Jackson Free Press

The sports gods are a fickle bunch. It seems like a lifetime ago when the Associated Press tied Mississippi State University and the University of Mississippi were tied for third. The next week, the Bulldogs became the No. 1 ranked team in the land and stayed there for several weeks.

Hopes around the state were high, and a magical season for both the Bulldogs and Rebels seemed possible. Mississippi was the center of the college football world from the end of September until the beginning of November.

At the end of October, the Rebels lost their first game to Louisiana State University, and then three of their last five games. MSU had its first loss in mid-November to Alabama and then lost to Ole Miss. What once seemed like a special, once-in-a-lifetime season lost steam before the regular season came to an end.

Both Ole Miss and Mississippi State had wonderful seasons, but you can't help but wonder what might have been this year. What if Ole Miss quarterback Bo Wallace didn't go off script against Louisiana State University at the end of the game? What if that Auburn University defender hadn't grabbed the back of Rebels wide receiver Laquon Treadwell's jersey as he bulled his way toward the end zone? What if Mississippi State hadn't looked like a deer in the headlights against University of Alabama in the first half? What if the Bulldogs didn't have that same look in their eyes in the Egg Bowl against Ole Miss just two weeks later?

How good would Mississippi State still be if Dak Prescott hadn't got banged up and gone into a funk? Would the Rebels still be in the playoff talk if they had decided to show up at any point against the University of Arkansas?

Why does it also seem fitting that when Mississippi, as a state, reaches for the brass ring, everything goes spectacularly wrong for both the Rebels and Bulldogs? It just seems like we can't break through and finish something wonderful.

But there were things to be proud of this season. Mississippi State earned its first No. 1 ranking in the regular season in school history—and became the first-ever team ranked No. 1 in the College Football Rankings. The Bulldogs had their first 10-win season in school history. Ole Miss defeated top-ranked Alabama at home and took the goalpost for a ride through Oxford. The Rebels walloped Texas A&M on the road the very next week. ESPN College Game Day came to Mississippi for back-to-back weeks, first for Ole Miss against Alabama, and then the next week for Mississippi State against Auburn.

It just seems like there should have been more. It seems like one of these teams should have been in the first college-football playoff.

All the early-season success and momentum for both the Rebels and Bulldogs evaporated as it got deeper in the season. Now, both will go to a nice bowl game but could have—maybe should have—done much more. Even if the sports gods are fickle, there is always next year for that special, once-in-a-lifetime season.