A fight that broke out in the student section of Mississippi State’s Davis Wade stadium during the Saturday night football game against the University of South Alabama ended in five student arrests, Georgia Lindley, MSU police chief said.
She said the fight took place in Section R of the stadium and began over an individual throwing drinks down the bleachers.
“It started over people throwing cups and just grew into something much larger,” she said.
In addition to the fight in the stands, there were two other fights over the weekend – one in the Junction and one on another part of campus. Across the board, 17 arrests (both students and non-students) were made during the weekend, Lindley said.
She said the police department follows a standard practice at every football game and will continue to follow its procedure. Police officers are assigned to specific parts of the stadium and wear green vests so they can be easily spotted if someone needs to report an issue, she said.
Lindley said, in order to prevent incidents like this from happening again, students should be courteous to the people in the stands and not throw cups. She said students should avoid becoming involved in an altercation.
She  said although the stadium has seen fights from time to time, it is normally calm. She also said it can be crowded, and she encourages students not to provide their IDs to others.
“The problem (of crowding) is compounded by students slipping others their IDs,” she said. “The stadium only holds ‘x’ amount of people.”