LSU players reveal how they prep for Mississippi State cowbells

When LSU arrives at Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville on Saturday, they will be met by tens of thousands of fans and an unusual noise.

Mississippi State is well-known for loudly celebrating and pumping their team up using cowbells. Thankfully for LSU fans, their team should be used to it by the time they take the field Saturday morning.

“For every away game, people might not know, we bring out these big speakers, bigger than I am,” said Austin Deculus, a 325-pound, fifth-year offensive lineman. “Two, three, maybe sometimes four, and they just blare it. So if it’s Mississippi State we’ll be hearing nothing but cowbells every team period. It’s ridiculous. You’re hearing it in your ears. 

“So they’re doing a great job of just getting us ready for that and being able to go into that game environment because really we haven’t been in an environment like that since two years ago pre-COVID. So I think we’re going to be perfectly fine with it.”

Deculus added that even as they get on the plane to travel to Starkville, the after ring of the bells stick in one’s head even though you are pretty much numb to them by that point. 

LSU ‘looking forward’ to cowbells

Quarterback Max Johnson will need to lead LSU from the line of scrimmage in the noise, but he is excited for the challenge that lies ahead with the Bulldogs. 

“We’re looking forward to that,” Johnson said. “I think it’s just Mississippi State is known for their cowbells and a lot of noises and I think we’re just going to implement that in some of our units at practice. We’re gonna focus on getting the protection calls right and the plays, and I’m just looking forward to working through that.”

Defensive tackle Neil Farrell, also a fifth-year player, is anything but worried about the raucous environment that looms. 

“It’s a loud stadium,” Farrell said. “They do they thing over there. We’re just going to come, block out the noise, and play good.”

History of the cowbell in Starkville

According to the school’s athletic website, the exact beginnings of the cowbell tradition are unknown. Records show the staple became popularized in Mississippi State’s “ golden age” of football success just prior to WWII. From 1939-1942 the team went 34-5 under head coach Allyn McKeen and won an SEC championship in 1941.

The most accepted story behind the famous prop involves a cow wandering onto the field during a game with the Bulldogs arch rival Ole Miss. Since they won, the students subsequently adopted the animal thinking it was good luck. They continued bringing the cow to football games, but when that was banned, they brought the cowbell instead.

From 1974-2010 the noisy props were actually banned in stadiums until a rule change occurred that year permitted them, with certain restrictions, once again.