All eyes are on the state of Mississippi today as Ole Miss and Mississippi State host a pair of top 15 SEC West showdowns with major national implications. College GameDay, SEC Nation and the CBS broadcasting crew are all spending the day in the Magnolia State, but today’s doubleheader is about so much more than just football.

The GameDay hosts were prepared for a morning in the Grove, fully stocked with seersucker suits, bow ties, boat shoes, red solo cups and the classiest fans in America.

For every feature on Saturday’s game between Ole Miss and Alabama, there was a feature on the best tailgating in America. For every nugget on the SEC West’s dominance and its relevance to the College Football Playoff, there was a nugget about the fans or the traditions that make an Ole Miss tailgate the most unique experience in country.

Analyst Samantha Ponder compared tailgating in the Grove to prom mixed with a wedding mixed with a NASCAR event. And she’s not wrong. Lee Corso’s light grey seersucker suit drew comparison’s to KFC’s Colonel Sanders. Again, those comparisons were not wrong.

But the point is that the tailgating in the Grove and the atmosphere in Oxford are just as vital on this day as the game itself. This is a day for the entire Ole Miss community to enjoy the spotlight, not just a day for the football program to legitimize its No. 11 ranking.

The Rebels have waited two decades to show off the Grove on GameDay’s national stage, and they capitalized in a big way with a fantastic atmosphere well before ESPN’s national pregame show hit the airwaves.

In Starkville, there was as much talk of the game between Mississippi State and Texas A&M as there was of cowbells and the color maroon. Not red, but maroon.

The atmosphere during SEC Nation’s visit to the Junction was about more than a football game; it was about bringing attention to a university that often flies under the radar among other, higher profile programs in the SEC. The Bulldogs have seized the country’s attention, and that alone is a big deal for the football program, the university, the fan base and the city of Starkville.

Both teams may lose today, but Mississippi has already cashed in on one of the biggest days in the history of the state of Mississippi. This day is about so much more than just football, and before either game in the Magnolia State kicks off the state as a whole has already registered a win under the national spotlight.