The Beautiful South - my Mississippi road trip diaries
GEORGE SOMERVILLE – THE TOUCHDOWN SEC CORRESPONDENT
A short story in three states : Part II
In the first part of my Mississippi road trip diaries I talked about my love for SEC football & the Deep South.
In this part I have made it further into the Deep South to Starkville, Mississippi to see the Bulldogs take on those Arkansas Razorbacks.
While this isn’t the first time that I have seen an all SEC conference game, it is my first time seeing a game in Davis Wade stadium and all of the razzamatazz that comes with a college football game in Mississippi!
Hail State!
Starkville, MS
I have been writing about football for ten years now. During that time I have covered NFL games in the UK, SEC media days twice in the US and participated in numerous conference calls with head coaches. I have spoken with Nick Saban, Dabo Swinney, Kirby Smart, Brian Kelly, Lane Kiffin and Urban Meyer. But I never hide my excitement about travelling to a college football game wherever it might be. But to be honest, Starkville Mississippi is about as central to the heart of the SEC as you are likely to get. Driving into a stadium in the Deep South I was like a kid at Christmas. It was awesome.
I had been warned in advance about attending a game at Mississippi State. You hear the cowbells on TV although the sound doesn’t translate accurately. I had been told to wear earplugs. What I wasn’t told was that the press box is outside. There is no protection from the wall of noise that comes from the cowbells. A combination of an early kick and the State Bulldogs not playing well resulted in a below capacity crowd of 49,303 (out of 60,311 capacity). However this did not deter the Hail State fans from making a din with those cowbells.
a grand old stadium
Davis Wade stadium is a historically old stadium. Behind Bobby Dodd stadium in Atlanta, it is the second oldest ground in FBS football. It is also the fourth oldest stadium in all of college football (behind the Harvard Crimson, Penn Quakers and Georgia State).
The pregame razzamatazz was worth the admission money alone. The Maroon band is one of the SEC’s oldest bands and with 418 members (yes, you read that correctly) is one of the largest school bands in the US. The spectacle of the University band is an integral part of a college football gameday and in part is what makes the experience so special. The “Famous Maroon band” as they are known was formed in 1926 with forty members which has gradually grown since then to its current size.
It was a spectacular start to gameday on what was a beautiful warm day in Mississippi. Bearing in mind that this was a regular season game with an early kick off, the spectacle which included a fly past by the US Air Force puts the NFL UK games and the Superbowl to shame!
Must win part of the season
two teams under pressure
The game itself lived up to the pre game pomp and the hype. This was a game where both teams desperately needed a win. Sam Pittman’s Arkansas having beaten Tennessee early in the season now incredibly found themselves under pressure. In fact rumour was that this was a must win game for Pittman. The most recent heavy defeat by Ole Miss put Pittman back on the hot seat, sadly. It appeared from all the chatter that a defeat to the Bulldogs might see the hugely popular Pittman let go by Arkansas.
Mississippi State under first year head coach, Jeff Lebby are in rebuild mode. It has not gone entirely to plan and not been helped by the season ending shoulder injury to quarterback, Blake Shapen. However there may be a silver lining here with true freshman Michael Van Buren getting invaluable experience under centre as Shapen sits out the rest of the schedule.
the future is bright
It was the quarterback position for both teams that I was most looking forward to. While Van Buren comes into the Mississippi State offense at a difficult time, his star is shining brightly. Lebby, of course has an impressive offensive CV and Van Buren has and will continue to benefit from Lebby’s coaching. Despite his lack of experience Van Buren has thrown for 1,323 yards and 9 touchdowns since his debut as starter on 28th September. In October he threw eight touchdowns which was more than any other quarterback in the SEC. So it’s no wonder that State fans are excited about the future with this young quarterback.
A new star emerges
During the game against Arkansas, in only his fourth start at quarterback, Van Buren had a completion rate of 71%, throwing for 309 yards and two touchdowns and one rushing touchdown. On this Saturday the Arkansas defense came to play resulting in two interceptions. However the general feeling is that the future is bright in Mississippi.
Speaking after the game Jeff Lebby had praise for Van Buren although making it clear that this shouldn’t come as a surprise for anyone who sees him day to day,
“Yeah, he’s handled it in a in a really good way,” said Lebby. “People outside the building have been quick to talk about how incredible he is, while he’s gotten challenged inside the building every single day.”
“I thought the dude played incredibly tough. He fought his butt off and made some unbelievable plays, but then his bad plays were ones we have to take out of our gameplan. It’s been week-to-week challenging him just to be better every single snap.”
let down by the defense
Sadly the Hail State defense did not live up to their side of the bargain. Leaking 58 points to Arkansas was not the plan and you could see the hurt on the faces of Lebby and his team afterwards. As you might expect the post game press conference was woefully downbeat and quick and understandably so.
In truth Mississippi State are still reeling from the loss of head coach Mike Leach. Talking to people at breakfast in the hotel who still speak fondly about Leach, it is clear that this is a team still trying to find its identity. The job that Zach Arnett took was probably an impossible one. State fired Arnett one year after taking the job in the most difficult of circumstances with Lebby being given the keys. While there have been some bright spots this season, the 2-7 (0-5 in conference) record makes for difficult reading.
It may well be that Lebby is the right man and turns this ship around. During the Arkansas game some mental errors and turnovers cost them badly. This is the sign of a young team but there is little margin for error in the SEC. This team now plays Tennessee (road), Missouri (home) and Ole Miss in the Egg Cup (road) before the season end.
Lebby really needs some positivity from his team in these three games.
All rosie for the woo pig sooie
On the other side of the field, Arkansas also has an electrifying quarterback in Taylen Green. Truth be told I was most excited to see the Razorbacks Junior quarterback who transferred from Boise State. Green has been the principle reason that Arkansas have looked a better team this season, albeit results continue to be inconsistent. They are without doubt a more difficult team to beat which has been as a result of the offense posting more points than last year and a defense, which at times has looked impressive. So far this season Green has passed for 2,056 yards, 11 touchdowns with a 60.6% completion rate. He has also rushed for 395 yards and five touchdowns. Green has had seven interceptions so far.
I was not disappointed by Green’s performance as he had his best performance of the season so far. Granted the Hail State defense did not have their finest day, however Green had a game for the generations.
“If we can play better around him, the guy’s incredible. Like I said before I wouldn’t trade him for anybody” Sam Pittman said after the game.
During the game Green connected with nine different receivers, something which hasn’t happened this season. Against the Bulldogs Green threw for five touchdowns and ran for a further score during the 58-25 win over their hosts. In fact Green had such a game that he is the first Razorbacks quarterback to throw for four or more touchdowns and rush for a touchdown in a game since 2010 when Ryan Mallett did the same against UTEP
Some light at the end of the tunnel
While in reality the game was over by half time a spirited mini come back by the Bulldogs made for an uncomfortable third quarter for the Razorbacks and had the cowbells ringing loudly again. A point that Pittman made in his post game press conference. At one stage Mississippi State had reduced the thirty one point deficit to sixteen points which had the crowd rocking. However turnovers continue to haunt this young team with the Razorbacks taking advantage and never looked back.
As an experience it was everything you wanted it to to be. An all SEC match up in the heart of the Deep South is highly recommended.
Next stop….Oxford, Mississippi!
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.