What are the Grove Bowl Games? All we know about the inaugural event following Ole Miss Spring game

The Grove Bowl Games is an event for the Ole Miss Rebels football program to end the spring schedule at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Let's take a look at what is planned.

What events will be happening during the Grove Bowl Games?

The Grove Bowl Games will consist of a series of challenges, instead of an actual football game, so think of this as similar to what the NFL's Pro Bowl has transformed into. Only, instead of the NFL players, we have the Ole Miss Rebels football program. However, there will be football with interesting competitions being spliced into it.

The day will begin with a dunk contest and then after that, they will play the first quarter of the 7-on-7 game. They will play a tug-of-war event next before laying the second quarter. For halftime, they will compete in a hotdog eating competition hosted by Joey Chestnut. The Rebels will play the third quarter and then compete in an obstacle course against one another.

The competitions also will be added to the score for the teams as well as the players who make the finals of the dunk contest will get one point for their team while the winner gets an additional seven points.

The tug-of-war will be five rounds with the winning team getting five points. The person that eats the most hotdogs at halftime will get 12 points for their team's score, second place will receive seven points and third place gets three points added.

Why did Lane Kiffin make the change to the Grove Bowl Games?

While discussing the changes to the Grove Bowl Games, Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin explained how he is known for testing different options. He also does not love the spring game model. He said (per On3):

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"I think if you think outside of the box and traditional way of doing things, which I think it's well known we do, and I think over time the spring game isn't much value.

"If you watch people and what they do, unless a coach is on the hot seat and wants to please the fans, very rarely do they run more than a few types of runs and schemes. I don't know if the traditional spring game gives you very much from an evaluation standpoint."

This helps with player health as well as improving the overall fan experience.

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