Football Team Travel

Leeshouldveflanked

All-American
Nov 12, 2016
14,591
9,725
113
There was talk during the summer that to limit chances of Covid exposure that teams may forgo a hotel stay and travel the day of the game...will MSU travel to Baton Rouge Friday or Saturday morning?
 

Mobile Bay

All-Conference
Jul 26, 2020
4,243
2,188
113
No

We stay in a hotel the night before home games. Just like everybody else does. Meeting rooms are used for final walk throughs and curfews are enforced.
 

MSUDC11

Redshirt
Aug 23, 2012
7,316
0
0
I mean I could see us maybe doing this for when we play in Tuscaloosa or Oxford, but Baton Rouge is a little farther away than you’d like to be able to try something like that, especially considering it’s a day game and the team will probably have to be at the stadium by about 12:30.

Even with the road games that a closer, you still need a space for meetings and walkthroughs and where the whole team can stay under one roof. Is Starkville Hilton Garden Inn really any safer than the Tuscaloosa Marriott as far as COVID goes? I certainly don’t think so.

So for the most part I expect travel to be similar to how it always is.
 

MedDawg

All-Conference
May 29, 2001
5,560
1,121
113
There was talk during the summer that to limit chances of Covid exposure that teams may forgo a hotel stay and travel the day of the game...will MSU travel to Baton Rouge Friday or Saturday morning?

Seems our team had a rough and scary bus ride to UGA once that still affected them the next day, would hate to do that and arrive close to kickoff.**
 

Mobile Bay

All-Conference
Jul 26, 2020
4,243
2,188
113
I think we do stay in Starkville for a game in Tuscaloosa. That's a short enough ride. Like when Auburn and whoever is playing at Auburn both stay in Montgomery. That's an hour ride. I also know they stayed in Montgomery before playing at Troy.

No clue about the Egg Bowl.
 

JMC987

Redshirt
Jun 6, 2020
174
0
0
I think we do stay in Starkville for a game in Tuscaloosa. That's a short enough ride. Like when Auburn and whoever is playing at Auburn both stay in Montgomery. That's an hour ride. I also know they stayed in Montgomery before playing at Troy.

No clue about the Egg Bowl.

State stayed at the starkville HGI last year for home games. The bus driver patrolled the lobby acting like an ***. However I digress.

The HGI is small and seemed to lack the room and meeting space the football facilities would have. However I guess it was about keeping the players under curfew.

but.... everyone knows they stay at a hotel before games. The OP was asking if they will do that this year.
 

johnson86-1

All-American
Aug 22, 2012
15,211
5,759
113
There was talk during the summer that to limit chances of Covid exposure that teams may forgo a hotel stay and travel the day of the game...will MSU travel to Baton Rouge Friday or Saturday morning?

There was some talk of that but it was just one of a million things talked about that was ridiculous on its face. The hotel is not where the risk is, the bus ride is. If they really wanted to reduce risk, apparently whatever air purifying system commercial air liners use does the trick since flight attendants somehow catch covid at a lower rate than the general population, so they could charter planes with equivalent systems and then ride in multiple cars rather than buses on the way to and from the airport.
 

graddawg

Sophomore
Jun 4, 2007
2,734
172
63
State stayed at the starkville HGI last year for home games. The bus driver patrolled the lobby acting like an ***. However I digress.

The HGI is small and seemed to lack the room and meeting space the football facilities would have. However I guess it was about keeping the players under curfew.

but.... everyone knows they stay at a hotel before games. The OP was asking if they will do that this year.

He's the most important person in Starkville. Just ask him.
 

Mjoelner

All-Conference
Sep 2, 2006
2,730
1,214
113
The hotel is not where the risk is, the bus ride is. If they really wanted to reduce risk, apparently whatever air purifying system commercial air liners use does the trick since flight attendants somehow catch covid at a lower rate than the general population, so they could charter planes with equivalent systems and then ride in multiple cars rather than buses on the way to and from the airport.

Or, we could make multiple trips hauling them in this. Vroom Maroon!**
 

GloryDawg

Heisman
Mar 3, 2005
20,755
19,769
113
The last time State went to OK State they had travel issue and I think they arrived the day of the game. They got smacked. The Outback Bowl they had travel issue and got beat by a team they were two TD better than. Travel is very important that it is done right.
 

bulldawg90

Redshirt
Sep 16, 2014
24
1
3
In 2008 (Croom's last year), first game was at Louisiana Tech. We flew down the day of the game because Croom didn't want to go the day before. A former boss of mine, who was big in the Bulldog Club, said the team bussed over to the Columbus Country Club for the pregame meal before going to GTR to fly to Ruston. Said the team ate and Croom just sat there and sat there. Said it was getting late and somebody finally told Croom that they had to go if they were going to get to the game. Don't remember the rest of the details but I think we finally arrived not long before the game was to start. Of course we got beat and we all know how the 2008 season ended.
 

johnson86-1

All-American
Aug 22, 2012
15,211
5,759
113
In 2008 (Croom's last year), first game was at Louisiana Tech. We flew down the day of the game because Croom didn't want to go the day before. A former boss of mine, who was big in the Bulldog Club, said the team bussed over to the Columbus Country Club for the pregame meal before going to GTR to fly to Ruston. Said the team ate and Croom just sat there and sat there. Said it was getting late and somebody finally told Croom that they had to go if they were going to get to the game. Don't remember the rest of the details but I think we finally arrived not long before the game was to start. Of course we got beat and we all know how the 2008 season ended.

That seems hard for me to fathom that any team would risk a same day flight. If you're bus breaks down on a 1 to 2 hour trip, you will have time to figure out accommodations before game time, but even that seems questionable. If your plane has mechanical issues, not sure it's quite as easy to figure out alternative flights.
 

bulldawg90

Redshirt
Sep 16, 2014
24
1
3
Oh I agree wholeheartedly. When he told me that I told him that was crazy. But he said that Croom didn't want to go in the first place so that's why he wanted to fly down and back in the same day. I don't know if this was one of those 2 for 1 games or what but he said the athletic dept basically had to make Croom leave the country club to go the airport. He said it was a mad dash to the airport and we got to the stadium about an hour before the game started.
 

Leeshouldveflanked

All-American
Nov 12, 2016
14,591
9,725
113
In 2008 (Croom's last year), first game was at Louisiana Tech. We flew down the day of the game because Croom didn't want to go the day before. A former boss of mine, who was big in the Bulldog Club, said the team bussed over to the Columbus Country Club for the pregame meal before going to GTR to fly to Ruston. Said the team ate and Croom just sat there and sat there. Said it was getting late and somebody finally told Croom that they had to go if they were going to get to the game. Don't remember the rest of the details but I think we finally arrived not long before the game was to start. Of course we got beat and we all know how the 2008 season ended.

^^^^True Story^^^
 

kired

All-Conference
Aug 22, 2008
7,147
2,577
113
Seems like the broadcasters talked about this during the game. I think the excuse was they'd have to stay in Shreveport and it was easier to fly in from Columbus than find a hotel within an hour of campus.

Never been there so I have no clue what the hotel situation is like in Ruston. But teams stay in Tupelo all the time for games in Starkville or Oxford. Doesn't seem like it would have been a big deal to drive an hour from Shreveport.
 

Mobile Bay

All-Conference
Jul 26, 2020
4,243
2,188
113
Seems like the broadcasters talked about this during the game. I think the excuse was they'd have to stay in Shreveport and it was easier to fly in from Columbus than find a hotel within an hour of campus.

Never been there so I have no clue what the hotel situation is like in Ruston. But teams stay in Tupelo all the time for games in Starkville or Oxford. Doesn't seem like it would have been a big deal to drive an hour from Shreveport.

Ruston has two Mariott properties and a Hampton. I guess they book up for fans at higher rates like the hotels in Auburn do.
 

Barkman Turner Overdrive

All-Conference
May 28, 2006
4,779
3,332
113
The last time State went to OK State they had travel issue and I think they arrived the day of the game. They got smacked. The Outback Bowl they had travel issue and got beat by a team they were two TD better than. Travel is very important that it is done right.

Didn’t we have travel problems going to the Egg Bowl in 2014 as well?
 
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