You Mississippi State fans must be delirious after your blowout upset of Texas A&M that propelled you to No. 3 in Associated Press Top 25 rankings.
No one's telling you to stifle your joy. But if you don't put a leash on that cowbell, you will face the consequences.
So says Scott Stricklin, the athletic director for the Bulldogs. While he too was thrilled at Mississippi State's fast start, Stricklin lashed out at fans who rattle their cowbells while plays unfold on the field.
This breach of conduct violates the "Cowbell Compromise" of 2010, which is a real piece of SEC legislation that allows for the controlled use of such noisemakers.
Those rules stipulate that noisemakers can't be used to disrupt the game, and Stricklin contends that's exactly what fans were doing.
"This totally perplexes me. Dak Prescott doesn’t need fans ringing when they shouldn’t to make a dazzling play for our State. Bernardrick McKinney doesn’t need fans ringing when they shouldn’t in order to deliver a crushing tackle," Stricklin wrote in a letter to fans.
Unfortunately for Stricklin, the integrity of the Cowbell Compromise will be tested even further this weekend, when Mississippi State hosts No. 2 Auburn in the college football season's biggest game yet.
Fans will be running a high fever, one that may require a prescription. And, unfortunately for Stricklin, there may be only one prescription that does the job.
So if the Bulldogs student section more closely resembles a horde of drunken, desheveled Will Ferrell look-alikes slapping their cowbells like there's no tomorrow, well, it's okay to be upset.
But don't act like you didn't see this coming all along.
