Down To The Last Detail: Inside MSU’s Mock Game Week
August 27, 2022 | Football, Joel Coleman
A week before the season opener, the Bulldogs get in their routine.
STARKVILLE – Off in the distance, sirens were wailing.
It was around midday Saturday in The Junction just outside of Davis Wade Stadium. The high-pitched sound emanating from oncoming law enforcement vehicles signified the Bulldogs were on the doorstep of their home.
Now, in one week's time, thousands and thousands of the Mississippi State faithful will be waiting in this very area to greet their heroes wearing maroon and white at the Dawg Walk. On this day though, the audience was just a large patch of beautiful green grass patiently waiting for tailgating tents and screaming Bulldog fans.
This was merely a trial run – a dress rehearsal if you will. Over the last seven days, Mississippi State has imitated a game week, right down to the last detail. It includes this practice run of the Dawg Walk.
It's been three years since the Dawg Walk has been held in its true form where the team unloads from its buses on Stone Boulevard before walking the sidewalk along Creelman Street and turning through the Junction's center towards the stadium. The COVID pandemic put the practice on pause, save for an abbreviated, altered version. But this year, the original method returns.
"This way is a lot more fun," assistant spirit coach Savanna Dunaway said. "It's a lot more interactive for the fans. It's so exciting for them."
Dunaway speaks from experience. She was on the cheer squad back in 2019 when things were previously done this way. Dunaway's background was put to good use on Saturday as only a handful of cheerleaders remain from three years ago. So, Dunaway was there to give State's spirit groups their own run through.
The cheerleaders aren't alone in their Dawg Walk inexperience. Think about it. Bulldog football centerpieces Will Rogers, Jaden Walley, Jo'quavious Marks, Emmanuel Forbes and more began their MSU careers in 2020. They've never gotten the chance to slap hands with their fans in The Junction. Nor has Bulldog head coach Mike Leach.
Next Saturday, that all changes. As for this Saturday, it was all about getting used to the whole process. Or to be more accurate, continuing to get used to the process as it'd been happening for days.
"This all started last Saturday (August 20) after our scrimmage," State associate athletic director of football operations David Wilczewski explains. "The process last Saturday after the scrimmage through today is exactly like a game week. We came in last Sunday. It was the same weightlifting groups our guys will have on all Sundays. It was the same team meeting [Leach] will have every Sunday. It was the same position meetings into practice. We started practicing with our offense and defense against an offense and a defense of scout teams. Tuesday was a normal Tuesday. Wednesday was a normal Wednesday. Thursday. Friday. Then today is like game day."
Sure, the schedule says Mississippi State's season opener is still a few days away – September 3 – against Memphis. And it is. But for the Bulldogs – for all focus to be on the Tigers – Leach and company wants the team already settled into their ways ahead of time.
"The biggest thing is, when we go into next week, we don't want there to be any questions of what happens in a normal week," Wilczewski said.
So, the Bulldogs checked every single box they would've checked had an actual opponent been awaiting them this week. Their weekday preparations all mimicked game week. State held its normal Friday night team dinner with the travel squad. The team headed off to a hotel – something the Bulldogs do every Friday of game week, home or away, so routines aren't disrupted. And anyone who's going to participate this year took part in every bit of this – caterers, bus drivers, Mississippi Highway Patrol – everyone.
Speaking of routines, a longstanding Leach team tradition is a Friday-evening-before-gameday movie night. That also went down. The Bulldogs went to the theater together and all players had several options to choose from that fit within an allotted time frame.
If the Bulldogs are going to do it during the season, they did it this past week – Dawg Walk of course included.
And just how cognizant do the Bulldogs want to be of every aspect of game week? Consider this. As Leach and his team got off the buses and made the trek through The Junction and into Davis Wade Stadium, Wilczewski was gathering as much info as he could while also having the stopwatch running.
"Coach and I talked the whole way," Wilczewski said. "[Senior associate athletic director of external affairs Rhett Hobart] led us in and Rhett was explaining to us what each part of the Dawg Walk will look like. I had the clock on it so I now know from the time the buses park until our last player got in the stadium was under nine minutes. I know when fans are in the Dawg Walk, it might slow it down a little bit, but I know to anticipate next week it's going to be about 11 minutes for us to do the Dawg Walk."
Inside Davis Wade, MSU's locker room was set up just as it'll be for game day. The entire pregame occurred like it will all year long – from strength coach Tyson Brown's warm-ups all the way to the players' Dawg Pound Rock dance along the sideline just prior to kickoff.
"Every second is accounted for," Wilczewski said. "From the time we wake up on a Saturday morning until the time the ball kicks off, we have everything scripted out and timed out to match what our players need for game day."
Once Saturday's situational practice got underway, the Bulldogs continued to hammer out any lingering uncertainty of a game week. Coaches who'll be up in the box overlooking the field on game day were up in the box on Saturday. Coaches who'll be on the field were on the field.
Both the field and coaches' box were set up to iron out any communications kinks, making sure that when it comes time for MSU's staff to discuss whether or not to call a timeout or when to punt or go for it, all lines of interaction are open.
No stone was left unturned. Leach even spent part of Saturday preaching to his players what State's mindset will be should any game go into overtime.
"Team after team after team, when it hits overtime, there is disarray on their sideline. There is not disarray on ours," Leach emphatically told his players. "We already know what we're going to do…It doesn't matter what happened before overtime, good or bad. When you get to overtime, win the game. That's it. You're locked in. We don't have anybody moping about some last play or thinking they're some hot shot because of some big play. All you're thinking about is winning."
In a way, much of Leach's message summed up this last week as a whole. He wants everyone locked in. He wants no confusion. He doesn't want anyone worried about where they need to be or what's coming up next or what time to be where. Leach simply wants his Bulldogs focused on winning.
Now, Mississippi State can zero in on exactly that, for the mock game week is gone. Everyone is aware of the process.
Starting now, it's all for real.
