10 Biggest What Ifs in Mississippi State Sports History

7. What if MSU played all or most of its home games in Starkville?

Prior to the Jackie Sherrill era, there were so many times over Mississippi State’s football history when the Bulldogs actually played their “home” games in the opponent’s stadium. Can you believe that nonsense?

The most recent example was in 1991 when Florida paid MSU $1 million to play the game in Orlando, FL instead of Starkville.

From 1932-1970, MSU played LSU in the state of Mississippi three times – 3! From 1933-1957, MSU played Alabama outside Tuscaloosa only twice! Played Auburn in Birmingham, Tennessee in Memphis, etc.

Then there’s all the games played in Jackson. That’s better than acting like a FCS school with someone in your own conference, but it didn’t really allow for Scott Field to grow like it should have – especially when all the biggest games were played in Jackson. What’s more, MSU has played in Columbus (12 times), Meridian (4 times), Tupelo (4 times), Greenwood (twice), Aberdeen (twice), Clarksdale and Gulfport.

There are two main areas where I think MSU was hurt the most: winning and tradition. Is there anything else that matters more than winning and tradition? How do you develop tradition if you aren’t playing in Starkville? How do the students rally together at football games if you aren’t playing games on campus? How do you expect to win games if you’re playing home games on the road? Bottom line – State would be a better historical program if they would have played their home games at home: Starkville, Mississippi.

It’s a shame our past administrators had virtually no foresight. You think Larry Templeton was bad – MSU A.D.’s from the 1930s to 1970s were horrible. The amazing thing is Mississippi State won big in the 40s despite this. We were a power back then and still played all these games on the road.