This past Saturday, Mississippi State scored 30 points in an SEC road game for only the second time in the Joe Moorhead era. Unfortunately, due to a combination of injuries and suspensions on the defensive side of the ball, the Bulldogs didn’t stand a chance against Texas A&M’s mediocre-at-best offense, which easily put up 49 points. The loss ended Mississippi State’s three game winning streak over the Aggies, predictably coinciding with the departure of Nick Fitzgerald, the father of Texas A&M and Ole Miss (when his ankle is fully in-tact).
On the positive side of things, Mississippi State wore its best uniform combination of the season, and maybe ever, pairing the stripe-less matte maroon helmets with the white jerseys and gray pants. MatteMaroon/White/Gray has always been a favorite look of mine, and Saturday’s version was perhaps the best it’s looked.
Maroon/White/Silver was the Bulldogs’ primary look in the first three years of the Rockey Felker era; in 1986, the Bulldogs were 4-1 in road games in the combination. In the 87 and 88, silver pants were worn in 7 out of 11 road games (in which the Bulldogs were winless). The look was brought back for the Gator Bowl following the 2012 season; silver facemasks were added to the matte maroon helmets, which were paired with the “snow bowl” jerseys and gray pants. In the 2015 shootout win at Arkansas, the combination was once again worn with the traditional maroon/white/maroon stripes on slightly darker gray pants. Last season, the combination was worn for the first time in the current set in the loss at Kentucky, this year’s look against Texas A&M was essentially the same as last year’s, just with the removal of the silver stripe from the helmet.
On the positive side of things, Mississippi State wore its best uniform combination of the season, and maybe ever, pairing the stripe-less matte maroon helmets with the white jerseys and gray pants. MatteMaroon/White/Gray has always been a favorite look of mine, and Saturday’s version was perhaps the best it’s looked.
Maroon/White/Silver was the Bulldogs’ primary look in the first three years of the Rockey Felker era; in 1986, the Bulldogs were 4-1 in road games in the combination. In the 87 and 88, silver pants were worn in 7 out of 11 road games (in which the Bulldogs were winless). The look was brought back for the Gator Bowl following the 2012 season; silver facemasks were added to the matte maroon helmets, which were paired with the “snow bowl” jerseys and gray pants. In the 2015 shootout win at Arkansas, the combination was once again worn with the traditional maroon/white/maroon stripes on slightly darker gray pants. Last season, the combination was worn for the first time in the current set in the loss at Kentucky, this year’s look against Texas A&M was essentially the same as last year’s, just with the removal of the silver stripe from the helmet.
This was the second time that the current matte maroon helmet has been worn without the silver stripe; the first time was earlier this season at Auburn. As I said then, I like the stripe-less look a lot better; the stripe works on the helmet in a vacuum, but stripe-less works better with the rest of the uniform.
The next step for the matte maroon helmets is white decals and facemasks. Even though the silver accents work well with the M/W/G combination, I couldn’t help but think that white decals would match the white jerseys so much better. You could probably keep the silver facemask for the M/W/G combo, but a white one would still match the jerseys better, and didn’t look too out of place in that 2015 Arkansas game. One of the things I really want to see next season is both the shiny and matte maroon helmets worn with white accents. Given how small of a change it would be, I feel like it has a decent chance of happening.
But, as I said, the silver accents did work fine with the M/W/G combo, and I imagine they’ll work fine with the M/W/W combo if that one is worn this year. I thought the Bulldogs uniforms looked really, really good on Saturday, and most all fans seemed to agree. The replies to the uniform announcement were actually very positive (a rarity when a team is under-performing), especially as opposed to the W/M/M announcement prior to the LSU game. Great job with the combination selection this week, team captains!
The next step for the matte maroon helmets is white decals and facemasks. Even though the silver accents work well with the M/W/G combination, I couldn’t help but think that white decals would match the white jerseys so much better. You could probably keep the silver facemask for the M/W/G combo, but a white one would still match the jerseys better, and didn’t look too out of place in that 2015 Arkansas game. One of the things I really want to see next season is both the shiny and matte maroon helmets worn with white accents. Given how small of a change it would be, I feel like it has a decent chance of happening.
But, as I said, the silver accents did work fine with the M/W/G combo, and I imagine they’ll work fine with the M/W/W combo if that one is worn this year. I thought the Bulldogs uniforms looked really, really good on Saturday, and most all fans seemed to agree. The replies to the uniform announcement were actually very positive (a rarity when a team is under-performing), especially as opposed to the W/M/M announcement prior to the LSU game. Great job with the combination selection this week, team captains!
This was the second consecutive traditional uniform matchup in the Maroon+White vs Maroon+White SEC West matchup between Mississippi State and Texas A&M. Since the Aggies joined the conference in 2012, the matchup has been riddled with alternate uniforms in an attempt to mitigate the “scrimmage” look, with Mississippi State wearing alternates in 2012 and 2016, and Texas A&M wearing alternates in 2012, 2014, and 2017. Last year’s matchup was extra maroon heavy, with Mississippi State going all-maroon and Texas A&M going M/W/M. This year’s matchup was the first in which either team has worn gray pants to differentiate from the other team, though Mississippi State’s 2012 alternates and Texas A&M’s 2014 alternates both featured heavy gray/silver accents. This year’s matchup was the first to feature both teams in stripe-less matte maroon helmets with silver/gray facemasks.
Mississippi State now leads the all-time series with the Aggies 7-6; the series is now tied at 4-4 since Texas A&M joined the SEC. The loss on Saturday dropped Mississippi State to 14-16 all-time in matte maroon helmets and extended the Bulldogs’ losing streak in them to four games. The current matte maroon helmets are now 4-6 over the past two seasons, including 0-2 without the center stripe. The Bulldogs are now 9-8 this century in gray pants.
Mississippi State now leads the all-time series with the Aggies 7-6; the series is now tied at 4-4 since Texas A&M joined the SEC. The loss on Saturday dropped Mississippi State to 14-16 all-time in matte maroon helmets and extended the Bulldogs’ losing streak in them to four games. The current matte maroon helmets are now 4-6 over the past two seasons, including 0-2 without the center stripe. The Bulldogs are now 9-8 this century in gray pants.
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This weekend, the Bulldogs will travel to Fayetteville, Arkansas to take on a putrid Arkansas team that hasn’t won an SEC game in two years and was down 41-0 at the half to a Tua-less Alabama last week. As Joe Moorhead looks to keep bowl hopes alive with his first SEC win outside of the state of Mississippi, the question on everyone’s mind is: what uniforms will Mississippi State wear?
Arkansas will most likely be in their fantastic Darren McFadden era throwback uniforms that they’ve worn in every home game this season. There are two combinations that I think would make sense for Mississippi State to wear in this game: MatteMaroon/White/White and White/White/Gray. M/W/W is the Bulldogs’ most common road look throughout history, and it hasn’t been worn in a regular season game in the Joe Moorhead era; Saturday would be a good time to fix that. Alternatively, W/W/G looked really good in last season’s Egg Bowl win, and would be a mix of the Bulldogs’ last two combinations worn at Arkansas (M/W/G and W/W/W); plus, all three of the Bulldogs’ wins this year have come in white helmets. Either look would be a good choice in my eyes.
Arkansas will most likely be in their fantastic Darren McFadden era throwback uniforms that they’ve worn in every home game this season. There are two combinations that I think would make sense for Mississippi State to wear in this game: MatteMaroon/White/White and White/White/Gray. M/W/W is the Bulldogs’ most common road look throughout history, and it hasn’t been worn in a regular season game in the Joe Moorhead era; Saturday would be a good time to fix that. Alternatively, W/W/G looked really good in last season’s Egg Bowl win, and would be a mix of the Bulldogs’ last two combinations worn at Arkansas (M/W/G and W/W/W); plus, all three of the Bulldogs’ wins this year have come in white helmets. Either look would be a good choice in my eyes.
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