re: On the eve of a great opportunity for MSU ...

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Here we are. In about 24 hours, a Mississippi State bus will roll up outside the visitor's locker room at one of college football's hallowed palaces.

This palace is haunted for Mississippi State, though. The team that calls it home simply has their number. 14 games in a row. 21 of the last 22. While its naive to think that coaches and players from LSU are overlooking a talented group from Starkville, the fan base has no reason to give any respect to the Bulldogs. They might as well be playing the Citadel in their minds.

This squad from the state to the North and East of the Bayou has given them one game in the last 15 years that ended within one score, and that was against Mullen's first team in Starkville. At Tiger Stadium, Les Miles has beaten MSU by an average of about 23 points. Solid blowouts in the world of the hell that is the SEC Western Division.

Look, its easy to pick on MSU. Its been pointed out that they have the worst overall winning percentage in SEC history, that one conference title in 1941. Starkville is getting better, but its still the worst college town in the SEC by an Oktibbeha County mile.

There's also the "Mississippi" part of Mississippi State. The rest of the country thinks that the South is ignorant, redneck hicks. The South thinks that of Mississippi. Last in everything good and first in everything bad. Thank God for Mississippi, indeed.

But those of us who live in Mississippi knows that despite her past, she has a lot to love. Maybe its why institutional commercials like this make us a little prouder than the wins on the football field. "This is Our State" is a joke to many. We're proud of it.

WilliamTaylor21 is an MSU student. He cheers for LSU. There are hundreds at MSU like him, mostly Alabama fans. Hey, everyone loves a winner, right? The state is full of sidewalk fans for teams outside our borders. MSU doesn't have as many - I guess this is where you insert a joke about stadium capacity.

But despite the Rawl Tuhds and the Geaux Tigers, they are still Mississippians. And when MSU finally does end this miserable streak against LSU, or Ole Miss picks off Alabama, my guess is all of them will also have a moment where they have a little pride for one of the teams that represents their state.

Then there are the Dak Prescott jokes. We know that he is a longshot to win the Heisman. We smile inside when we hear it on ESPN or read it in an article, but its not a punchline. He's a kid that represents our school pretty well. He's well spoken, has faced adversity, and doesn't get into trouble. He's hard not to like - regardless of who you cheer for. Looking at the character of the last two Hesiman winners, I'll take Dak every day.

It will take Dak's finest game on the biggest stage for State to have a chance in this game. And if LSU makes its 15 in a row, we'll be disappointed, sure, but none of this holding our head in shame, or finding another team to cheer for ("I like State but I'm an Auburn fan."). Yep, we'll go back to work on Monday and think about what could have been if this play or that play went our way.

But if those plays go our way, and Dak has the game that he is capable of, anything can happen, right?

Grind on.

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