As neat as the cowbell tradition is at Mississippi State, you knew this whole compromise was probably doomed from the beginning.

SEC commissioner Mike Slive said this week that Mississippi State already has multiple violations this season and told The Jackson Clarion-Ledger that financial penalties are coming after the season.

It also sounds like this will be a one-and-done compromise in terms of Mississippi State fans even being allowed to bring the cowbells into games next year. The compromise called for fans to be allowed to bring them into Mississippi State games because they are such a big part of the Bulldogs' tradition, but that fans could only ring them during timeouts and other stoppages of play.

So, in other words, when the opposing team has the ball and is trying to convert a key third down, everybody at Scott Field is going to be sitting on their cowbell at that point and not ringing it? Yeah, right.

It's like giving two kids a ball in the house. Their mother tells them they can't throw it, but can sit there with it on their laps while watching TV. Sooner or later, they're going to throw it.

Regardless of how it played out this year, Mississippi State's cowbell compromise was going to be re-visited this coming spring at the SEC meetings in Destin, Fla. As Mississippi State athletic director Scott Stricklin noted, the Bulldogs' fans have two more home games to prove they can abide by this compromise.

In short, no more clanging when the other team has the ball.