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TYRONE KEYS AND Johnie Cooks were the last players out of the Mississippi State locker room on the afternoon of Nov. 1, 1980.
The game had been over for nearly an hour, and the stands at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson, Mississippi, were still packed with delirious Bulldogs fans celebrating Mississippi State’s epic 6-3 win over Alabama, widely considered to this day to be the greatest win in Mississippi State history and one of the biggest upsets in SEC history.
Crimson Tide coach Bear Bryant had assembled one of the most formidable winning machines ever in the SEC. Alabama had not lost a conference game since the first week of October 1978, winning 28 straight games overall and 27 straight in the league. The No. 1 Tide were vying for their third straight national championship and were a 20-point favorite over an extremely talented Mississippi State team that featured multiple players who would go on to have long NFL careers.
“Johnie and I walked out of the locker room, didn’t really say anything and just bumped fists,” Keys recalled. “Coach Bryant recruited me and Johnie, and I remember on signing day we were calling each other and making sure we were still both going to Mississippi State to try to build something there instead of going out of state.
“We had some great times together, all the guys on that team, but that game alone made it all worth it.”
The echoes from that game endure, and when Alabama and Mississippi State square off Saturday at Davis Wade Stadium (9 p.m. ET, ESPN), it will mark the end of a 76-year streak in which the schools have met. They are separated by an 84-mile drive along Highway 82, which is the shortest distance between any schools in the SEC. But with Oklahoma and Texas joining the conference in 2024 and divisions being eliminated, the league office had to adjust the…
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