Mississippi State's inspired win serves notice: Starkville may be nation's toughest place to play
STARKVILLE, Miss. – They welcome you at Mississippi State with a politeness that surpasses earnest and verges on painful. They ask how you're enjoying your stay, if there is anything you need, thanks again for coming.
And then those polite Mississippians ditch the Southern hospitality in favor of sadism, transforming their stadium into a torture chamber.
Wielding tens of thousands of cowbells like an audio cudgel, they ceaselessly pound upon your eardrums. The high-volume video board functions as a waterboard. Then the fans add one more layer of sound by howling hysterically for four hours.
This may be a quiet hamlet near the middle of nowhere most of the time. But on football Saturdays in 2014, with a dream of a team to cheer for, it is an ear-splitting slice of hell for the visiting team.
Of all the intimidating venues in America, I cannot imagine a single more oppressive place than previously sleepy Davis Wade Stadium was Saturday against Auburn. In front of 62,945, the largest on-campus crowd in the history of the state, the defending Southeastern Conference champions freaked out amid the first-quarter bedlam, falling behind 21-0 before anyone even knew what happened.
"We've grown up," athletic director Scott Stricklin said after a 38-23 victory that gives the Bulldogs a convincing argument to be ranked No. 1. "As a university and as a fan base, we're understanding what it takes – to buy the season tickets, to wear the colors, to be here early and be loud and not make excuses about why it can't happen.
"The energy is off the charts. They're not sitting back. They're trying to will it, which is what the great home-field advantages do."
Where there is a will, there also is a Dak. Quarterback Dak Prescott provides the star power, throwing and running for 367 yards and three touchdowns to make up for two ugly interceptions. Even with the two picks, he's the likely Heisman Trophy front-runner at this point – especially with Georgia running back Todd Gurley indefinitely suspended. The fan reception during Prescott's euphoric postgame victory lap, as he slapped hands with hundreds, was rock-star material.
And where there is a Dak, there also is a Dan. Head coach Dan Mullen is the guiding force behind this blooming program, nurturing it through an improbable growth spurt from doormat to decent to dominant. There isn't an ounce of fluke in what the Bulldogs are doing in Mullen's sixth season.
They're one of five teams in AP poll history to defeat three straight top-10 opponents – first LSU, then Texas A&M, now Auburn. In those three games, Mississippi State has trailed for a total of 2 minutes, 49 seconds. It has led by double digits for roughly 125 of 180 minutes.
"We built from the ground up," Mullen said. "… Fifteen years ago, if you told people we'd be playing in front of 62,000 and have a chance to maybe be No. 1, you want to put money down on that? I don't know if many people would take that, even the most loyal Bulldog fans."
The loyal Bulldogs fans have gotten a once-every-70-years taste of supremacy, and they like it. Not even a mid-game downpour that ruined a few hundred sorority girl outfits could squelch the ardor. Their transformation has been radical.
"We kind of had laid-back figured out," Stricklin said with a smile. "We had that piece. We're realizing we can't do anything unless we're all-out."
They were all-out Saturday from "GameDay" in the morning to the moment the team buses arrived, greeting them with a deafening cacophony of cowbells. And then they cranked it up higher at kickoff.
Auburn has been some places. Auburn went to Kansas State on a Thursday night last month and won a game the Wildcats had circled months ago. Auburn went into Kyle Field last year and emerged with a victory. Auburn played in both the SEC championship game and the BCS championship game last year.
Never, in any of those games, did the Tigers look as shaken as they did in the first quarter here Saturday.
Auburn's first offensive play was a tipped pass that was intercepted and set up Mississippi State's first touchdown. Auburn's second offensive play was a pass completion that became a fumble on a jarring hit, setting up State's second touchdown. Auburn's third possession included a dropped kickoff, a dropped pass and a drive-killing holding penalty. It took the Bulldogs eight plays to drive for their third touchdown in the first nine minutes.
From that point on, this game was fairly even. State was held to fewer than 500 yards total offense for the first time this season (it wound up with a still-prodigious 469) and endured some anxious moments as Auburn twice cut the lead to eight points. The fan-induced opening frenzy was the turning point.
"You can't underestimate how important those people are, and how huge home-field advantage is," Mullen said. "It's an intimidating place to come play. We love having that home-field advantage."
Nobody in college football is having more fun than this team, and this fan base.
Even the head coach had something of a pinch-me moment Saturday. Between the third and fourth quarter, they blasted Journey's "Don't Stop Believin' " through the deafening sound system. It was Mullen's suggestion to play it at that point in the game this season, and he took off his headphones long enough to hear the entire stadium singing it.
"It's an appropriate song for our program," he said.
They won't stop believing anytime soon here – not at 6-0, with a bye week to recoup from the SEC West grind. Not with so much to enjoy.
Fresh success is the best success. New glory is the sweetest glory.
Nobody at Mississippi State is spoiled by routine winning. Nobody is jaded by omnipresent adulation. They are feeling it for the first time, and no fan base is louder and prouder than Bulldog Nation right now.
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