Helmet: Maroon
Jersey: Maroon
Pants: White
Jersey: Maroon
Pants: White
| Without its starting quarterback, head coach, defensive coordinator, or a few other assistants, Mississippi State showed a ton of grit and pulled off an impressive 31-27 TaxSlayer Bowl win over 2016 Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson and the Louisville Cardinals. The Bulldogs did so while wearing their traditional Maroon-Maroon-White uniform combination. Out of the 21 bowl games that the Bulldogs have participated in, this was, surprisingly, only the 6th in which they've worn this traditional combination, and the first since the 1999 Peach Bowl. It was State's third appearance in the Jacksonville (FL) bowl game, with all three coming in the last eight years. In the Bulldogs' first two appearances, the game was known as the "Gator Bowl"; the Bulldogs were the "away" team and wore white jerseys both times. In 2011 (2010 season), they wore shiny maroon helmets, white jerseys, and white pants in a 52-14 thrashing of Michigan. In 2013 (2012 season), they wore matte maroon helmets with silver facemasks, the "Snow Bowl" jerseys, and gray pants in a 34-20 loss to Northwestern. |  
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Currently riding an 8-year bowl appearance streak, the Bulldogs have now been the home team and worn maroon jerseys in 3 consecutive bowls, all three of which have been wins. Interestingly, different color pants were worn in each of the three games (Gray in 2015 Belk, Maroon in 2016 St. Pete, and White in 2017 TaxSlayer).
Saturday was the Bulldogs' third time wearing the Maroon-Maroon-White combination this season; it joined the Maroon-Maroon-Gray combination as the most worn combination of 2017. With the updated maroon jerseys, the classic look is as good as it has ever been and is among the Bulldogs' best. It was previously worn in wins over Charleston Southern and Kentucky; the win over Louisville made it the Bulldogs' winningest 2017 combination with a 3-0 record.
Louisville went with chrome red helmets, white jerseys, and white pants to complete an all around solid all-Adidas uni matchup. The Cardinals' chrome red helmets look really good; they're one of my favorite college football uniform elements, and I was excited to see them worn against State. By my count, it was the 10th above average uniform matchup involving the Bulldogs this season; exceptions were the games vs Texas A&M, UMass, and Alabama.
The two uniform models for this game are #41 Mark McLaurin and #10 Keytaon Thompson. McLaurin had not one, not two, but THREE interceptions of 2016 Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson, one of which ended a potential game-winning drive for the Cardinals with 2 and a half minutes left in the game. McLaurin, along with rest of the Bulldog defense under interim DC Ron English did an excellent job all day of containing Jackson and giving the Bulldogs a chance to win the game. Thompson, a true freshman, is the Bulldogs' starting quarterback after Nick Fitzgerald's season-ending ankle injury in the Egg Bowl. Thompson led the Bulldogs to victory by completing 11 of 20 passing and scoring three touchdowns on the ground.
I want to finish this column with a shoutout to Mississippi State's all-time winningest head coach by winning percentage, Greg Knox, who will finish with a 1-0 record (1.000) as head coach of the Bulldogs. Many, myself included, wrote off this bowl game after Fitzgerald's injury and Mullen's departure, but Knox and co. held everything together, managing to win a bowl game and beat a Heisman Trophy winner in the process. Hail State.
Saturday was the Bulldogs' third time wearing the Maroon-Maroon-White combination this season; it joined the Maroon-Maroon-Gray combination as the most worn combination of 2017. With the updated maroon jerseys, the classic look is as good as it has ever been and is among the Bulldogs' best. It was previously worn in wins over Charleston Southern and Kentucky; the win over Louisville made it the Bulldogs' winningest 2017 combination with a 3-0 record.
Louisville went with chrome red helmets, white jerseys, and white pants to complete an all around solid all-Adidas uni matchup. The Cardinals' chrome red helmets look really good; they're one of my favorite college football uniform elements, and I was excited to see them worn against State. By my count, it was the 10th above average uniform matchup involving the Bulldogs this season; exceptions were the games vs Texas A&M, UMass, and Alabama.
The two uniform models for this game are #41 Mark McLaurin and #10 Keytaon Thompson. McLaurin had not one, not two, but THREE interceptions of 2016 Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson, one of which ended a potential game-winning drive for the Cardinals with 2 and a half minutes left in the game. McLaurin, along with rest of the Bulldog defense under interim DC Ron English did an excellent job all day of containing Jackson and giving the Bulldogs a chance to win the game. Thompson, a true freshman, is the Bulldogs' starting quarterback after Nick Fitzgerald's season-ending ankle injury in the Egg Bowl. Thompson led the Bulldogs to victory by completing 11 of 20 passing and scoring three touchdowns on the ground.
I want to finish this column with a shoutout to Mississippi State's all-time winningest head coach by winning percentage, Greg Knox, who will finish with a 1-0 record (1.000) as head coach of the Bulldogs. Many, myself included, wrote off this bowl game after Fitzgerald's injury and Mullen's departure, but Knox and co. held everything together, managing to win a bowl game and beat a Heisman Trophy winner in the process. Hail State.
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