Getty Image / iStockphoto
Mississippi State will play Arizona in a cross-conference college football game on Saturday, and the Bulldogs will need to keep an eye out for cacti. An accidentally explicit graphic that was released by the SEC program on Sunday night has since been deleted for that very reason.
Mississippi State, in its first season with head coach Zach Arnett, is 1-0 on the young season. It took down Southeastern Louisiana in its season-opener and will hope to keep the loss column at zero when it faces a Pac-12 opponentโ for what could be the final time. At the very least, the Bulldogs will play the Wildcats during their final season before they make the jump to the Big 12.
Dawgs are wearing ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ next Saturday!
โช๏ธ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ โช๏ธ
๐๏ธ ยป https://t.co/TCnojIRYOc#HailState๐ถ pic.twitter.com/P0DWSfYjwdโ Mississippi State Football (@HailStateFB) September 2, 2023
The game, which will kick off at 5:30pm CT, is a weird non-conference matchup that will have pretty big bowl implications for both sides.
Mississippi State likelyย needs to win if it hopes to reach six wins in 2023. Arizona, at 1-0 after an FCS win to begin the season, may notย need the win, but it will go a long way. The Wildcats hope to continue its upward swing after going 5-7 last season, which was head coach Jedd Fischโs second year at the helm.
It feels good to be a Wildcat. pic.twitter.com/6FbxbB8fWb
โ Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) September 3, 2023
Whichever team wins on Saturday will be much better positioned for bowl eligibility. The loser, on the other hand, might struggle to hit that six-win mark without the early-season victory.
Mississippi State is on the lookout for saguarosโฆ
As the Bulldogs prepare for the team from Tucson, their graphics team made an embarrassing blunder. It was unintentional, but the oversight forced them to hit delete on a project that received backlash (for lack of better word) as soon as it was published.
Mississippi State posted its pregame graphic to Twitter and played into the Southwest, Arizona theme. The image depicted running back JoโQuavious Marks hurdling a cactus.
But not really.
Rather, it showed Marks hopping directlyย on top of a cactus. Pause.
(Image courtesy: @HailStateFB/X)
The cactus could not have been more poorly placed. It looks like Marks is about to receive unwelcomed entry from one of the most painful plants on earth.
Somebody should have noticed the phallic nature of the succulent prior to its publish. The post has since been deleted as a result.
Fortunately, the internet lives forever! Great idea from the graphics team, just poor execution.