The LSU-Ole Miss rivalry, more recently renamed the Magnolia Bowl, is a college football rivalry between Louisiana State University and the University of Mississippi. The teams first met in 1894, and have been regular opponents in SEC, meeting annually since 1945. The rivalry was at its height during the 1950′s and 60′s, when both schools were highly ranked and during which time both teams claimed a consensus national championship. The rivalry died down from the seventies to the nineties, due to Ole Miss not returning to conference or national prominence since the 1970′s and because LSU has seen new rivalries emerge with the SEC split in 1992, most notably Auburn, Alabama, and Florida. Recently the rivalry has again been gaining steam and publicity, due to mostly the 2003 Season when Ole Miss could have been a top ten team and go to the SEC Championship while LSU would have gone to the national championship depending on who won the game. Even when the rivalry had died down from the seventies, it still stirred up great passion in both Oxford and Baton Rouge. The recent reemergence of both programs, starting with LSU, has returned the national meaning to a rivalry already rich in tradition.

In 2008, the student bodies of both schools elected to christen the yearly contest the “Magnolia Bowl”, the magnolia flower being the state flower of both Louisiana and Mississippi, and award a trophy to the winner. Ole Miss defeated LSU 31-13 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to become the first winner of the new trophy.