What can be said about Saturday’s painful loss except that MSU survived?
This was a first for the Bulldogs this season. Even as the losses mounted and the wins remained elusive, there was always hope. There was always a silver lining to each dim cloud.
Early in the season it was the intense play marred by the mistakes of inexperience. Then it became the valiant effort against far greater competition. Then came the new quarterback and a good showing against undefeated Alabama.
No matter what the game, there was always a little chunk of foreseeable goodness coming from the men in maroon.
But not Saturday.
Saturday was not a moral victory. Saturday was not a growing pain. Saturday was a brutal harvesting of maroon-clad soldiers fit only to have been played on a battlefield called War Memorial.
The State platoon was ambushed from the opening kickoff and was simply left to bleed and suffer for the next three hours as their captors marched up and down the football field scoring touchdown after touchdown.
Where do we go from here? Is this really how a talented senior class featuring sack-hound Willie Evans, All-SEC running back Jerious Norwood and team leader Chris McNeil will go out? In a loss and a tear?
There is but one game left on the schedule and that is the Egg Bowl. It will be far from a walk in the park but a very winnable contest. Pride will be on the line.
On Saturday night, the only place I found comfort on the long and dreary road back to Starkville was in Oxford-as I watched the west-bound lanes of Highway 6 crammed with cars well before the end of the Rebels’ 40-7 decimation at the hands of the LSU Tigers.
Both teams were embarrassed on Saturday. Both teams are well below .500 in the wins column. Both teams will be looking for something to prove this weekend, and both will be looking to end the season on a satisfying note.
The real test of the severity of the Arkansas loss cannot be noted until after the Egg Bowl. It will be interesting to see how this loss resonates in the players’ minds in preparation for and during the next game.
I am still not sold on the premise that this team believes they belong in the SEC. We seem to have embraced our long-standing inferiority complex again and seem content just to go through the motions.
The coming game will be a true test of our commitment to winning and our resolve to change the atmosphere of losing that has enveloped this program for the last five years.
If they can beat Mississippi, not just play well, it will go a long way in fostering a winning attitude and priming this program to make the next baby-step toward greatness.
If not, it will simply be a long cold winter.