Our program grew up a lot this year

[Felonious Junk]

We won the most games in program history, were ranked #1 for the first time ever, the quickest ever from non ranked to first in the history of football. We experienced a lot of firsts and they were all great for MSU football.

However In order for us to continue to grow and become more of a mainstream name instead of an afterthought, we have a great deal of more work to do.

The most important things to do moving forward in my opinion are:

1. Schedule at least 1 big boy game OOC per year. Obviously this is happening.

2. Stop using OM as a measuring stick for everything we do. It's really old and lame. I understand how a new coach coming in would want to rally the troops and fa base by trashing the in state rival but the campy nicknames and jokes are stale and we need to grow up.

3. This will be very unpopular. We need to give up the cowbells. When you are irrelevant it's pretty cool to have a thing that unites the fan base but when you are on a national stage your play on the field should define your program and not something that simultaneously makes everyone else not like you. The Gameday broadcast was 17ing terrible and it turned casual fans off to our program. We looked stupid on national television and that should be evidence enough for everyone to realize that it's time to want more for our image both in the state and nationally.

I personally don't like hearing major media personalities voice their dislike for their experience on our campus because of how annoying the cowbells were when they were trying to broadcast a TV show.

Anyway, tell me to 17 off. I expect it.

 

[57stratdawg]

I pretty much agree with Al of those except the cowbell one.

 

[msstate7]

I hate rocky top. Everytime I watch Tennessee games, it drives me crazy. They should drop rocky top to accommodate me*

 

[AHSDawg]

Couldn't disagree with the cowbell more in regards to national publicity. Would you rather have none or 'bad'? Us having something as completely unique as it allows to have commercials and other things that we wouldn't normally get. I didn't love the commitment to the Hail State thing at first but it and the cowbell are quickly becoming a face to our program that is building.

TSUN is quickly becoming faceless in that same regard. The only thing they know is that they don't know which or who they are. We are doing very well in that regard.

 

[Philly Dawg]

Three responses:

1) How would a big name OOC game have helped us this year? We already have to get up for 3-5 showdown games a year. We already have to schedule a power conference team going forward. I see this as dooming us to never contending.

2) I'm not sure this is entirely true, and to the extent that it is, it's utterly impossible to change unless one team gets terrible and stays that way for an extended period.

3) I don't think we should try to build a national brand, especially at the expense of our traditions. It's not going to happen even if we do ban cowbells, and would be at the expense of alienating the base. Instead of public relations, we should focus on football.

 

[dawgstudent]

Some of the national media loved the atmosphere with the cowbells. Cowbells have no middle ground.

 

[CookieMonster.sixpack]

1. Agree with Philly, how does this help?
2. Who else? Every other team in our division has a larger fan base or more money or both.
3. Forget it. The bells are unique. We get confused for OM already. Our unis look just like A&M's. The bells help our brand stand out.

 

[EurekaDog]

Game Day chose Starkville while knowing the bells would be ringing.

ESPN could have gone elsewhere, but they didn't.

If they don't want to deal with the bells, there are roughly 50+ other games every Saturday to choose from.

 

[UpTheMiddlex3Punt]

It's better than having Gameday somewhere that fans don't show up. Or when the on-campus scene is so pathetic they decide to have Gameday inside the stadium. The cowbells were a huge part of that experience. State and Ole Miss had the two best atmosphere's that show has seen in years.

 

[aTotal360]

Us without cowbells is like OM with racism. Don't water down your traditions.

 

[FirstPoetsThenSunDoggy]

We won the most games in program history, were ranked #1 for the first time ever, the quickest ever from non ranked to first in the history of football. We experienced a lot of firsts and they were all great for MSU football.

However In order for us to continue to grow and become more of a mainstream name instead of an afterthought, we have a great deal of more work to do.

The most important things to do moving forward in my opinion are:

1. Schedule at least 1 big boy game OOC per year. Obviously this is happening.

2. Stop using OM as a measuring stick for everything we do. It's really old and lame. I understand how a new coach coming in would want to rally the troops and fa base by trashing the in state rival but the campy nicknames and jokes are stale and we need to grow up.

3. This will be very unpopular. We need to give up the cowbells. When you are irrelevant it's pretty cool to have a thing that unites the fan base but when you are on a national stage your play on the field should define your program and not something that simultaneously makes everyone else not like you. The Gameday broadcast was 17ing terrible and it turned casual fans off to our program. We looked stupid on national television and that should be evidence enough for everyone to realize that it's time to want more for our image both in the state and nationally.

I personally don't like hearing major media personalities voice their dislike for their experience on our campus because of how annoying the cowbells were when they were trying to broadcast a TV show.

Anyway, tell me to 17 off. I expect it.

I agree with #2. DM on TSUN not ringing true to me anymore. Overdone. On #3, I agree with the poster below who says we should not be trying to build a national brand, especially at the expense of our traditions. I say this a somebody who actually doesn't like cowbells.

 

[Imadick]

Giving up cowbells would be like Ole Miss giving up racism!
They supposely gave up the Colonel Reb but he was all over the Grove taking pictures with their fans.
They still have Rebels in hugh letters in the endzone and on the pressbox.

 

[Statedog101]

Take your felonious junk and stick it in a wood grinder. The cowbells ain't going anywhere. The cowbells should go silent during the live portions of gameday, because there was a ton of criticism while the tv people were speaking.

 

[gymdawg.sixpack]

When #3 started with "give up cowbells," i pretty much put you in my spam box. That **** is stupid! Go be a tsun fan if u dont like the bells.

 

[CoastRat.sixpack]

1. No. We already have to.
2. People may be passionate about the rivalry, but no serious football fan measures their success by one opponent.
3. Really? No.
Three strikes.

 

[DerHntr]

I don't like #3 at all but I agree partially on #2. They are our instate rival and will likely always be a measuring stick if they are above mediocre. On the over hand, I do agree that Mullen would be better off just calling them Ole Miss. The TSUN thing has been silly since day one and is now a complete joke. It's gimmicky and I'd rather he figure out how to get our team to play hard against OM. Beating them makes them much madder than silly names.

 

[The Peeper]

Who were the "major media personalities" being negative about the cowbell, I missed that?

 

[rawdawg20]

Give up the cowbell? 17 off. The cowbell represents us. Annoying and loud. If you are a true Mississippi State fan, then that is what you are. If you don't like the cowbell, then we don't want you as a fan anyway. The cowbell is our vuvuzela. Sure, the vuvuzela made the World Cup 2010 unwatchable to the casual fan, but real soccer fans loved it. I don't care if the cowbell alienates casual, potential sidewalk fans, and hinders us from becoming an affable and likeable program. You know what else I like? White noise or the sound of bees buzzing. Let's get audio of that and crank that **** up at games.