By JOEL COLEMAN
Starkville Daily News
My personal countdown of the top 10 Mississippi State games of the last decade continues today and it features a moment that is no doubt No. 1 in many of your minds. More on that in a minute. Before we get there though, here are some quick notes on how I made this list:
– It is totally subjective. I consulted no one but me, except for No. 1 & No. 2. I had a Twitter poll to determine the winner there.
– Games were ranked in my mind by factors including historical significance, late drama or simple emotion of the moment.
– I’m still not totally sold on the order in which I’ve ranked some of these.
Nonetheless, here we go. The full list up to this moment is at the bottom of the page.
2. Down goes UConn – Mississippi State women’s basketball vs. UConn – March 31, 2017
Morgan William sinks a shot at the buzzer in overtime to end UConn’s 111-game winning streak and send Mississippi State to the national championship game in 2017. (Photo courtesy of The Associated Press)
There are moments in time where you’ll never forget where you were. For those who love women’s college basketball, everyone knows right where they were when Morgan William’s jumper at the buzzer in overtime stunned Connecticut and put Mississippi State in the national championship game.
This was UConn – a team that had won 111 straight games coming in. This was the same team that had destroyed the Bulldogs by 60 points just one year before.
UConn was unquestionably Goliath. MSU was undeniably David. William was the stone that brought down the giant and flipped the women’s college basketball world on its head.
MSU won the game 66-64. But this contest was so much more than a victory. It cemented MSU women’s hoops a national brand. The upset was the talk of not only the women’s basketball world, but all of the sports world for a day or two.
In terms of drama and magnitude, this game might very well should be No. 1 on this list. I considered simply having two No. 1 games, but no one likes a tie. I left it up to Twitter to make the final call and instead of this game, the No. 1 contest of the decade on this list is going to be MSU football defeating Auburn to become the top-ranked team in the country.
We’ll talk more about that game tomorrow, but the voting was incredibly close. With over 2,400 votes, MSU football’s win over Auburn narrowly defeated the basketball win over UConn 53 percent to 47 percent. It’s obvious fans are torn over which game should be No. 1.
I simply sum it up like this. The fact there are two moments in two different sports in the last decade that had such national significance that the Mississippi State community is almost evenly divided means it was a pretty fantastic decade for the maroon and white. Bulldogs everywhere will take these top two moments with them to their graves.
Joel T’s Top 10 Bulldog games of the decade:
10. Back to the ‘ship! – Mississippi State women’s basketball vs. Louisville – March 30, 2018
9. Uncharted territory – Mississippi State baseball vs. Oregon State – June 21, 2013
8. Dak saves the day – Mississippi State football vs. Ole Miss – November 28, 2013
7. Top of the mountain – Mississippi State women’s basketball vs. Texas A&M – February 18, 2018
6. A Super for the ages – Mississippi State baseball vs. Vanderbilt – June 8-10, 2018
5. Sunday black magic – Mississippi State baseball vs. Auburn – June 16, 2019
4. Mac and the Mayor’s farewell – Mississippi State baseball vs. Stanford – June 9, 2019
3. Stunning the Seminoles – Mississippi State baseball vs. Florida State – June 2, 2018
2. Down goes UConn – Mississippi State women’s basketball vs. UConn – March 31, 2017
1. To be revealed 12/31/19
The Starkville Daily News Bulldog Beat 