Georgia prepared to block out noise of Mississippi State cowbells
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Georgia Football is expecting a tough atmosphere today when it walks into Davis Wade Stadium for its matchup against Mississippi State. While the Bulldogs haven’t played in Starkville since 2010, Kirby Smart has. He went every other year as a defensive coordinator during his time at Alabama and knows the kind of environment his team is headed into.
“Loud. I mean, they’re passionate,” Smart said this week when asked about the Mississippi State environment. “I can’t say that it’s unique because every SEC school, I feel, is that way. You guys were there at Missouri. It was loud, it was passionate there. It’s a rural community that everybody comes from afar and everybody’s sold-out and in love with their football team. That’s what they have to hang their hat on, their pride in, which is usually indicative of all SEC schools. But especially there. Being in Tuscaloosa for those years, it was right there right down the road. There’s a lot of pride and they’re really physical.”
Of course when one thinks about Mississippi State, cowbells come to mind pretty quickly. It’s become a cornerstone tradition for the fanbase to ring the cowbells as loud as they can for as long as they can, whether that be to celebrate something good for their Bulldogs or make it harder for opponents to hear.
“Coach Smart has been showing us videos before team meetings and stuff, videos of the cowbells and the environment. They do have a great environment there,” Georgia offensive lineman Warren Ericson said. “To be part of that will be really cool. I’m excited about it, especially with it being a night game.”
“There’s always an emphasis for us to get down and get ready quickly just because we have a lot of shifts and motions in the backfield,” Ericson added when asked if there was any more emphasis on the offensive linemen getting over the ball quicker as that’s when Mississippi State fans are supposed to silence the cowbells. “Stetson, you know, he can see a lot of things more clear when we’re down and set and he can make adjustments based off of that. I think in any game we need to continue to get ready fast, but I actually didn’t know that so that might be a good tip.”
Top 10
- 1New
Kiffin Bama-UGA pick
Lane Kiffin's prediction is in
- 2
Quinn Ewers likely out
Pete Thamel: Texas QB unlikely to play
- 3Trending
Warm Saban welcome
Alabama fans chant for Saban
- 4
Mykel Williams report
Georgia star 'true gametime decision'
- 5
VT WR blasts ACC
'I wanna see consequences'
Ericson said that he’s played some of his high school football with noise makers and such as a part of the environment, but nothing to this extent. Team moms like to have their homemade shakers and such, but the Mississippi State cowbells are on another level. His teammates agreed.
“I’ve never been to Mississippi State, I’ve never had to deal with any cowbells, nothing like that,” Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint said. “That’s something that he emphasizes every day. We usually practice in the indoor with crowd noise to get it as close to the game as possible, how it’s going to be in the stadium. It’s been emphasized that it’s going to be loud, be hostile. We’ve just got to go in and block out the noise and execute, play our game.”
“I’ve heard em before, and fans, they go crazy with them in high school,” Ladd McConkey added. “They’re loud, but it’s something where every stadium is loud. There are just little different factors everywhere. We’ve just got to really lock in and focus on that this week and go out there and execute.”
Kickoff time in Starkville is set for 7:00 p.m. ET on ESPN. Georgia can clinch the SEC East and their spot in the SEC Championship Game for the fifth time in six season with a win. UGA holds an all-time 19-6 advantage over Mississippi State with the last matchup coming in 2020 when JT Daniels found Jermaine Burton for 197 yards and a pair of touchdowns on his way to 401 yards passing and a 31-24 win between the hedges. This is just the seventh meeting at Davis Wade Stadium where Georgia has won four out of the previous six.
