Miss. State documentary film recalls “9/20,” the first major post-9/11 sporting event held in U.S.

• The film makes its debut on the SEC Network on September 11th.

In the aftermath of the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, much of the world stopped, fearing the worst and pondering what could be next.

A new Mississippi State University Films documentary tells the story of the first major post-9/11 sporting event held in the U.S. – the 2001 Southeastern Conference football game between the Bulldogs and the South Carolina Gamecocks.

The MSU Films documentary, titled “9/20,” makes its national television debut on the SEC Network at 7 P.M. CT on September 11. It will be immediately available for streaming here following the broadcast.

“Told through archival footage and interviews of those who made the game happen both on and off the field, MSU filmmakers examine a watershed moment when Americans turned to sports as a momentary escape from tragedy and a return to normalcy,” the university stated in its announcement of the documentary film.

As the film recalls, the Bush White House contacted then-SEC Commissioner Roy Kramer, urging him to move forward with the game after sporting events had been canceled since the terrorist attack. MSU states that to ease Americans’ anxiety, security at Davis Wade Stadium and the entire MSU campus was heightened to new levels for the game.

The Bulldogs and Gamecocks played under a no-fly zone in front of more than 40,000 people on September 20, 2001. Chants of “USA” and tearjerking moments of patriotism were on full display that day. In pregame, an American flag was spread across the width of the field, held by players from both teams, as “America the Beautiful” rang out.

“Once you actually got on that field and held that enormous American Flag… nobody cared if you were a Republican or a Democrat, or a Mississippi State fan or South Carolina fan,” said former Bulldog quarterback Wayne Madkin in the film. “At that particular time, it was bigger than all of us. And we were Americans.”

Here is a teaser trailer of the “9/20” documentary from MSU Films.