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At 12:08 a.m. on Saturday, BYU defeated Mississippi State in double overtime; BYU students rushed the field; and two thoughts immediately came to mind.

First — this is embarrassing for BYU.

And, second, it's past 2 a.m. on the East Coast. Not much of anybody is going to see this.

You can argue about the former. But what happened in late night didn't stay in late night because it was replayed on ESPN's "College GameDay" on Saturday morning.

Even then, it paled in comparison to the embarrassment of a homophobic sign displayed in the BYU student section and telecast on ESPN.

"GameDay's" Samantha Ponder expressed her astonishment about BYU students rushing the field. "Mississippi State has won how many games? Two," she said.

The Bulldogs fell to 2-4 with the loss.

David Pollack attributed it to the fact that the Cougars have "had so many close calls that they've lost this season" and fans were "really excited."

"BYU is still BYU," Ponder insisted.

"Are they?" asked Pollack.

Rece Davis attributed it to MSU's conference affiliation. "You beat an SEC team, you run out on the field," he said.

But Kirk Herbstreit drew laughter from Davis, Lee Corso and Desmond Howard when he said, "Ty Detmer ... has to be going, 'Boy, times have changed.' "

It wasn't as embarrassing as when Kansas students rushed the field in September when the Jayhawks broke a 15-game losing streak with a win over lower-division Rhode Island, which was coming off a 1-10 season. The Kansas P.A. announcer urged them to get off "for the respect of this program."

Current BYU students haven't had a lot to cheer about. Since going independent in 2011, the Cougars have hosted Power Five teams only nine times, and won just five — the latest a win over Virginia in 2014. And BYU had never beaten an SEC team at home.

But what was truly embarrassing was the sign held up by a young woman at the front of the BYU student section: "You can't say Mississippi without saying sissy."

Yes, at a time when BYU is arguing that it isn't anti-gay — at a time when, according to some reports, the Cougars were not invited to join the Big 12 because of their LGBT policies — a young woman in a BYU shirt in the front of the student section held up a sign with a homophobic slur.

Yes, it is a gay slur. Don't even try to argue it's not

The woman, seeing that an ESPN camera was focused on her, lifted the sign — and ESPN lingered for 8-9 seconds.

This isn't an isolated problem. At the previous BYU home game, a young man in the student section held up a sign emblazoned with Pepe the Frog — which has been declared a hate symbol by the Anti-Defamation League.

That's embarrassing.

BYU fan board reaction • Posters were divided into two groups on Monday — those who thought BYUtv airing the Big 12 news conference that afternoon was an indication that the Cougars would be admitted; and those who believed that BYU would have egg on their faces if the news conference announced bad news. Which it did.

Both arguments were without merit. BYU fans were interested in the announcement; BYUtv airing it made perfect sense.

Of course, listening to Jarom Jordan and Spencer Linton giggle their way through a Pollyanna-ish discussion of how this was not such a bad thing undercuts the argument that BYUtv was doing anything approaching serious coverage.

Scott D. Pierce covers television for The Salt Lake Tribune. Email him at spierce@sltrib.com; follow him on Twitter: @ScottDPierce.