Mississippi State football: the history of Davis Wade Stadium
1948-1985
Now we’ll take a look at the the era of having concrete stands on both sides of the stadium for a capacity of 35,000.
Here is a view of the stadium, facing north, during this time.
Technically the 35,000 only lasted from 1948-1982 because the endzone seating was taken out for the 1983 season which reduced the capacity to 32,000 until the 1986 expansion with the West side upper deck. Nevertheless, we’ll include those final three years in with the 35K era.
Here’s are the top 10 games played at Scott Field during this time period. It is hard to find 10 games in this era because most of the big matchups were played in Jackson, at nuetral sites or we just played our “home game” on the opposing team’s field. Pretty much the only ranked SEC team to visit Starkville during this time was Ole Miss. There was some very very questionable decision making by the athletic department back then. If you wonder why our stadium is smaller than most in the SEC, stuff like that is why.
10. 1953: 7-7 tie vs. Ole Miss
MSU was pretty good in 1953, getting as high as #11 in the AP poll after beating #17 Tennessee on the road. This tie wasn’t a win, but it did end a six game losing streak to the Rebels.
9. 1951: 6-0 over #13 Georgia
The Maroons bounced back from a loss at #1 Tennessee the previous week to shutout a ranked Georgia team.
8. 1957: 7-7 tie vs. #7 Ole Miss
In Mississippi State’s best year of the 1950s, they jumped up to #13 after beating LSU just prior to the Egg Bowl. Ole Miss was a very good team who finished the year 9-1-1 with a Sugar Bowl victory.
7. 1965: 27-9 over Southern Mississippi
The end result of the ’65 season (4-6) wasn’t too good, but at one point the Bulldogs were ranked #9 in the country after beating #8 Florida on the road. They came home to play a good Southern Miss team, who finished 7-2 that year, and took care of business.
6. 1978: 55-27 over #15 Florida State
Bob Tyler had a number of big wins at MSU, but this was his biggest at Scott Field and it came in his last year. It was Bobby Bowden’s third year in Tallahassee when the Dawgs took it to them.
View of the stadium, facing south, during this time
5. 1963: 10-10 tie vs. #3 Ole Miss
The early 60s were the glory years for OM (as we all know) and 1963 was no different as they won the SEC. The Rebs were undefeated when they came to Starkville so this tie was an impressive feat. It propelled MSU to its first bowl game in 23 years – the Liberty Bowl in Philadelphia, PA.
4. 1982: 27-24 over #6 LSU
Emory Bellard had some really good teams in the early 1980s. The ’82 team struggled, however, losing six straight games coming into the penultimate game of the season where they would take down an Orange Bowl bound LSU team that had just beat #8 Alabama the week prior and would beat #7 Florida State the next week.
3. 1981: 14-10 over #13 Miami (Fl)
Coming off the big 1980 season MSU was ranked highly and continued their success to the middle of the season, entering their home game with Miami 4-1 and ranked #16. Jim Kelly was the QB for the Hurricanes who were just starting to be dominate under Howard Snellenburger – they finished the year 9-2 and ranked #8.
2. 1984: 16-14 over #9 LSU
It hard to believe because of what’s happened the last 29 years vs. LSU (3-26 vs. the Tigers), but MSU actually won five in a row from 1980-1984. This was the final victory in that streak, and it came vs. a very good Tiger team like most of them did – they played Nebraska in the Sugar Bowl that year.
1. 1950: 7-0 over #4 Tennessee
This was Tennessee’s only loss in 1950 – a year in which they claim a national title. Here is an excerpt from that team’s Wikipedia page:
"Led by head coach Robert Neyland, the Volunteers lost only one game, a 7–0 upset at Mississippi State in the second game of the season. The Vols handed #3 Kentucky, coached by Bear Bryant, its only loss and defeated #2 Texas in the Cotton Bowl Classic en route to an 11–1 record. Big Seven champion Oklahoma finished the regular season 10–0 and was named national champions by the AP Poll, but lost to Kentucky, who Tennessee earlier defeated, in the Sugar Bowl. Tennessee was the only top five team that year to win their bowl game. Thus, Tennessee was voted national champions by a preponderance of selectors, with 18 to Oklahoma’s 11."
MSU only finished 4-5 that year under Slick Martin, but this was a great win considering just how good the Volunteers were that year.
Next: 1986-2001