On Sunday I numbered all the different cities in our great state where MSU has played. In addition to that, there were many times over Mississippi State's football history when the Bulldogs actually played their "home" games in the opponents stadium! Can you believe that nonsense?
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. The stupidity of this decision making is beyond comprehension.
Then there's all the games we played in Jackson. That's better than acting like a Division 1-AA 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.
If Ole Miss had not played in Jackson for years as well we would probably have an easy answer from a comparable school, but they did the same.
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? 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 - in Starkville.
What does a historical program get you? Recruits. Even though 18-year-olds have never seen Notre Dame when they were good, they still go there. Nick Saban was able to turn Alabama around in his second year because it's Alabama - he is a great coach and recruiter - but the crimson 'A' on his shirt helped the sales pitch.
It's a shame our past administrators had virtually no foresight. You think Larry Templeton was bad - the guy in charge in the 1930s was 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! Good grief, what if.