One cowbell sounds like an amplified metal BB rattling around in an empty spray paint can. If there’s thousands of them ringing at once, like when Alabama football visited Mississippi State on Saturday, the singular annoyance factor goes down, but the volume and impact skyrockets.

The listening experience at Davis Wade Stadium is like a 100-decibel rattlesnake, instantly recognizable and quite dangerous. It’s the kind of sound that rings in the ears for hours after leaving the venue.

“It was a great atmosphere,” Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe said. “It was definitely loud.”

Early on in the game, it seemed the noise was impacting Alabama. It was most notable in the first quarter, when Crimson Tide center Seth McLaughlin snapped the ball to Milroe while the signal-caller was looking toward the sideline, clearly unprepared, resulting in a fumble that forced punter James Burnip onto the field and prompted a Nick Saban outburst on the sideline.

Mississippi State fans are supposed to put the bells away while the opposing offense is set. Before each play a message imploring the Bulldog faithful to rest their bells “And just yell” appeared on the scoreboard.

Attendees kind of listened. A little bit.

Even when Milroe prepared to take the snap, the shrill hum, though slightly lower in volume, often continued.

“Mississippi State brought it in the stands for sure,” Milroe said. “And that allowed us to build a great game plan to combat that. SO it was definitely loud in there, but coming to the sideline, communicating with the team, we came on the same page and we were straight the rest of the game.”

Milroe was right. As the game went along, the Tide seemed to figure out the noise issue and improved across the board.

Making things easier on that front, was the fact that Alabama was literally running away with the game. Milroe only threw the ball 12 times throughout, and the Tide’s ground game carried the load offensively.

As Alabama pulled away, fans trickled toward the exits. Those who remained seemed less interested in using their bells to benefit a Mississippi State squad that turned the ball over three times and had trouble mustering up an offense throughout.

“A lot of cowbells in the beginning of the half or whatnot, the (first) quarter,” Alabama outside linebacker Chris Braswell said afterward. “Then, as you know, it eventually started to die down and once we got to that fourth quarter it was pretty much empty, you started to see a lot of gray seat covers.”

It was all part of the Crimson Tide’s plan entering the game.

“That what we want to do, we want to empty these stands by fourth quarter, third quarter,” UA safety Jalen Key said. “We want to empty these stands.”

Alabama moved to 4-1 on the season, 2-0 in SEC play with the win. The Crimson Tide will be back in action Saturday at Texas A&M.

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