Top 5 MSU football heartbreaks.......

[Negative Waves]

My top 5 during my lifetime of watching State:

1) 2014 Bama. Bama gatekeeps us from getting to Atlanta and a possible playoff berth. Looking back, this one hurts the most because we really had a chance at a SEC and possible national title and choked. Once in a century event wasted.
2) 1998 SECCG. 6 minutes to the promised land only to fail. If only JJ was at 100% it might have ended differently.
3) 1999 Bama. Win this one and we're back in Atlanta. The refs screwed us over so Bama could have another chance at a 2,432,897th SEC title. (The refs then put icing on the rigged cake with a phantom holding call on our TD against Ark the next week. The SEC made sure we didn't get back to ATL).
4) The entire 2000 season. A team that at minimum should have gone 9-2/10-1 and easily win an SEC title ends up going 7-4. SC, LSU, Ark were 3 gut wrenchers and Ark decimated us injury-wise before going into the Egg Bowl.
5) 1997 Egg Bowl. Brutal loss. JLD goes prevent and OM converts a 30+yard 3rd down then caps it off with a 2 point conversion to win.

 

[anon1768925248]

Forgot about that one.....it was Jay Barker but yeah same deal

You are correct. He did that to us a couple of times in his career.

 

[anon1768925248]

All the years run together but if I remember correctly, that Arkansas game was played in the sleet and we missed a short FG or extra point to win it. And I think we would've clinched the west with a win.

The LSU game in 2000 in BR I remember vividly. I was there. We had a 2 TD lead in the second half and they came back to tie right at the end of the game. When they scored the tying TD, the volume of noise in that place was absolutely unbelievable. And then of course they won in OT. Madkin special.

I remember George Bush being at that Arkansas game.

 

[Drebin]

I remember George Bush being at that Arkansas game.

Yes, they honored Leo Seal that day. That was kind of a big deal.

 

[aTotal360]

That 2000 Arkansas game was the day the wheels came off and we went soft. Perhaps the most miserable I've ever been at a football game. It was cold and sleeting most of the game. Then Arkansas showed up and physically whipped us. We got several injuries, but the big one was Pig Prather tearing his ACL. We never recovered from that game until Mullen.

Soberness was my enemy that day. All I remember was freezing and shouting "We Want Bush" for 10 minutes straight during the halftime presentation.

 

[FlotownDawg]

This is quite the list, and a lot of games to choose from. 2017 Alabama probably hurt the worst because I live in Alabama amongst those people, and it was our best chance to beat Saban (other than the time Croom beat him). Mullen, as usual, went super conservative in the fourth quarter and it cost us. Tie game with about two minutes left, Bama misses a field goal, and we have a chance to drive down the field for the win. Instead, Mullen calls two running plays up the middle and a screen pass that's incomplete. Bama used their timeouts and got the ball back with about a minute left. We all knew what was going to happen at that point.

 

[jibaro]

Ole Miss 1997
Arkansas 2000
Auburn 2010
Arkansas 2010
Auburn 2011

I’m afraid I may be the common denominator as I attended all of these games. The Arkansas 2010 game was so well played, I really wasn’t even mad. I felt terrible for Vick Ballard after the OT fumble.

 

[jibaro]

Yes, they honored Leo Seal that day. That was kind of a big deal.

I believe it was Sonny Montgomery who they honored on the field in the sleet.

 

[Drebin]

I believe it was Sonny Montgomery who they honored on the field in the sleet.

oof. yes.....you are correct.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

This thread as a response to the greatest moments thread reminds me of this little ditty.

I’m kind of thinking it’s more like…

 

[LOTRGOTDAWGFAN]

losing to Tenn in the sec championship
Going undefeated in 1999, 2012, and 2014 only to lose to alabama late in the season.
Losing to Ga Tech in the orange bowl
Losing 3-2 against auburn
Enduring the rocky felker hype of "rocky's coming home" in t he 80s and watching the poop show that ensued through 1990.

 

[Chesusdog]

Dont remember the year, but Vick Ballard's goalline fumble against Arky was a heartbreaker.

Relf coming up an inch short against Auburn.

Losing to UM with a playoff berth on the line.

 

[T-TownDawgg]

My top 5 during my lifetime of watching State:

1) 2014 Bama. Bama gatekeeps us from getting to Atlanta and a possible playoff berth. Looking back, this one hurts the most because we really had a chance at a SEC and possible national title and choked. Once in a century event wasted.
2) 1998 SECCG. 6 minutes to the promised land only to fail. If only JJ was at 100% it might have ended differently.
3) 1999 Bama. Win this one and we're back in Atlanta. The refs screwed us over so Bama could have another chance at a 2,432,897th SEC title. (The refs then put icing on the rigged cake with a phantom holding call on our TD against Ark the next week. The SEC made sure we didn't get back to ATL).
4) The entire 2000 season. A team that at minimum should have gone 9-2/10-1 and easily win an SEC title ends up going 7-4. SC, LSU, Ark were 3 gut wrenchers and Ark decimated us injury-wise before going into the Egg Bowl.
5) 1997 Egg Bowl. Brutal loss. JLD goes prevent and OM converts a 30+yard 3rd down then caps it off with a 2 point conversion to win.

Username confirmed

 

[StarkVegas Steve]

These are not in order or anything but here we go:

2014 Bama: We played so bad the first half but finally started playing to our potential and get the TD to cut it to, I believe, 6. Only for them to go on a back breaking, like, 15 play drive with 2-3 long 3rd down conversions. I went over there that day FULLY CONVINCED we were winning and were going to clinch the West in Tuscaloosa.

2009 LSU: This is probably the most self explanatory one. They had kicked our tails since 2001 and the phantom 5th down and we really controlled that ballgame. Then Chad Jones happened. I think that guy juked all 11 players out twice on that punt return. And despite that we still had a chance to win it......and Lee didn't pitch it and he wasn't 6'0. That one stung for a while.

2015 Egg Bowl: We weren't ever really in the ballgame but just everything leading up to it made it just suck. I mean we had that incredible game in Fayetteville the week before, we were playing for a berth in the Sugar Bowl, and it was Dak's last game. We moved the ball well for like 2 minutes and then we had the TO and it was curtains.

2008 Auburn, 2010 Auburn, 2011 Auburn, and 2013 Auburn- We just had a lot of bad Auburn games in like a 6 year stretch. We really never got that monkey off our backs until 2014. After that it was like the damn burst and we were pretty competitive with them. 2010 will take a long time to get over. Corey Broomfield could've ran to West Point and back and no one would've caught him.

2017 Bama: I finally thought we had them. We had them wounded, had all the momentum, and Don't Stop Believing had just put the stadium in a damn frenzy. I actually said after we beat AZ State that it was strange that Don't Stop Believing was the bookend on such a tumultuous time in Mississippi State football. I had often said since that night that Don't Stop Believing was kind of the high water mark over the last almost decade of the program in terms of fan buy in. We played it and then come out and can't finish the drive with 6 and it went downhill. This year we play it and get a 3rd down stop and a 58 yd TD to kind of bring the fan base back.

 

[NTDawg]

The most State fan thing ever. We are 3-0 but when were you the most disappointed. this is why we can’t have nice things.

 

[HotMop]

My top disappointment is never tailgating at the Six Pack Tailgate. So many blue tents I've never found the right one.

 

[T-TownDawgg]

What year were we robbed of the Auburn game, when we stopped them on fourth down late in the game and the refs gave them a first, they scored, and we lost?

Fuuuuuuuk that one still makes me boil. I used to have the damn picture where you can see the ref angling the ball toward the stick (asssshole) and you can still see light between the ball and the stick! Internet must have scrubbed that photo.

 

[anon1768925248]

What year were we robbed of the Auburn game, when we stopped them on fourth down late in the game and the refs gave them a first, they scored, and we lost?

Fuuuuuuuk that one still makes me boil. I used to have the damn picture where you can see the ref angling the ball toward the stick (asssshole) and you can still see light between the ball and the stick! Internet must have scrubbed that photo.

That was 2013. I was present for it. Nick Marshall and Auburn were lucky as 17 that entire year.

 

[dogmatic001]

Enduring the rocky felker hype of "rocky's coming home" in t he 80s and watching the poop show that ensued through 1990.

Student section chant of :

Up the middle!
Up the middle!
Up the middle!
PUNT!

 

[Indndawg]

In no particular order:

- March down field LSU 2009, followed by goal line stuff;
- Prentis return Tennessee 1998, followed by Peerless Price;
- Don't Stop Believing Alabama 2017, followed by choke;
- TD Alabama 2014, followed by Blake Sims converting multiple 3rd and longs to put game out of reach;
- Auburn 2011 goal line stuff.

I didn't list the Banks INT because we never really expected to win that game.

USC 2001

 

[TilloDwg]

Every game the band doesn't wear their uniforms**

 

[paindonthurt]

My first Egg Bowl. We had 8 tries at the goal line and never could cross it.

Got to be a top 5 for me
I was there
It was cold and miserable
Had to walk out the portal under the student section
Wasn’t fun!!

 

[Palmettodog]

Arkansas 2000 is top 3. 1997 Egg Bowl is top 5.

My *** is still frozen

 

[PearlRiverCoDawg]

The game when Amari Cooper ran out of bounds, then back in and caught the winning TD without a penalty being called. Was that 2014?

I think 2017

 

[columbiadawg2]

This thread has me like...

and the answer is 97 Egg Bowl. An old lady sitting next to me (a 10 year old crying) said "I've been coming to games for 50 years and it ain't going to get any better" I hope she lived for the baseball natty but she'd have been damn near 100.

After that it hurts too much to keep naming more

 

[CaptainFalcon]

Auburn 2010 is up there too for me. We had a lot of opportunities to win that game in the second half and couldn’t close. Broomfield dropped a pick six, then Leon Berry dropped a long pass that would’ve at worst put us in FG range to tie, and there was enough time where we might have been able to score a TD still. Instead it was a drop and we turned it over on downs around midfield.

 

[Badon]

1994 Bama - we were up 10 points with about 8 minutes to go (in 1994 that was almost insurmountable with those offenses) and Freddie Kitchens led the comeback to beat us in Starkville.

This is the one I was looking for. We had the LUNCH BUNCH offensive line.

 

[sparks35]

The only real answer for me is 2014 Bama. That game still stings to this day for me. Not one of the better Bama teams under Saban, and we sorta knew that going in, and I just knew we’d find a way to actually clinch the SEC West that day. And then we just…didn’t. Heartbreaking. I was around family (Bama fans) that day who didn’t even seem to particularly care they won, it was just another win for them. I think that made it so much worse for me. It meant so much to us but so little to them.

 

[InTheIttaBenaHotSun]

Honorable mention for 2000 South Carolina. Their starting QB gets dinged up. Their back up comes in for one play and throws a back breaking TD pass.

Phil 17'ing Petty..

 

[InTheIttaBenaHotSun]

Then we lose 16-14. That was heartbreakingly deflating, and it was the first step in the slow death walk of the next 3 years.

Game wise, I've always thought the 2000 SC game was the first step in that slow death walk......Actually losing Paul Broussard earlier that summer was the true beginning of our downward spiral.

 

[StarkVegas Steve]

What year were we robbed of the Auburn game, when we stopped them on fourth down late in the game and the refs gave them a first, they scored, and we lost?

Fuuuuuuuk that one still makes me boil. I used to have the damn picture where you can see the ref angling the ball toward the stick (asssshole) and you can still see light between the ball and the stick! Internet must have scrubbed that photo.

That was 2011. They screwed us twice. That 4th down where you can literally see the distance between the ball and the stick showing them short and then the Ballard score that they said he was out of bounds.

 

[msudawg1200]

That 2000 Arkansas game was the day the wheels came off and we went soft. Perhaps the most miserable I've ever been at a football game. It was cold and sleeting most of the game. Then Arkansas showed up and physically whipped us. We got several injuries, but the big one was Pig Prather tearing his ACL. We never recovered from that game until Mullen.

I was there and this is all true. I was standing by the concourse when H.W. and Sonny came out. I was fairly close to them but didn't give a 17. My arse was freezing and I was eating nachos with extra jalapenos without anything to drink in order to warm up.

 

[Bulldog Bruce]

Five, Only FIVE?

 

[Darryl Steight]

The most State fan thing ever. We are 3-0 but when were you the most disappointed. this is why we can’t have nice things.

I'm with you mostly on this, but in this specific case, this was only brought up to counter balance the Best Moments Ever thread the day before... We know as a fanbase we must keep the wool from growing too quickly and besides, you have to keep the injuns appeased somehow.

 

[FlotownDawg]

Phil 17'ing Petty..

Phil Petty was the starting QB who was injured. Erik Kimrey was the third-stringer who came in on the fourth down play and threw the inch perfect touchdown pass. It may have been the only pass attempt of his career.

 

[StillTbonewannabe]

I remember George Bush being at that Arkansas game.

The refs also refused to give us a dry ball for the fg attempt to win it.

 

[StillTbonewannabe]

Yes, they honored Leo Seal that day. That was kind of a big deal.

I believe it was Sonny Montgomery that was honored. Back when politicians actually worked together.

 

[The Cooterpoot]

The fact our E Sports team wears uniforms but the band doesnt- breaks my heart

 

[StillTbonewannabe]

Phil 17'ing Petty..

That was my first game in Columbia and I was yelling for Roberson to turn around. Damn catch happened about 20 ft in front of me.

 

[Perd Hapley]

That 2000 Arkansas game was the day the wheels came off and we went soft. Perhaps the most miserable I've ever been at a football game. It was cold and sleeting most of the game. Then Arkansas showed up and physically whipped us. We got several injuries, but the big one was Pig Prather tearing his ACL. We never recovered from that game until Mullen.

Agreed. And what is easily the least talked about 17 up in that game (and perhaps in all of MSU sports history) is that we were kicking the game winning field goal from XP distance, on 2nd down with 4 seconds left and the clock stopped, WITH A TIMEOUT LEFT, and we still tried to force a kick from a horrible snap exchange instead of just falling on the snap, calling timeout, and getting another crack at it from still inside of 30 yards. Just an epic 17up.

And Jackie has to own ALL of that. He tried to get it as close as possible and bleed it all the way down to the end, and it bit him in the ***. We had 1st and 10 at the 11 yard line with around 30 seconds left and all 3 timeouts. Arkansas had one time out left. At that point, you run one play to just center it up for your kicker, then make them use their last timeout. Then you can relax with some cushion on the clock, know you have a mulligan or two if you get a bad snap. The weather conditions should have made this inherently obvious that you might need more than one crack at it. It NEVER should have gotten to the point where we were kicking on 2nd down with 4 seconds left. That’s still enough time to fall on a bad snap and call TO, but not by much.

In those conditions, make sure you’re kicking with some time left, timeouts left, and downs left, then see if a team that had 68 passing yards the entire game plus OT can go 50-60 yards in the sleet and spike with no timeouts in 10 seconds at most. Instead, Jackie got obsessed with not giving the ball back, and he way overplayed his hand. Horrid clock management.

Here’s that entire final drive, if anyone wants to relive the misery.