Mississippi Calling
GEORGE SOMERVILLE – THE TOUCHDOWN SEC CORRESPONDENT
I head out tomorrow on another American adventure. Keen to attend a game during this regular season – my last regular season game was in Athens in 2019 – I am travelling to Mississippi to see the State Bulldogs take on the Arkansas Razorbacks. Heading into the heartland of the Southeastern Conference, this feels about as Southern as it gets.
Starkville, Mississippi, or Starkvegas as it is affectionately called, is in the heart of Mississippi. It is a four-hour drive from New Orleans (where I fly to), one hour from Tuscaloosa, and two hours from Oxford, the home of the Bulldogs’ archrivals and competitors for the Egg Bowl, Ole Miss.
The Visit Starkville website describes the town as “known for college game days and local hospitality. But you’ll also find some of the finest farm-to-table food and Southern food specialities around.” To be honest, this seems like my kind of town.
But let’s get back to football…..
Hail State
Mississippi State University has agricultural roots – no pun intended. Founded in 1878 as The Agricultural & Mechanical College of the State of Mississippi, it began playing football in 1895. The team has had mixed success over those 129 years. However, in 2014, with Dan Mullen in charge of a team and Dak Prescott as quarterback, the school had arguably its most successful season. It is also the team which enticed Mike Leach away from the North West coast down into the SEC. Today, the Bulldogs are undergoing a rebuild with Jeff Lebby in his first year in charge as head coach.
Davis Wade Stadium, home to the Mississippi State Bulldogs, is one of the most intimidating stadiums in the US. Football in the South is raucous and chaotic at the best of times, but the Bulldogs from Starkville have a secret weapon—the cowbell!
Gotta have more cowbell
The tradition harps back to the 1940s, when the University was principally an agricultural college. Legend has it that on an occasion when the Bulldogs beat the Ole Miss Rebels, cows were seen roaming near the field. This was deemed a good luck charm, and cows appeared regularly at games after this.
As stadiums and crowds grew with the popularity of college football, the practicalities of having a herd of cows became difficult to maintain. Instead, cowbells started to appear as substitutes at games. In the early 1960s, two professors at the University came up with the idea of welding a handle to the cowbell, and the modern-day noise maker was born.
The idea caught fire with the student fan base, and by 1964, the School bookstore was selling the “instruments” to help raise funds for the school.
The SEC banned the bells in 1974 as illegal “noise makers.” However, the school applied for and was successful in receiving a waiver from the SEC to reintroduce the cowbells in 2010, which we hear so loudly today.
The cowbells are hugely individual to people and are often personally decorated and handed down through generations.
As with other music played across college football, whether band music, pa music, or cowbells, the fans are allowed to shake the bells until the center puts his hand on the ball—then all must stop!
I have been told to bring earplugs to the game, as those who are not indoctrinated into the bells’ ways find them deafening.
At last year’s SEC media days, I asked Hail State quarterback Will Rogers about the impact of the bells and how he was able to focus with that din in the background. Of course, the bells only come out for the opposition, meaning that’s a good sign for the Bulldogs when they play!
Nothin' better than a fall Saturday in Starkville
Hail State
Aside from trying to avoid a headache—earplugs and aspirin duly packed—this has the makings of a great experience. It feels like Lebby is not far from turning this ship around. In Michael Van Buren, they have found a new wunderkind quarterback. Albeit Van Buren’s journey to starting quarterback has been expedited due to Blake Shapen’s shoulder injury, which ended his season.
However, Van Buren has impressed in his short college career so far. Against Georgia, the freshman quarterback completed 20 of 37 passes for 306 yards and 3 touchdowns. In the game against Texas A&M, he completed 22 of 41 passes for 242 yards and 3 touchdowns. In doing so, Van Buren became the first Mississippi State quarterback to throw multiple touchdown passes in back-to-back games against ranked opponents since Dak Prescott.
Lebby knows the importance of the fans’ (and Cowbells’) role in the game on Saturday as he chases his first SEC win. This week, the State head coach issues a call to arms to Bulldog supporters,
“We are going to need you back in the house at 11:45 a.m. this Saturday louder than ever with cowbells in hand as we take on Arkansas,” Lebby said in an email to students. “There’s nothing better than a fall Saturday in Starkville.”
woo pig sooie
Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman found himself under significant pressure following a hugely disappointing season last year. This year, however, the Razorbacks are improved, and save for some key moments, they would be in a stronger position in the SEC. However, the heat is still on Big Sam.
Pittman has been around long enough to know that this will be a very difficult game despite State’s low SEC standing.
The Razorbacks are beat up at the moment and desperately trying to get to the bye week to recover. On the SEC head coach teleconference this week, Pittman said that running back Ja’Quinden Jackson is “very questionable” to play against State. Pittman also confirmed that star cornerback Jaylon Braxton is unlikely to be back on the field before the bye week on November 9. Braxton, who started the season superbly, has not played since Week 2 against Oklahoma State.
During Wednesday’s SEC teleconference Pittman was asked about practising with noise ahead of the visit to Starkville.
“We played the bells all day yesterday and going to do it again today,” Pittman said. “To me, that’s the biggest advantage that you have. It’s not necessarily the travel.”
During a midweek press conference, Addison Nichols confirmed that they had been working with cowbell noise during practice.
“This week we are practicing with a crowd noise that involves cowbells,” center Nichols said. “It’s something that we need to prepare for, and I think that we’ll be ready for it as an [offensive] line.”
GEORGE SOMERVILLE
COLLEGE FOOTBALL WRITER
GEORGE IS A LONG STANDING FANATIC OF LIFE AND FOOTBALL IN THE DEEP SOUTH AND WRITES HIS WEEKLY COLUMN CALLED “IT’S ONLY SEC” FOR THE TOUCHDOWN. HE IS ALSO CO-HOST AND ONE THIRD OF THE COLLEGE CHAPS PODCAST, THE UK’S FIRST PODCAST DEDICATED TO THE COLLEGE GAME.