Even a week before the two teams met, the average fan had to grimace at what was on the way.

In one corner, there was Louisiana State. Last year's co-National Champions and home to some of the country's fastest and most talented players, coming off a heartbreaking 10-9 loss at Auburn.

In the other corner, there was Mississippi State, who, despite playing consistently competitive football in the Southeastern Conference in years past, had just managed to lose a game to Div. I-AA Maine, 9-7. At home no less.

Sure, Maine is one of the best teams in I-AA but come on, SEC teams don't lose to I-AA opponents. That is, unless they are very bad. Which, at the moment, Mississippi State is.

As expected, any frustration that had welled up inside the LSU players was expended, and then some, last Saturday when they beat the hapless Bulldogs, 51-0.

Mississippi State managed a paltry 130 total yards of offense and seven first downs. Their leading passer, quarterback Kyle York, completed four passes all day.

For a struggling football team, the SEC meat grinder can be a pretty tough place to play.

A place where MSU, whose lone victory this season came out of conference against Tulane, can realistically go winless this season and not hope for much better the next.

But no matter what happens to the Bulldogs this year they can still look back and say that, in many ways, 2004 was a success.

The reason is one man, head coach Sylvester Croom, who took over for former coach Jackie Sherrill after a terrible 2003 season.

In doing so, Croom became the SEC's first ever African-American head coach and in one moment halted the stereotype that African-Americans were perfect for SEC football games as long as they were on the field in pads and not on the sideline with headsets on.

That one move finally brought college football's premier conference, home to its fastest teams and players, up to speed with the rest of the country.

The year before, Alabama fired its brand new coach, the controversial Mike Price, and Croom came under consideration, among others, to be his replacement.

After all, Croom had been an All-American center at the school in the early '70s and has since spent 28 years coaching football at its highest levels, including 17 years in the NFL. It seemed like a natural fit and a chance for Alabama to make a statement.

But in the end, the Crimson Tide opted for Mike Shula, a former quarterback at the school and son of NFL coaching legend Don Shula, to resurrect their fledgling program.

Whether or not the choice was the correct one in the long run still remains to be seen. After a tough 2003, the Tide are 3-1 this year and seem to have things going in the right direction.

What cannot be disputed though, is that choosing Shula over Croom was the safe choice for Alabama's administration.

And who can blame them? The school's last coach, Price, had only been on the job for a couple of months when he was found chilling with some strippers in a Florida hotel room. After that, who would want any more undue attention, like the kind hiring Croom would have brought? Why should it have been on their shoulders to breach the color barrier that existed for head coaching jobs in the conference? Hello Mike Shula and Sylvester, thanks for stopping by.

But that's all old news. It doesn't matter that Alabama didn't hire Croom, it only matters that Mississippi State did.

They decided to take a stand and end an embarrassing stigma that the SEC carried around like an albatross. And any symbolism should not be overlooked.

The State University of, perhaps, the most historically racist state in America had broken the ice.

It would have been hard for Sherrill to leave the talent cupboards in Starkville any barer than they were when Croom arrived.

Right now, there aren't too many good players on the Mississippi State roster. If there were after all, they probably would have managed more than seven points in a home game against Maine.

It's clear that Croom has plenty of work ahead of him and, fairly or not, he will be the standard bearer for the possibility of future black coaches in the conference. The next time an SEC college president or athletic director is considering an African-American coaching candidate, they will assuredly look to see how Croom is doing or how he did.

That's a lot of pressure to put on one man. Croom doesn't just have to turn around a stagnant football program in the toughest conference in America, he also has to be a pioneer in the process.

Here's to hoping that he can pull it off. Not just for his sake or the sake of equal opportunity in the workplace, but also to reward the powers that be at Mississippi State for looking forward instead of backward and for taking a chance, two virtues that are all too often shied away from.