Saturday Night in Death Valley featured what was probably the oddest Mississippi State vs LSU football uniform matchup ever. In a 19-3 LSU win, Mississippi State’s defense gave another incredible performance while its offense sputtered and failed to get into the end zone a single time.
LSU wore special alternate uniforms for the occasion, featuring “color-changing” purple helmets, alternate white jerseys, and white pants. Mississippi State countered by wearing the white helmet, maroon jersey, white pants combination for the first time since 2015 and the first time in the current uniform template.
Many Mississippi State fans have a negative association with the white-maroon-white combination due to it being the primary look of the less than successful Sylvester Croom era. The last three times it had been worn as an alternate look were also losses (Ole Miss 15 and 03, LSU 01); the only game Mississippi State has ever won while wearing white-maroon-white as an alternate was against Memphis in 2001.
As it turns out, this was the most appropriate game for Mississippi State to break out the white-maroon-white combo, as it was the most Croom-esque game since 2008. The offensive struggles that lead to the defense ultimately wasting their effort gave Mississippi State fans some very unpleasant flashbacks. Throw white helmets into the mix, and you have a clear mental image of Croom 2.0.
I thought that, in a vacuum, this version of the white-maroon-white combo was actually a really solid, clean look. Easily the best that the combo has looked for us since the 1969-1971 “flying M” years. The removal of black outlines from the maroon jerseys, addition of white-gray-white stripes to the sleeves, and replacement of the oversized “M-State” logo on the white pants with maroon-gray-maroon stripes really improved the look since it was last worn in 2015. If not for the previously mentioned connotations, I think this would be a much more accepted look.
LSU’s alternate look was really interesting as well. I really, really liked the purple helmet; it’s hard to do an alternate helmet for a team with a primary as iconic as LSU’s gold lids, but they pulled it off. The white jerseys and pants were pretty meh for me; they had a good backstory though so I’ll give them a pass. Still, it just felt wrong to see LSU not wearing shoulder stripes.
Before Saturday, 38 of the last 45 MSU vs LSU games had featured a maroon vs. gold helmet matchup. As far as I can tell, Saturday’s white vs purple matchup was the first EVER in which neither maroon nor gold helmets were worn in the matchup. Gold/White/Gold vs Maroon/Maroon/White is the standard MSU-LSU uniform matchup; it was the matchup 5 times in a row from 2011 to 2015, but has not been since. Last year’s matchup of Maroon/Maroon/Gray vs Gold/White/Gold was excellent, and of course State won 37-7.
Recent oddities in the MSU-LSU matchup include:
LSU wore special alternate uniforms for the occasion, featuring “color-changing” purple helmets, alternate white jerseys, and white pants. Mississippi State countered by wearing the white helmet, maroon jersey, white pants combination for the first time since 2015 and the first time in the current uniform template.
Many Mississippi State fans have a negative association with the white-maroon-white combination due to it being the primary look of the less than successful Sylvester Croom era. The last three times it had been worn as an alternate look were also losses (Ole Miss 15 and 03, LSU 01); the only game Mississippi State has ever won while wearing white-maroon-white as an alternate was against Memphis in 2001.
As it turns out, this was the most appropriate game for Mississippi State to break out the white-maroon-white combo, as it was the most Croom-esque game since 2008. The offensive struggles that lead to the defense ultimately wasting their effort gave Mississippi State fans some very unpleasant flashbacks. Throw white helmets into the mix, and you have a clear mental image of Croom 2.0.
I thought that, in a vacuum, this version of the white-maroon-white combo was actually a really solid, clean look. Easily the best that the combo has looked for us since the 1969-1971 “flying M” years. The removal of black outlines from the maroon jerseys, addition of white-gray-white stripes to the sleeves, and replacement of the oversized “M-State” logo on the white pants with maroon-gray-maroon stripes really improved the look since it was last worn in 2015. If not for the previously mentioned connotations, I think this would be a much more accepted look.
LSU’s alternate look was really interesting as well. I really, really liked the purple helmet; it’s hard to do an alternate helmet for a team with a primary as iconic as LSU’s gold lids, but they pulled it off. The white jerseys and pants were pretty meh for me; they had a good backstory though so I’ll give them a pass. Still, it just felt wrong to see LSU not wearing shoulder stripes.
Before Saturday, 38 of the last 45 MSU vs LSU games had featured a maroon vs. gold helmet matchup. As far as I can tell, Saturday’s white vs purple matchup was the first EVER in which neither maroon nor gold helmets were worn in the matchup. Gold/White/Gold vs Maroon/Maroon/White is the standard MSU-LSU uniform matchup; it was the matchup 5 times in a row from 2011 to 2015, but has not been since. Last year’s matchup of Maroon/Maroon/Gray vs Gold/White/Gold was excellent, and of course State won 37-7.
Recent oddities in the MSU-LSU matchup include:
- State wearing white at home in 2007 and 2009 to force LSU into wearing purple.
- State wearing black in Baton Rouge in 2010.
- LSU wearing gold throwbacks in 2016, forcing State to wear white in BR for the first time since 1994.
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The uniform model for this week is #38 Jonathan Abram, who led Mississippi State’s stellar defense effort with 10 total tackles, 5 solo tackles, and 1 sack.
Next week, Mississippi State reruns home to take on Texas A&M. Given the turbulent uniform matchup history between the two maroon and white SEC West teams, it will be interesting to see how “normal” this year’s matchup will be.
Next week, Mississippi State reruns home to take on Texas A&M. Given the turbulent uniform matchup history between the two maroon and white SEC West teams, it will be interesting to see how “normal” this year’s matchup will be.
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