Just three of us attended, my dad and little brother and I. Stayed in Tupilo, MS the night before the game after some outstanding Memphis bbq. There was ZERO, and I mean that almost literally, traffic on our way to the game. We left at 7:30 got there right around 8:30. After slipping a $20 to a parking attendant we were able to park right next to the BYU tailgate.

Next we headed over to the Bulldog Walk. Met a fellow cougarboarder over there and got to see the Miss. St team walk in. Cool tradition, seems similar to ours but with a much better tailgating setup all around. We tried to go see BYU walk in on the other side of the stadium but missed them by about 20 mins. The tailgating set up there is awesome. Seems like every spot of grass around the stadium was filled with people.

Tom H. stopped by and chatted with us briefly at the tailgate, asked where we came from, thanked us for the support and then went to go catch President Werthlin to "make sure he doesn't get ribbed too bad" on the way to the stadium.

Now, the good/bad stuff. The game itself. First thought is my goodness our sideline needs some energy! It seemed very low energy from the start, a little dancing/energy/excitement in the 3rd quarter but still. I noticed the Offense doesn't really sit together or get much in-game coaching. Coach Empey would gather his troops and talk with them a bit. Reno seemed very animated talking to Ula, not after the fumble but after the swing pass he caught. Not sure what they talked about but Reno seemed a little heated, I liked seeing that. But it seemed like Tanner would talk to Ty briefly, then Tanner would go sit near Bushman. I never saw Ty talking to any other players. He seemed interested in watching the defense. Seemed very strange to me, would've loved to see him gather the offense on the bench and talk to them as a group. Maybe even yell a little I don't know.

I thought Dayan should've scored on his first pick. Decided to cut all the way across the field with just the QB ahead. Still it was cool to have a couple of stand up and cheer plays.

The cowbells are awful. Wish I would've brought earplugs, feel like I can still hear the echo. We were in section 20 right around the 40 yardline. There was a good smattering of BYU fans around us and all the Miss. St fans were awesome. They seemed to like a lot of our players' names, Ah You and Handsome, etc. One more cool thing, Miss. State had ice cream for all the BYU fans! It was only about 88 degrees and humid so nice job with that tradition BYU! Got me fed.

After the game it was cool to go down and hang with the players a bit. They thanked everybody for coming, I asked Fred if he was good...he nodded. Tanner was very gracious to a bunch of kids, signing autographs even as you could see the sadness etched on his face.

In my experience I've found the losses in person to be much more fun than on TV. We kept expectations low and were happy about the first half field goal and then the TD. Gotta find the positives. Finally, and if you're still reading thank you, I want to say that I think this team can still go bowling. It's been a rough season but come on CB get your stuff together. It's the team we all love so keep supporting the team and players. I think we run the table the rest of the way and finish 8-6! That would provide a bit of momentum for returning players/coaches and for recruits. I'll be at ECU next weekend cheering some more! Go Cougs!