Mississippi enjoying moment as center of college football landscape

On one history-making Saturday recently, the state of Mississippi became the center of the college football universe.

And, against all odds, it remains so.

First, a little background.

The Magnolia State's top two grid schools — Ole Miss (The University of Mississippi) and Mississippi State — had each enjoyed moderate football success over the years. But it was hard for the pair to attract huge national attention while playing second fiddle to more powerful fellow SEC members Alabama, LSU, Tennessee, Georgia and the like.

Ole Miss last won an SEC title in 1963. Mississippi State's championship drought is now at 73 years.

But that all changed several weekends ago.

On Oct. 4, the two Mississippi outfits were both undefeated at mid-season for the first time in eons and set to engage in high profile clashes with top-10 SEC teams.

In Oxford, Ole Miss hosted Alabama, which came in unbeaten and ranked No. 1 nationally.

Meanwhile, downstate in Starkville, Mississippi State was home against another top-10 foe with an unblemished mark — Texas A&M.

It was put-up-or-shut-up time once again for both the Mississippi ball clubs.

Too often before, though, each had started strongly — albeit never simultaneously — only to have their SEC title hopes squashed by powerhouses in that loop.

But there was a sense that this year, things might finally be different. ESPN had an inkling.

That's why, for the first time, their "College Game Day" pre-game telecast crew set up shop in "The Grove" at Ole Miss, a magnificent tree-lined tailgating area fronting the University's landmark building — the corinthian-columned Lyceum.

The Grove was also the site of the one of the most significant events in the U.S. Civil Rights movement — more on this later.

Previously, The Grove's unmatched attractiveness alone had not good enough reason for a visit by Lee Corso and Company (which on this day included pop singer Katy Perry).

You also needed a great football team playing an important game for the Game Day bunch to trundle onto your campus.

But at long last it appeared such a confluence had finally arrived.

The Mississippi State campus, meanwhile, is just as beautiful as that of Ole Miss — but different.

It is more spread out and has an airy, pastoral feel.

At this point it should be noted that last season MAS did the tailgating thing at both schools and then took in their ensuing grid contests from the sidelines, thanks to field-level passes.

On those visits, both tailgating areas outside the stadiums of the two bitter rivals were packed.

Ole Miss tents often had a red and blue regimental striping that matched the bow ties worn with button-down shirts and khakis by many aristocratic-looking males in attendance. Mississippi State fans, on the other hand, favored jeans and their pre-game tents were basic white and often adorned with MSU Maroon printing that read "Go to Hell Ole Miss!" State fans obviously resent being cast in a "Moo U." light by what they perceive to be their "uppity" counterparts.

But that will happen when your trademark is a cowbell, which every MSU fan brings to games and rings start to finish.

But MAS digresses — back to the historic football events of that first Saturday in October.

In a thriller, Mississippi toppled top-ranked Alabama with a late score and an end zone interception.

A monumental — and most sartorially splendid — field storming by Ole Miss fans ensued.

Meanwhile, Mississippi State totally skunked Texas A&M, dominating the Aggies for the entire contest.

Their twin wins would thrust the pair into a tie for the No. 3 spot in the national rankings — the first such simultaneous top-five slotting.

But MAS saw this building from his sideline spot a year ago.

These guys are big, fast, tough and athletic, MAS thought to himself — and destined for a big breakthrough.

Sure enough, Ole Miss and Mississippi State had proven MAS prophetic.

Subsequent victories the following two weekends would then vault Mississippi State to its first No. 1 ranking in the school's 119-year football history and also give Ole Miss sole possession of the third spot.

Thus it is that all things college football presently revolve around their cotton pickin' state.

As Hall of Famer baseballer Dizzy Dean, out of Wiggins, Mississippi (true), once famously uttered: Who'da thunk it!

MAS had been moved to make his pigskin pilgrimage by the remarkable ESPN documentary "Ghosts of Mississippi." It dealt with a time when Ole Miss football and U.S. history intersected in a most gut-wrenching way.

In 1962, Ole Miss went undefeated (the school's last unbeaten campaign) but failed to win the national championship, which at that time was determined by a sportswriters poll. Many Mississippians blamed this snub on voter backlash resulting from the ugly anti-integration riots that took place at Ole Miss that same fall when James Meredith became the first African-American to enroll at the school.

The '62 players — all white — were mostly dirt-poor kids from the boondocks trying to make something of their lives. They played no part in the mayhem and, 50 years later in the documentary, softly wondered aloud why the voters would take the events of that autumn out on them.

Standing on the steps of the Lyceum looking out over The Grove, MAS couldn't fathom how this now festive area had once been a war zone that saw the U.S. national guard, with fixed bayonets, battle segregationists in the tear gas-filled night.

There were deaths.

Bullet holes still pockmark some trees.

But, thankfully, Mississippi is no longer the last bastion of segregation it once was.

On the day of his visit, MAS saw tailgating blacks and whites mingling cheerfully in The Grove.

Behind the Lyceum is a statue of Meredith. Nearby, giggling children of both races played together.

Most of Ole Miss' team was black. They were cheered on vociferously by a predominantly white crowd.

On this weekend anyway, all seemed well at Ole Miss.

The situation was the same down the road in Starkville with the cowbell-clanging masses there.

MAS wondered if, with the national sports spotlight shining on Ole Miss and MSU, Americans took notice to these game-accompanying scenes.

He hoped that Oct. 4 would not only serve as a day for history-making grid contests, but history-evoking thoughts as well.

If so, one couldn't help but notice how far Mississippi has come — both on the football field and off.

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