MSU record in SEC history

[RockyDog]

For those of you that didn't know MSU football existed prior to Danny Two Gloves, here is a brief recap of why we have a losing record historically in the conference. Prior to 1992, MSU had no balanced schedule in the SEC.

For the 1970 thru 1979 seasons, we hosted a total of 3 SEC opponents in Starkville. We hosted Vanderbilt and Mississippi in 1971. We hosted Vandy again in 1973 and hosted Auburn in 1978. That is IT. We either played on the road or in Jackson for the remainder of our SEC schedule.

In 1972, we went 1-6 in the SEC. That consisted of hosting Auburn in Jackson and SIX SEC road games.

From 1980 thru 1989 we hosted on campus the following: zero in 80. Vanderbilt in 81. Georgia, Auburn LSU in 82.Florida in 83. Kentucky, Auburn LSU in 84. Florida in 85. Florida, Auburn, and Alabama in 86. UT in 87. Georgia, Alabama, LSU in 88. Vanderbilt in 1989.

And for the final gift before SEC expansion, Larry Templeton SOLD 2 home games against Florida: 1989 in Tampa and 1991 in Orlando.

Think about those things when you look at MSU's history. For an entire decade we played 4 total conference games in our home stadium. We were the SEC whipping boy and our administration did nothing to change that perception for the time that most of us have existed on this earth.

[Coach34]

The 22 straight games in Tiger Stadium or whatever it was is still mind-blowing to me.

Building the school in the middle of nowhere set our state back 100 years

[BrunswickDawg]

The 22 straight games in Tiger Stadium or whatever it was is still mind-blowing to me.

Building the school in the middle of nowhere set our state back 100 years

And even more in Alabama facing Bama. Something like from 1945 -1973 every game was in Alabama.

[MoreCowbell]

The 22 straight games in Tiger Stadium or whatever it was is still mind-blowing to me.

Building the school in the middle of nowhere set our state back 100 years

Curious why building in Starkville hurt us. Auburn, Oxford, Tuscaloosa, Gainesville, etc. were in the middle of nowhere at one point and some still are

[confucius say]

Tuscaloosa and Auburn both off of major interstates. Oxford 20 minutes from one.
Florida has 7 times the people as Mississippi.

It's been fairly recent that 25 was even four lanes. Mississippi fan legislators fought that for years.

[Coursesuper]

How different would things have been if the university had been placed in Meridian like was considered and at that was a major transportation hub? How much more does Meridian grow with the university there and with Key Field, rail and highway hubs all converging there?

[BrunswickDawg]

Curious why building in Starkville hurt us. Auburn, Oxford, Tuscaloosa, Gainesville, etc. were in the middle of nowhere at one point and some still are

The difference is OM, Bama, and UF had political allies with the heft to make sure their areas were focal points for connective infrastructure and economic development.
Auburn actually struggled similar to us for a long time as a step-child within the state, but developmentally they benefitted from being so close to Columbus, GA and Ft Benning and being in a direct line between Montgomery and Atlanta.

[RockyDog]

How different would things have been if the university had been placed in Meridian like was considered and at that was a major transportation hub? How much more does Meridian grow with the university there and with Key Field, rail and highway hubs all converging there?

Wasn't Newton one of the locations considered? Could you imagine how that area of east central MS would be hopping right now with a SEC university sitting along I-20 just 100 or so miles from Bama.

[Coach34]

Madison county was also considered but the Mississippi fan legislators did not want State that close to the capital.

As to the other question- no hotels or businesses in the Starkville area to support having on campus football games. We used to play Auburn in places like Birmingham and such. Just a terrible job by our forefathers of keeping us po

[Coursesuper]

Wasn't Newton one of the locations considered? Could you imagine how that area of east central MS would be hopping right now with a SEC university sitting along I-20 just 100 or so miles from Bama.

I thought it was Meridian or Enterprise, in that area. It would have been very different for that area for sure.

[Coursesuper]

Madison county was also considered but the Mississippi fan legislators did not want State that close to the capital.

As to the other question- no hotels or businesses in the Starkville area to support having on campus football games. We used to play Auburn in places like Birmingham and such. Just a terrible job by our forefathers of keeping us po

We didn’t have lights installed until the late 80s. I remember playing LSU at night with the portable lights thru brought in just for the game.

[AROB44]

And even more in Alabama facing Bama. Something like from 1945 -1973 every game was in Alabama.

Not totally accurate.....we played Bama in Starkville in 1962. I know because I was a sophomore and was at the game. Saw Joe Namath run and pass us to death.

[War Machine Dawg]

The real mistake was to have 3 major universities, one for each area of the state. Northern Miss was for the Delta and North MS. We're the Central MS school. And of course USM is the Southern MS school. We should've had one major university that was centrally located. Stops the infighting, splitting of resources, etc. But the elitists of the Northern Miss ilk didn't want anything to do with the commoners studying icky subjects like ag and engineering, thus we doomed all the schools in MS to suck forever. The wounds are too deep on all sides to ever unite and merge, although that's absolutely what needs to happen if we ever wanted to be a real competitor with the blue bloods.

[Fred Garvin]

Ole Miss tried to start an engineering and ag school after the Civil War. Nobody showed up because the parents of kids who would attend those schools didn't want to send them to school with the planter class (sound familiar?). So MS had to open State

[BrunswickDawg]

Not totally accurate.....we played Bama in Starkville in 1962. I know because I was a sophomore and was at the game. Saw Joe Namath run and pass us to death.
Yeah - I was off. It was 1932-1958 playing 25 games.

The SEC royally screwed us regardless

[BuckyIsAB****]

I would like to see this done for other schools

[memsu06]

Heck just 20 years ago Starkville, MS didn't have much going on. USM, Ole Miss, Alabama all had better supporting towns. Starkville is easily 1-3 hours from everything.

I had a CO-OP job while I was at MSU in Hattiesburg, MS so at least I got to experience USM (where I would have preferred to go if not for engineering).

Starkville has made vast improvements since I was there 20 years ago, so today it wouldn't be as bad for a college student.

I believe we could have been a powerhouse in the SEC if all 3 major universities combined into one.

[was21]

How different would things have been if the university had been placed in Meridian like was considered and at that was a major transportation hub? How much more does Meridian grow with the university there and with Key Field, rail and highway hubs all converging there?

Anywhere from Vicksburg to Meridian.....probably Vicksburg would have been better...with its history. But then it would have been the TRUE plantation school...being at the foot of the Delta and along the river and the site of the historic siege. Of course OM was already cited in no where...where it is now...thanks

[TUSK]

Here ya go, guys: https://stassen.com/cgi-bin/records/opp-opp.pl?start=1896&end=2021&team1=Alabama&team2=MississippiState

[Bothrops]

This state has been plagued by dumbasses for 175 years. Mississippi State's football program has been poked, prodded, and taken advantage of more than any program in the country over the course of history. No one is close to us in that regard. We let this happen, which shows our dimwittedness and keeping of the status quo.

[lastmajordog]

If memory serves, Rick Cleveland wrote an article describing at least two powerful om lawyer’s that killed a move to merge the schools. I might be wrong but I’m pretty sure he did.

[Homedawg]

Heck just 20 years ago Starkville, MS didn't have much going on. USM, Ole Miss, Alabama all had better supporting towns. Starkville is easily 1-3 hours from everything.

I had a CO-OP job while I was at MSU in Hattiesburg, MS so at least I got to experience USM (where I would have preferred to go if not for engineering).

Starkville has made vast improvements since I was there 20 years ago, so today it wouldn't be as bad for a college student.

I believe we could have been a powerhouse in the SEC if all 3 major universities combined into one.

Oxford want ugh 20 years ago either. They stepped it up quickly however.

[Todd4State]

The real mistake was to have 3 major universities, one for each area of the state. Northern Miss was for the Delta and North MS. We're the Central MS school. And of course USM is the Southern MS school. We should've had one major university that was centrally located. Stops the infighting, splitting of resources, etc. But the elitists of the Northern Miss ilk didn't want anything to do with the commoners studying icky subjects like ag and engineering, thus we doomed all the schools in MS to suck forever. The wounds are too deep on all sides to ever unite and merge, although that's absolutely what needs to happen if we ever wanted to be a real competitor with the blue bloods.

Is USM still considered a "major university"? Their enrollment was way below MSU and Ole Miss if I remember correctly.

Having a bunch of directional universities in Louisiana and Alabama doesn't really affect LSU, Alabama, and Auburn.

[Todd4State]

If memory serves, Rick Cleveland wrote an article describing at least two powerful om lawyer’s that killed a move to merge the schools. I might be wrong but I’m pretty sure he did.

I don't think that would work anyway. Neither MSU or Ole Miss fans want their school to be "shut down" so the only logical way to do it would be to build a "neutral" campus somewhere like Jackson.

Both schools have a vastly different on campus culture too. MSU has a lot more in state students and Ole Miss has a lot more out of state students. Both schools have been well established for over 100 years now so- building new facilities would be massively expensive and insane to pull off. Like all of MSU's engineering stuff.

[sleepy dawg]

For those of you that didn't know MSU football existed prior to Danny Two Gloves, here is a brief recap of why we have a losing record historically in the conference. Prior to 1992, MSU had no balanced schedule in the SEC.

For the 1970 thru 1979 seasons, we hosted a total of 3 SEC opponents in Starkville. We hosted Vanderbilt and Mississippi in 1971. We hosted Vandy again in 1973 and hosted Auburn in 1978. That is IT. We either played on the road or in Jackson for the remainder of our SEC schedule.

In 1972, we went 1-6 in the SEC. That consisted of hosting Auburn in Jackson and SIX SEC road games.

From 1980 thru 1989 we hosted on campus the following: zero in 80. Vanderbilt in 81. Georgia, Auburn LSU in 82.Florida in 83. Kentucky, Auburn LSU in 84. Florida in 85. Florida, Auburn, and Alabama in 86. UT in 87. Georgia, Alabama, LSU in 88. Vanderbilt in 1989.

And for the final gift before SEC expansion, Larry Templeton SOLD 2 home games against Florida: 1989 in Tampa and 1991 in Orlando.

Think about those things when you look at MSU's history. For an entire decade we played 4 total conference games in our home stadium. We were the SEC whipping boy and our administration did nothing to change that perception for the time that most of us have existed on this earth.

What's your point?

[Coach34]

Having a bunch of directional universities in Louisiana and Alabama doesn't really affect LSU, Alabama, and Auburn.

Alabama and Louisiana have about 2MM more people than Mississippi does- basically 67% more people. Huge difference

[MoreCowbell]

Tuscaloosa and Auburn both off of major interstates. Oxford 20 minutes from one.
Florida has 7 times the people as Mississippi.

It's been fairly recent that 25 was even four lanes. Mississippi fan legislators fought that for years.

That makes sense

[BrunswickDawg]

Alabama and Louisiana have about 2MM more people than Mississippi does- basically 67% more people. Huge difference

Yeah, the lack of growth compared to the rest of the South is a glaring issue. Mississippi actually lost population between 2010 and 2020, and is estimated to have continued to drop over the last 3 years - and has a little over 2.9 million residents.
Only state in the South losing population. Meanwhile, Alabama in the 2010s gained 300,000 people to push over 5 million. Arkansas has passed MS in population too.

[War Machine Dawg]

Is USM still considered a "major university"? Their enrollment was way below MSU and Ole Miss if I remember correctly.

Having a bunch of directional universities in Louisiana and Alabama doesn't really affect LSU, Alabama, and Auburn.

Technically they are. Directionals don't count. They aren't promoted the same way Bama, Auburn and LSU are. Kids don't dream of playing for UAB or ULM. Plus both of those states have significantly bigger populations than MS. The population of MS is tiny compared to the other SEC states. We're not much more populous than the Dakotas, Wyoming, Utah, etc. We could have a functioning directional/HBCU system and one major university without any real problems, but 2.5 big universities is a killer.

[RockyDog]

What's your point?

If you don?t care move on, asshole. It?s not difficult.

[sleepy dawg]

If you don?t care move on, asshole. It?s not difficult.

I'm serious, what's your point? Everybody knows we have a shitty history. Is it just to continue to make sure everyone is aware we sucked? Is to temper expectations b/c we've always sucked and shouldn't expect good things? I legit don't know what point you're trying to get across here.

[Tbonewannabe]

I'm serious, what's your point? Everybody knows we have a shitty history. Is it just to continue to make sure everyone is aware we sucked? Is to temper expectations b/c we've always sucked and shouldn't expect good things? I legit don't know what point you're trying to get across here.

I think his point is, pointing to our history of not being that successful consistently in football, there were other factors than we just suck.

Not many SEC teams would be successful if almost all your games are played on the road. We are closer to middle of the pack since the playing field was "leveled".

[sleepy dawg]

I think his point is, pointing to our history of not being that successful consistently in football, there were other factors than we just suck.

Not many SEC teams would be successful if almost all your games are played on the road. We are closer to middle of the pack since the playing field was "leveled".

Thanks for clarifying for me. That makes sense.

[MedDawg]

They started improving during and after Eli. That's when alums started buying condos there. And Khayat started spending a lot on landscaping the campus.

[Churchill]

Yeah - I was off. It was 1932-1958 playing 25 games.

The SEC royally screwed us regardless

They screwed us but they also basically kept our athletic department's doors open.

[MedDawg]

Yep. Kind of like how USM is an FBS school but doesn't really challenge State or OM for recruits other than maybe baseball.

[MedDawg]

That and the other facts presented are absolutely crazy.

Plus we would have an all-time winning record if it weren't for the bogus forfeits in the 1970s.