Marler Monday: Starkville got a win for everyone on Saturday

By Chris Marler

Life in the South isn’t for the faint of heart.

The heat. The humidity. The bless your hearts given as a backhanded compliment from old ladies in the front pew at church. 

I learned early on that the South is different from most places. Some of that is good, some of it is bad and some of it is really bad. For the most part, people here don’t care if outsiders understand.

But, they do care if you disrespect it. That was the case in Starkville this weekend. 

Mississippi State has been the runt of the litter in the SEC for a long time. There have been moments when they’ve climbed to the top of college football’s relevance, but those stretches have been few and far between. For most of their football history, the program has been the butt of the joke, dwelling at the bottom of the standings.

Which is the first example of being “different” down here. 

State fans don’t care about your opinion of their football team or town. They don’t show up to Davis Wade or Dudy Noble with brown paper bags over their heads, embarrassed to cheer for their alma mater or hometown team. They certainly don’t care that last year’s team went 2-10. (Editor’s note: Mississippi State fans, in fact, cared very much.)

They do care about ignorance.

For whatever reason, Starkville took plenty of heat last week. From false claims about hotel shortages to underprepared planning for the decibel levels of a cowbell, disrespect was rampant out of Tempe, Arizona. 

That’s what made Saturday so fun, not just for Mississippi State fans, but for sports fans in general. SEC fans rarely agree on anything, yet Saturday night it seemed like the whole conference was cheering for the Bulldogs. Well, everyone except Ole Miss fans, of course.

Saturday night’s last-second, game-winning touchdown was a dream come true for Starkville and a perfect reminder to the rest of us why college football is so special.

It was a win for everyone.