Starkville, Miss. ? Eli Manning missed a chance to show off the Golden Egg trophy with his teammates in front of a section of Mississippi fans at Scott Field.

“I kind of got there late. I was doing an interview and when I was done everybody was gone,” he said.

No problem. Manning grabbed a couple of his trusty receivers and bounded over to the stands, waving his arms and thanking the Ole Miss faithful for sticking it out through the rain.

Manning and the Rebels made it worth getting wet.

Manning threw for 260 yards and three touchdowns in Ole Miss’ 31-0 victory over Mississippi State Thursday night in the 100th meeting between the Magnolia state rivals, sending Bulldogs coach Jackie Sherrill into retirement with his worst Egg Bowl loss.

The 17th-ranked Rebels (9-3, 7-1) remained in the SEC West title race and reached nine regular-season victories for the first time since 1990. Ole Miss can earn its first trip to the SEC championship game if No. 3 LSU loses to Arkansas today in Baton Rouge, La.

“We’ve done everything we could, but we just came up short against LSU,” Manning said. “It’s still been the best season for Ole Miss in a long time. It’s been a career year. Everything has been great.”

The Bulldogs (2-10, 1-7) ended the season with six straight lopsided losses. Since the 60-year-old Sherrill announced his retirement Oct. 17, the Bulldogs have been outscored 267-57.

Sherrill received a long, loud standing ovation from the Bulldogs fans when he was introduced before the game.

Mississippi quarterback Eli Manning looks for a receiver. Manning threw for 260 yards and three touchdowns in Mississippi's 31-0 victory over Mississippi State Thursday night in Starkville, Miss.

But by the fourth quarter, most of the rain-soaked fans remaining were rooting for the Rebels.

“It was a very, very good ride,” he said. “I’m sorry we couldn’t finish it the last couple of years like we should have.”

Sherrill completed 13 seasons at Mississippi State 75-75-2, but was just 8-27 in the final three.

Sherrill won over Bulldogs fans by becoming the first Mississippi State coach in decades to consistently beat Ole Miss, doing it seven times in his first 11 seasons.

In the end, he couldn’t even do that.

The Rebels won the Battle for the Golden Egg for the second straight season, a first during the Sherrill era. And never have the Rebels so easily dismantled Sherrill’s Bulldogs.

Ole Miss outgained the Bulldogs 359-192. Kevin Fant, playing his last game for Mississippi State, was 14-for-28 for 91 yards.

“We knew we had to put pressure on them early, because we knew that regardless what happened to them this season they’d be ready to play us,” Ole Miss defensive tackle Jesse Mitchell said.

The previous largest margin of victory for Ole Miss against Sherrill’s teams was 15. The shutout was the Rebels’ first against the Bulldogs since 1971.

Manning and his Heisman Trophy candidacy took a beating in a loss to LSU last Saturday. The senior quarterback was often off target against the Tigers, but was impeccable with his passing in a steady — at times driving — rain against the lowly Bulldogs.

“We played under tough circumstances,” Manning said. “You just try not to think about it.”

He passed for more yards (211) in the first half against Mississippi State than he did in the entire game against LSU (200) as the Rebels built a 24-0 lead.