STARKVILLE (AP) — This year’s Egg Bowl is a much-anticipated matchup between ranked teams with impressive offenses featuring solid quarterback play and talented receivers.

On the defensive side of the ball, it’s safe to say No. 19 Ole Miss (8-3, 5-2 Southeastern Conference) and No. 23 Mississippi State (8-3, 4-3) each have a few holes they need to address.

The Rebels and Bulldogs have been working on schemes in hopes of at least slowing down the offenses. Even if it’s a high-scoring game like many expect, a well-timed defensive play might be what turns the momentum.

Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen said he’s been impressed with Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly, who leads the SEC with 3,504 yards passing. The Bulldogs will try to counter with a talented defensive line that includes A.J. Jefferson and Chris Jones.

Mullen said preparing for Kelly is difficult because many of his best plays aren’t planned so game tape doesn’t help.

“I think what he does outside of their offense is where he presents problems,” Mullen said. “He brings improvisational skills. When the play breaks down, he is a very deceptive runner. He makes people miss. He can avoid pressure. He keeps plays alive and breaks tackles.”

He also gets a lot of help from his friends.

Ole Miss receiver Laquon Treadwell has caught a league-high 72 passes for 1,060 yards and eight touchdowns. Earlier this week he was named one of three finalists for the Biletnikoff Award, given to the top receiver in college football.

Treadwell needs 76 yards to break Shay Hodge’s single-season receiving yardage record set in 2009, and six catches to best Chris Collins’ mark of 77 receptions in 2003.

“He’s the best I’ve ever coached,” Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze said.

Ole Miss had some success against Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott in a 31-17 win last season.

“We were really able to disguise coverages and show different things and have him confused” last season, Ole Miss senior defensive back Mike Hilton said. “We’re going to work on that this week and hopefully have the same results.”

But Hilton said he expects that to be difficult because Prescott is “a lot more accurate” and “better at reading coverages.”

Prescott is having another great season with 3,159 yards passing, 23 touchdowns and just three interceptions.

He owns 38 school records and has been itching for another shot at the Rebels since last season’s debacle in Oxford.

“It’s pure excitement knowing I came back for this reason,” Prescott said. “From the time I got here, everything goes into this week. Last year, this year, everything boils down to this.”

Not just in the rivalry, either. Ole Miss still has a chance to win the SEC West Division championship and Mississippi State an opportunity to be a spoiler.

If Auburn upsets No. 2 Alabama in the Iron Bowl on Saturday afternoon, Ole Miss can win the West by beating the Bulldogs. Ole Miss has never been to the SEC championship game since the league split into two divisions in 1992.

Other than Texas A&M, which didn’t join the SEC until 2012, Ole Miss is the only West team without a division title.

That would be the capstone for the vaunted recruiting class of 2013, which figures to start breaking up at the end of this season. Treadwell is likely to head to the NFL, as are offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil and defensive lineman Robert Nkemdiche. All are projected as first-round picks in next year’s draft.

Ole Miss has gone 26-12 in their three seasons in Oxford and started to change the culture of a program that for so long seemed to settle for mediocrity.

“We wanted to build something special that other kids could see and don’t have to go join the bigger programs that are already established, kids that just want to make a name for themselves at different programs beside those, the Alabamas, LSUs, Florida Gators,” Treadwell said. “That’s what we came here to do. We took a couple of steps there.”