of his staff as well as the system. It would be helpful to have some linebackers. It almost felt like you were expecting someone to issue an all-points bulletin. There wasn’t much crisp tackling. State gained 566 yards, Ole Miss 528. This is 1,094 yards total offense, which is impressive in this highly-offense era college football. Shea Patterson, Ole Miss’s most sought-after quarterback recruit, threw for 325 yards and ran for another 75. The story of the game is the other quarterback, who was recruited by Mississippi State State and Middle Tennessee State. There was not one other Division I FBS team. Dan Mullen was asked who he had beat to recruit Fitzgerald. Mullen replied, wide-eyed: “U.T.Chattanooga!” He also stuck his unlit victory smoke in his mouth to emphasize the point. It’s an interesting story. Fitzgerald was a wide receiver in high school. He then moved to quarterback as a senior, and then he ran the Wishbone offense. It’s not surprising that he was so lightly recruited. As a sophomore, he was assigned to replace Dak Prescott, the most loved player in Mississippi State history. It was not an easy task. Fitzgerald stated that Dak Prescott was Mississippi State football. “No matter who replaces him, all you did would be compared with him. It’s possible that it will never end. Even though Dak ran for 258 yards against Ole Miss and scored two touchdowns, he never threw for three more touchdowns in an Egg Bowl. Nick Fitzgerald was the one who did it, and that is what will be remembered most from this Egg Bowl. Rick Cleveland is Mississippi Today’s sports columnist. Check out his columns as well as his Sports Daily blog. Reach Rick at rcleveland@mississippitoday.org.