Mississippi State football punts on spring game after five minutes

STARKVILLE — Mississippi State football was forced to punt on its spring football game. One could call it five minutes and out. 

Lightning was detected in the area at 11:05 a.m. CT as the Bulldogs were working on punting drills. That led to fans having to leave the seating areas at Davis-Wade Stadium before the first play was snapped.

Since the game was free and open to the public, refunds weren’t an issue. 

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Players and coaches went inside and tried to wait out the delay, but ultimately decided to have a closed practice indoors at the Palmeiro Center after about two hours. 

Instead of having just one big, open scrimmage, MSU decided to have three open scrimmages this spring and the decision proved wise. Fans and media will be able to see the Bulldogs scrimmage at Davis-Wade Stadium next Saturday at a time to be determined.

Mike Leach said after last week’s scrimmage that having multiple scrimmages would help the Bulldogs get the most out of spring practice. He said he suspected that Saturday’s scrimmage would have been “eerily similar” to the first scrimmage last Saturday. 

“I’m not a believer in this spring game, just go through the motions, run a couple drills and wave at everybody. I hate that. I can’t even fathom that on every level,” said Leach.