SYRACUSE, NEW YORK — Seems a little odd to be sitting in the living room of friends on the other side of the country watching a football game in Starkville. Nice to see we’re getting rain — it’s cool and clear here — but better if it would wait.
Our friend here, Deborah, texts a mutual friend in Starkville before the game. We get the following response with a picture of husband Harry (not his real name) taken in front of the ESPN Gameday bus:
“I don’t think Harry and I were this excited on our wedding day!!! It is crazy here! I swear I think I’m going to cry!”
Deborah responds: “I hear you girlfriend, let ’em flow. I won’t tell a soul. Looking for you on ESPN.”
Deborah is sporting a maroon Mississippi State T-shirt and is convinced it’s the only one in Syracuse. She’s also bought a stack of this week’s Sports Illustrated to send South. Apparently, the “Mississippi edition” of the magazine can’t be found at home.
Then we get the following text from Mississippi sent at 10:30 a.m.:
“We’re still in the Jeep tailgating redneck style. Lawn chairs in ditch, feet on cooler, munching on ham sandwiches and drinking beer! And ringing cowbell at every Auburn fan that comes by.”
A few minutes later: “About to go in; I cannot breathe.”
She and Harry have been season ticket holders for 30 years. Never has there been a season like this one for the Dogs. No. 3 in the nation and moving up. This is terra incognita.
Davis Wade looks great on TV. The rain seems to add to the festiveness of the occasion. The camera likes a couple of water-logged Elvis impersonators who seem undeterred.
Unlike their previous two outings, the Bulldogs dominate the fourth quarter. Earlier in the day we watched snippets of No. 1 Florida State-Syracuse game. On this Saturday, Mississippi State is surely the best team in the country.
The friend in the State T-shirt says the goal-post demolition in Oxford last weekend after the Rebels 23-17 defeat of Alabama resulted in $75,000 in damages ($50,000 fine from NCAA, $22,000 for goalposts and $3,000 for stadium repairs.). Fans have responded, and according to USA Today, $95,000 in donations had come in by Wednesday.
Ole Miss has rewarded contributors to its goalpost fund with premiums. Five dollars gets you a letter from A.D. Ross Bjork. A $1,000 contribution gets you a 6-inch section of goalpost.
After the game State fans are more restrained, or rather they direct their energies elsewhere.
The friend from Starkville calls.
“This was better than our wedding night,” she declares, breathless and hoarse. Harry in the background begs to differ.
The cameras are everywhere. Dan Mullen, overcome by emotion for a moment, buries his head in the shoulder of an assistant. Later he kisses his wife and immediately afterward he kisses Dak Prescott.
Deborah sends a final text inquiring on her pal’s whereabouts.
“We made it home,” she wrote. “Dry clothes are wonderful. I think my hearing has been damaged from the cowbells.”
Bulldogs are now 6-0. Same for Ole Miss, who dominated Texas A&M. On Monday might we find Ole Miss and State the top two teams in the nation?
What a season this has been.
Birney Imes is the publisher of The Dispatch. Email him at [email protected].
Birney Imes III is the immediate past publisher of The Dispatch.
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