I suppose everyone has a dream and a goal for their life — some more serious than others.

But for me, an alumnus of Mississippi State University, one of my goals was to see MSU play in all 12 on-campus Southeastern Conference football stadiums. This goal may seem comical to some, especially considering MSU’s record the past 5 seasons.

I must confess that my first college football games weren’t experienced in Starkville. Actually, they weren’t played at any SEC school.

I can vaguely remember visiting Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson with my dad (a longtime Rebel fan by the way) to watch Ole Miss take on Arkansas in 1985. (Side note: I had officially become a State fan by age 6, in 1986).

I think that I attended every Egg Bowl from 1986-1990 in Jackson. My first on-campus SEC game came in 1991 when Mississippi State hosted Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl. That was the first Egg Bowl played in Starkville in nearly 30 years. State dominated, 24-9.

The SEC road trips began in 1997. MSU was playing tradition-rich Alabama in Tuscaloosa. It was quite a historical trip — Mississippi State’s first win in Bryant-Denny Stadium in nearly 40 years as the Dogs defeated Bama 32-20.

I think we stayed in that stadium for at least an hour after the game and everyone in Maroon cheered like we had won the SEC Championship. I recall just how emotional the State fans were, but too young to realize the historical significance of that victory.

My next road trip came a year later and proved to be another historical game for MSU and for me — quite an emotional trip.

As mentioned before, my father is a diehard Ole Miss fan and my grandfather graduated from the University of Mississippi in 1948.

In 1998 MSU’s football team had played its way into a position to capture the SEC Western Division Championship. The Dogs won handily, 28-6. There I was, much like my grandfather did years before me —celebrating a win in The Grove… except this time it was to the tune of a SEC West Championship, “Hail State” and clanging cowbells.

Following MSU’s championship season, I added one more SEC stadium to the list, traveling to the loveliest village on the plains, Auburn, Ala., to watch 14th ranked and undefeated MSU take on Auburn.

This was a game that no one would forget as State — down 13 points with just a few minutes left — pulled off a miracle comeback win, 18-16. It was a miracle 1999 season with State making four miraculous comebacks, and I was there for every single one of them.

Right then and there I almost had to pinch myself. I mean, this was Mississippi State that I was watching, right? Just to put the facts out there, in my first three SEC road trips I had seen State beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa for the first time in 40 years, I had seen the Dawgs defeat Ole Miss in Oxford for State’s first SEC title in football since 1941, and seen one of the greatest fourth quarter comebacks in school history. At that point I thought maybe I was the good luck charm State was missing for ... oh, the past 50 seasons!

The next six years were a sobering wake-up call, as I haven’t seen State win an SEC road game since Auburn in 1999.

In September of 2000, I traveled to my first SEC Eastern Division stadium — Williams-Bryce Stadium, home to the South Carolina Gamecocks. It was quite a long drive from Starkville, and rained on us from the moment we got into Birmingham.

Mississippi State held a 19-16 lead with just 90 seconds remaining, but on fourth down, South Carolina’s backup quarterback threw a Hail Mary-like pass for a Gamecock touchdown and an MSU defeat. That single pass made for the first of many long rides home wearing maroon.

My first defeat on the road didn’t discourage me from making the trek down to Baton Rouge.

As an opposing fan, you hear so many stories about Death Valley — LSU’s nickname for Tiger Stadium — and when EPSN picked that game for the 8 p.m. televised kickoff, I knew that I was in for something memorable.

LSU had the lead late, but — like a flashback to 1999 — MSU made a comeback to force overtime. This, in hindsight, just delayed the inevitable, as LSU won in OT to ignite a signature Tiger Stadium roar that seemingly lasted most of the night.

In 2001, MSU’s SEC road losing streak and mine continued with a trip to Gainesville, Fla. “The Swamp” as it is known, proved to be just as humbling, yet not as nearly exciting as my trip to Tiger Stadium a year before.

MSU drummed the Gators in Starkville in 2000 and it seemed as though Florida was trying to make up for that loss. The Gators put away the game by halftime, leading 35-0, when I had reverted to the despised Florida State tomahawk chop just to have something to say to the Gator fans. By the way, the final score read 52-0 Florida.

The good news following that defeat in The Swamp? I was only five stadiums away from achieving my goal. It sounds easy on paper, but if you know anything about traditional rivalries and SEC East/West rotations, it’s hard to plan since you may only play some teams at their place once every 8-9 years.

It wasn’t until 2003 I was able to add stadiums eight and nine to my list. In back-to-back weeks, I drove to Knoxville, Tenn. and Fayetteville, Ark.

What was I thinking?

I’ll tell you what I was thinking ... I’m getting to these stadiums no matter how far the drive or how bad we get beat. I’m glad I had that resolve because I saw State get beat by the Vols and Hogs in consecutive games by a combined score of 111-27.

At least gas prices weren’t too bad then.

All joking aside, it was at that point I realized it’s not about the wins and the losses. It’s about the experience and the journey.

The next season in 2004 brought a new era in Mississippi State football when Sylvester Croom was named the new head coach. I followed Croom and the Dogs to Music City, USA as State faced Vanderbilt in Nashville.

To be honest, it wasn’t an exciting matchup. We were bad — they were Vanderbilt; it was an ugly game. Vandy beat us by the way, and it wasn’t even close.

In 2005, I inched ever so close to fulfilling my goal by making the long drive to Lexington to watch State take on the Kentucky Wildcats.

Kentucky is a beautiful state by the way — too bad the game wasn’t a sight to see. In an even uglier game than the Vanderbilt loss a year before, State lost 13-7.

But once I got past the loss, it hit me ... I was just one stadium away from achieving my goal.

Georgia’s Sanford Stadium was the last on my list. It had taken me just nine seasons to mark off 11 of the 12 SEC stadiums, and in year 10 it just so happened State was scheduled to play in Athens on Oct. 21, 2006.

Even though MSU is in the middle of yet another losing season and even though Georgia is a heavy favorite, I am still very excited about this game.

I’m attending that game with the same friend (Josh Thompson) that I was with on my first SEC road trip way back in 1997. We were just some high school kids back then and now we are both blessed with great jobs in our hometown.

It’s been quite a journey. I always get a special feeling when I emerge from underneath a stadium through the threshold of a portal into the vastness of a historical SEC stadium — and you better believe that it will be extra special walking into that stadium Saturday.

Win or lose, it will be a special journey for me — and that’s what being a football fan in the SEC is all about.

Sean Covich is the head golf coach and sports information director at Meridian Community College.