On average, I think about Mike Leach once a day.
I think about what he did for Mississippi State and college football and how fans across the nation lost the type of coach that, well, you just don’t see anymore. For someone who wasn’t from Starkville, he embodied everything Mississippi State football stands for—unconventional, resilient and unapologetically himself.
He died Dec. 12, 2022. Since that day, MSU football has played under a shadow of grief, sadness and mourning for a lost identity.
Time moved on, but the Bulldogs were stuck in football purgatory.
And last season—well, it didn’t feel like we were moving on at all. An early-season injury to quarterback Blake Shapen, followed by a 2-10 finish, left both fans and players with hanging heads and heavy hearts.
It was hard for my family. After all, my wife and I spent our college years packed in the student section watching Dak Prescott take care of business and bring us to that No. 1 ranking. I can’t properly express the feeling we had sitting with 60,000-plus fans – many of them lining the ramps to the upper deck – as we took down Auburn. But we didn’t flood the field. Fans walked into the stadium confident in 2014, heads held extremely high before kickoff. If we beat Auburn that day, which we did, it wasn’t going to be a surprise. It was almost expected. We were that good.
When the Arizona State Sun Devils—ranked No. 12 in the country and fresh off a College Football Playoff appearance—took the field in Starkville, it felt different. The confidence was back, sure. But there was something more: grit, swagger, hunger. Whatever it was, you could feel it in the crowd. For the first time since we watched Mike Leach beat Ole Miss in Oxford, we were filled with utter collegiate football joy.
Brennan Thompson lit up the night with two touchdowns, one of which will live in Bulldog lore for years. And when Hunter Washington came down with a game-sealing interception, it was pandemonium from that point on. Unfiltered and long-overdue pandemonium.
You don’t win two games last season and not rush the field when you beat a college playoff team that had 17 returning starters.
I stood on Scott Field watching students run circles around each other, strangers hugging, toddlers being lifted in the air for family photos and cowbells ringing like we’d just won the Super Bowl. And I just stood there, soaking it in, thinking: It’s good to be a Dawg.
My wife turned to me and asked, “Are we back?”
Truly, I have no idea. But for one night in Starkville, everything felt different.
I don’t know if we’re back. But we’re here. And that’s a start.
Mary Pollitz is The Dispatch’s business columnist and a lifelong Mississippi State fan.
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