The billboard rivalry between Mississippi State and Ole Miss has been going on for quite some time, but things just got a bit more serious. Since last year, harmless billboards that said things like “This is our state” would pop up in the Mississippi area from time to time. This past January, Mississippi State went with a new series of advertisements that read “Play with the best.” This is a problem for the NCAA.
According to the Daily Journal State, MSU school officials ruled that the billboards were being used as a recruiting tool. As a result, the university has announced a few self-imposed penalties, one of which requires the compliance office to review all billboards before they are run in the future.
In a certain sense I understand how this is a violation. Obviously, it’s an advertisement that attempts to convince people that Mississippi State is the way to go over Ole Miss. However, I don’t see how it is any different from saying “This is our state,” which is a message that has been plastered on billboards by other schools as well. That NCAA is one bizarre organization.
