Mississippi State milks edge from ritual

Mississippi State cowbells sit silent as fans can only ring them at specified times during games in the second half of an NCAA college football game against Arkansas in Starkville, Miss., Saturday, Nov. 1, 2014. No. 1 Mississippi State won 17-10. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

STARKVILLE, Miss. — The Arkansas Razorbacks practiced all week with the sounds of cowbells played over loudspeakers.

Tonight, the Razorbacks will see how they play with the real thing ringing in their ears.

Arkansas is playing at Mississippi State, where fans ringing cowbells began in the late 1930s or early 1940s and became a common practice by the 1950s, according to the Bulldogs’ athletic department website.

The cowbells were rung especially enthusiastically during Arkansas’ last visit to Davis Wade Stadium in 2014. It was the Bulldogs’ first home game as a No. 1-ranked team, and they hung on to beat the Razorbacks 17-10.

“Just constantly loud and annoying,” Arkansas senior linebacker Brooks Ellis said of the cowbells. “You try to ignore them, but that’s pretty much impossible.

“It’s not a fun experience to be down there.”

Arkansas defensive backs coach Paul Rhoads was Auburn’s defensive coordinator when the Tigers won 3-2 at Mississippi State in 2008. He hasn’t forgotten the sound of the cowbells.

“What I remember is that they’re everywhere, and there’s a bunch of signs that say they’re illegal,” Rhoads said. “Yet they’re everywhere.”

Ringing cowbells was against SEC rules in 2008, but not anymore.

In response to Mississippi State’s cowbell-ringing tradition, the SEC adopted a rule in 1974 that made using artificial noisemakers illegal, although many Bulldogs fans ignored the ban and sneaked cowbells into games.

Before the 2011 season, SEC schools agreed to a compromise, acknowledging cowbells are a part of Mississippi State’s football history and allowing them to be rung at games with the stipulation they not be used once the opposing team’s center gets over the ball to snap it.

“Yeah, I’m sure they don’t,” Rhoads said with a laugh.

The SEC fined Mississippi State $25,000 in 2013 because fans rang cowbells during plays, but they have followed the rules well enough since then that the conference hasn’t banned the cowbells again.

“We’re going to use it as motivation,” Arkansas receivers coach Michael Smith said. “Hopefully, we can all play well enough where there won’t be a lot of cowbells ringing at the end of the day.”

There are more cowbells now than ever at Wade Davis Stadium, where the north end zone was enclosed with the addition of 8,815 seats as part of a $75 million expansion that increased capacity to 61,337. The project was completed in August 2014.

“That’s their thing. That’s what they bring to the table,” Arkansas senior offensive tackle Dan Skipper said of the Bulldogs’ cowbells. “So you can let it affect you or you can be mentally tough and not let it affect you.”

Skipper said hearing the cowbells at practice all week should help the Razorbacks.

“If you haven’t played there, now you know what to expect,” he said. “For a lot of our younger guys, hopefully that helps them acclimate quicker.”

Arkansas offensive line coach Kurt Anderson will experience a game at Mississippi State for the first time, but his past has prepared him.

Anderson said when he was an assistant at Eastern Michigan, the Eagles played Akron at the Rubber Bowl, which is located next to Fulton International Airport in Ohio.

“You’re hearing a 747 land right next to the field,” Anderson said. “So that’s a pretty loud noise to deal with. You literally could see the runway right out the back of the end zone. That was a little unusual.”

Anderson said he’s looking forward to experiencing what the cowbells are about.

“I’m excited,” he said. “It’s going to be fun.”

Anderson said the Razorbacks put extra emphasis in practice this week on avoiding false starts and offsides penalties.

“That’s why you practice with the crowd noise and the cowbells and all that stuff, so that you get it out of your system as opposed to having it happen on Saturday,” he said. “We need to play a clean football game in order to win, so we’ve got to take care of all the pre-snap stuff.”

According to Mississippi State’s website, the most popular legend about why fans ring cowbells is that during a home game against Ole Miss, a cow wandered onto the field and the Bulldogs beat the Rebels.

Mississippi State students adopted the cow as a good luck charm, so the legend goes. After bringing the cow to several games, the students decided it was easier to ring cowbells.

“It’s not the best noise to hear,” Arkansas sophomore tailback Rawleigh Williams said. “But hopefully we can quiet it down a little bit.”