The Way It Was, The Way It Is

  CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR Once again the Gridiron Gods have spoken: "Dear Ole State, thou aren't quiiite there yet." We State fans know how Moses felt when he reached the mountaintop, knowing that despite overcoming much adversity, he wouldn't make it down the other side to the Promised Land. No lie, this one hurt ... still does the next day. We came sooo close. A snippet from the old Paul Revere & the Raiders song Hungry comes to mind, i.e ., "I can almost taste it ...."  The back and forth, ping pong characteristic of Miss. State games so far this season seems to be our lot in life for now. Before the season began, I thought we had no chance to beat UT-E. But going into the game, although I didn't really expect to win, I thought we had a puncher's chance. During the game I saw my expectations for a Bulldog win come and go numerous times. It was like those long rallies when Chris Evert Lloyd played Martina Navratilova in Grand Slam tournaments.  Wh...

      SNAKE REPELLENT During my half century plus of watching Miss. State football, a term some of my fellow fans and I have often used to describe the Bulldogs' bad luck is "snakebit." We fans have been wary of the various forms that misfortune could take. A particularly painful type of snakebite was that of being struck when unexpectedly running across a deadly snake in an environment thought snake-free -- in football terms, an upset. Unfortunately all too often State has embarrassed themselves, us fans, and the SEC by naively strutting into a game with a lightly regarded foe expecting them to roll over -- a guaranteed win, we have thought -- only to experience a humiliating defeat. Examples during my fandom have been La. Tech (with some towheaded kid named Bradshaw), Tampa (which within a decade later had abandoned football), Troy (then Troy State ... and this loss on our homecoming, no less), NE La. (now ULM), UAB (definitely not be confused with UAT), S. Ala. (those...

  BULLDOG BLITZ! Well, that game was about what most of us expected ... and what the 'Dogs needed. I found myself remembering that there's a thin line between enjoying seeing your team succeed on almost every level and feeling almost repulsed by a total mismatch. Perhaps because I've been on the other side of this scenario -- I was at the Astrodome (for a half) in 1969 when State was edged 🙄 74 - 0 by the Houston Cougars -- I felt sorry for Alcorn State and somewhat ashamed that we were beating them pretty mercilessly. I was delighted to learn that NCAA football has adopted the equivalent of baseball's 10-run after 7 innings "mercy rule" that allows the teams to agree to shorten the quarters by 5 minutes in the 2nd half. [ At an American Legion baseball tournament my son's team played in around the turn of the century the organizers referred to the 10-run rule as "the murder rule." That adjective certainly fit last night's game. ]  Remember ...

  LEAVING THE LIGHT ON  FOR TINNITUS SUFFERERS Temporary MS HQ of the Arizona State Sun Devils On a raucous night at Davis Wade Stadium underdog Miss. State sent Coach Kenny Dillingham and his team staggering back to their tranquil Motel 6 in Pearl (miiiles from the nearest casino) in search of soft pillows to allay the terrible ringing in their ears. The Sun Devils' load had been lightened considerably by the removal of their national ranking after a loss to the Bulldogs, the unanimous preseason pick for the cellar in the SEC. With the light having been left on for them, they probably drifted off peacefully to the soft, celestial lullaby by Donna Summers  Ring My Bell  . It was a memorable night for MSU fans, as their 'Dogs raced to a 17 - 0 lead in the first half, were dominated for practically the entire second half by the Sun Devil ground attack, fell behind 20 - 17 with just 1:39 left in the game, then rose from the dead like Lazarus [ guess it would've been ins...

  DEADLOCKED JURY? The Miss. State Bulldogs' 34 - 17 win over the USM Golden Eagles in Hattiesburg this past Saturday offered something for everyone. For DOS fans, there was, "I told you so! We're going to be pretty good." The SOS fans can counter, "What about that first half ... and all of those stupid penalties? Good thing we won this one 'cause Arizona State will kill us!" Even USM fans, after their team scored a last minute TD on MSU scrubs to make the score appear respectable, can hang their hat on the proverbial mantra of the loser with "Well, we were just starting to come on at the end." Bulldog players didn't seem to have been too banged up with exception of OT Blake Steen, who limped off just before half and didn't return. And Bulldog coaches have to be smiling with the knowledge that, like our fans, Arizona State's staff will have a helluva time figuring out if they'll see first half MSU or 2nd half MSU this coming Sat...