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(Editor's note: Ben Cook will offer a Counterpoint to this column on Tuesday.)

Neyland Stadium is nestled up against the banks of the Tennessee River. By the thousands, Big Orange fans come to home games by boat, tying them together four or five abreast for a floating party, hours … if not days … before kickoff.

They call them the "Volunteer Navy." Keep that one in mind for later.

Before this gets started, I want to say that I've always liked Mississippi State. When I sent in college applications (which was a long, long time ago), I only mailed envelopes to two colleges. One of them was Mississippi State. I like their us-against-them approach. I like their small town setting. I like their loyalty and dedication despite a lower echelon football existence, with a few exceptions, during the entire history of the Southeastern Conference.

But, they have a problem. It's been there for years, growing in its openness, disrespect and flagrance. Growing to the point that it's no longer a cute little nuance unique to Mississippi State.

Cowbells.

And, because they have a cow bell problem, the Southeastern Conference has a cow bell problem. Noise is the problem during games. But, as bad as that is, the integrity and fairness problem that it exposes for the SEC is worse.

The Southeastern Conference established the artificial noisemaker rule more than

three decades ago. Official penalties were established in 2002.

Before the 2006 season, the NCAA Football Rules Committee cut out the rule

against "crowd noise," which brought into question the SEC's artificial noisemaker ban.

But, the NCAA granted the SEC's request to keep its penalties against any man-made

noisemaker used during football games.

You have to wonder now why the conference made that request in the first place.

For the record, here is what the rule says, along with the prescribed penalties:

* Artificial noisemakers shall not be permitted to be brought into or used in SEC football stadiums. Each institution should have statements printed on tickets and notices to the effect that such noisemakers will not be permitted inside its competition areas.

* Penalties for violations - Game officials are responsible for enforcing the ban and are given procedures to remedy violations:

-- If fans in the stands significantly use artificial noisemakers, the first violation brings a referee's timeout and a verbal warning over the stadium's public address system.

-- The second violation brings a five-yard penalty against the team.

-- The third violation and any following violations bring a 15-yard penalty against the offending team.

If that procedure had been followed at Mississippi State's home game on Saturday night, it would have set a new record for most penalty yards for a single team in an entire season in NCAA history … and the record would have been set against the Bulldogs in just that one game alone.

I'm not sure if there is also a procedure for removing violators from the stadium, but if so, the East stands would have been virtually empty by the time they finished the national anthem.

The largest number of violators were in the student section. It's not an exaggeration to estimate 5,000 cowbells in that area alone. But, they were generously spread out throughout the stadium with thousands more creating the echoing stereo effect.

How bad has it gotten?

They shook the cowbells during their own alma mater. They shook the cowbells before the end of the national anthem. When four military jets flew overhead before kickoff, the cowbells were so loud that on the sideline they drowned out the jet's sonic boom. That's not a joke.

But, that's a mere whisper compared to game time. Before and during literally every offensive snap for the opposing team, the obtrusion of the cow bell barrage is deafening.

Can it make a difference? You decide.

On Saturday night, State's defense found itself backed up to its own 10-yard line, facing a potential knockout blow. Two plays … and two illegal procedure penalties … later, there was a missed field goal.

And, that happened throughout the night. The opposition had a dozen penalties costing almost 100 yards of field position, many called for early movement in the line or other illegal procedure. Can that make a difference? In a game where your offense can only generate 114 total yards, it can certainly help keep the game close. There were twice as many penalties called against State's opponent as State had first downs on offense. Again, that's not a joke.

But the bigger issues are un-enforced rules and fairness.

Signs outside the entrances to Davis Wade Stadium say "no articificial noisemakers." Those might as well say "no shoes allowed" because the two are being enforced equally.

In checking the history of the noisemaker rule, I found this quote from then-MSU athletic director Larry Templeton in 2003:

"We don't like the rule, but we accept it being a member of this conference. We're going to abide by the rules of this conference."

I wonder what happened to that.

One sponsor even touts the cowbells with a full-page ad in the athletic department's game day program … "More Cowbell." It has become that acceptable to openly violate the rules.

I've always considered it a privilege to cover Southeastern Conference sports, the finest in the country overall, especially when it comes to football. But, this cow bell thing, and the increasing level of its magnitude and interference, flies in the face of how the SEC wants to be perceived.

Rules should not exist if they are flagrantly broken, with the near-official sanction of the school and the conference supporting the violators. One school should not be allowed a glaring home field advantage, while 11 other schools are held to a different standard.

The answer is simple. Don't let them into the stadium. Period.

They check women's purses at the entrance. They check backpacks. They even check binoculars cases for smuggled bourbon. They can check for cowbells. But, of course, no checking would be necessary. They are carried openly and shaken loudly outside and inside the stadium. They're not hard to find. And, they're not hard to stop.

So, of course the Southeastern Conference acknowledges the problem and has vowed to fix it, right?

SEC Commissioner Mike Slive was in the Starkville press box on Saturday night.

I didn't personally hear the commissioner's comments about cowbells at the game, but here is what he was quoted as saying:

"You sit here and think you should do something."

You're right commissioner, you should do something.

"It's a playing rule, not a game management rule."

What!!! A rule is a rule. It's either being broken or it's not. A person in Davis Wade Stadium would have to be both deaf and blind not to hear and see that it is a major, divisive, inequitable problem.

Game management? For heaven's sake, manage the game.

And, my favorite of Slive's reported quotes:

"Actually, I've been down there before and it's not as loud as is sounds up here (in the press box)."

Commissioner, what game were you attending? I covered that game on Saturday night, both in the press box early, then on the sideline for most of the game. I was on both sides of the field and in both end zones. It was loud in the press box. It was much, much louder down there. People standing just a few feet from each other on the sideline would give up trying to even talk. No need. Might as well use sign language.

Here's the bottom line:

If you're not going to enforce a rule equitably and fairly for everybody, get rid of it.

Stop being hypocrites and stop looking the other way so that one team can flagrantly thumb its nose at the conference and their opponents … or else allow every other team the liberty to do the same thing. What's good for State should be good for everybody else.

Which gets us back to the "Volunteer Navy."

Every boat on the Tennessee River has a horn. Probably one of those loud air-horns that are used to greet other boaters or signal oncoming traffic.

And, certainly those boats hold as much tradition and significance for Tennessee fans as cowbells do for Mississippi State. (State's mascot is a bulldog. Exactly how does that equate to cowbells?)

Mississippi State plays in Knoxville on October 18.

So, since the SEC would want to apply their rules fairly and wouldn't penalize one school for something when it doesn't penalize all schools … what if all of those crewmen in the Volunteer Navy brought their air-horns into Neyland Stadium?

Of course, they wouldn't blow them during their own alma mater. And, I'm sure that they would show respect to our national anthem and keep them quiet then. But, what if every time Mississippi State got into an offensive huddle, they started blaring those horns. As State came up to the line of scrimmage, they got even louder. And, they saved their highest decibels for the seconds before the ball is supposed to be snapped. And, they never stopped. They did it on every State offensive play. Every one.

I wonder how "game management" would interpret those air-horns?

Anchors aweigh!