Mississippi State entered conference play in 2019 in a must-win situation. After a loss to Kansas State last weekend, the Bulldogs faced the possibility of exiting their three-game home stand with a 2-2 (0-1) record, at which point a bowl appearance would start to be in question. However, with the suspended Willie Gay Jr. back (at least for the first half) and true freshman Garrett Shrader making his first career start at QB (grad transfer Tommy Stevens was still not 100%), Mississippi State jumped out ahead early and never looked back, defeating the Wildcats 28-13 to improve to 3-1 on the season and start out SEC play with a win.
After wearing white helmets and white pants in the first two games of the season, Mississippi State switched it up last week and wore matte maroon helmets and gray pants against Kansas State. After an unexpected loss in that game, Mississippi State decided to go back to what worked in the first two games against Kentucky. White/Maroon/White, which was previously worn in the home-opening win over Southern Miss, became the first repeat combination of 2019; after Saturday's win, it is now 2-0 on the season.
Kentucky also opted to go with white helmets and white pants for the 3 PM kickoff. If State had stuck with their original plan of black uniforms in this game, it would've created a "color rush" -esque all-white vs all-black matchup. After State decided to move the black uniforms to the ACU game and go W/M/W against Kentucky, it became a very white-heavy matchup. As it turned out, Mississippi State's maroon jerseys were the only non-white uniform element on the field Saturday afternoon.
To really emphasize the all-white look, Kentucky took the blue stripe off of their helmets for this game and swapped the blue facemask for a white facemask. The result was an exact inverse of the all-blue look the Wildcats wore against State last year; Kentucky last wore this look against Georgia in 2017. In what's kinda the opposite of the issue with State's matte maroon helmets, I actually think Kentucky's white helmets look better in a vacuum with the white facemask and without a stripe, but the blue facesmask and stripe fit the rest of the uniform much better.
Saturday's white helmet on white helmet matchup ended what was a pretty crazy streak in the Mississippi State vs Kentucky matchup. In 24 of the last 34 Mississippi State vs Kentucky games, at least one team has worn white helmets (Kentucky 18 times, State 6 times), but never in the same game. Saturday's game was the first time since 1972 that both Mississippi State and Kentucky wore white helmets against one another.
Not only were both teams wearing white helmets, but both teams were wearing matte white helmets with white facemasks, no center stripe, and shiny metallic logos. The similarities of the helmets was pretty remarkable, and added to the full-on brightness of the matchup in general. I still thought it was a very solid matchup, though not as good as the beautiful M/M/W vs B/W/B matchup in 2017 or M/W/G vs B/B/B matchup last season.
This was also the first time that Mississippi State's current white helmets had been worn against an opponent that was also wearing white helmets. Actually, it's the first time State has ever been involved a white v white helmet matchup when they have multiple helmet options. The Bulldogs participated in 10 white v white helmet matchups when white helmets were the only option from 2004 to 2008, with the most recent being against Tennessee in 2008.
As indicated in the title of this week's recap, the white helmets are undefeated in 2019, with a 3-0 record. Dating back to last season's Egg Bowl, the white helmets have a 4-game on-field winning streak. Overall, the current white helmets now have an 8-5 (.615) on-field record; State is now 10-12 (.455) all-time in alternate white helmets.
After wearing white helmets and white pants in the first two games of the season, Mississippi State switched it up last week and wore matte maroon helmets and gray pants against Kansas State. After an unexpected loss in that game, Mississippi State decided to go back to what worked in the first two games against Kentucky. White/Maroon/White, which was previously worn in the home-opening win over Southern Miss, became the first repeat combination of 2019; after Saturday's win, it is now 2-0 on the season.
Kentucky also opted to go with white helmets and white pants for the 3 PM kickoff. If State had stuck with their original plan of black uniforms in this game, it would've created a "color rush" -esque all-white vs all-black matchup. After State decided to move the black uniforms to the ACU game and go W/M/W against Kentucky, it became a very white-heavy matchup. As it turned out, Mississippi State's maroon jerseys were the only non-white uniform element on the field Saturday afternoon.
To really emphasize the all-white look, Kentucky took the blue stripe off of their helmets for this game and swapped the blue facemask for a white facemask. The result was an exact inverse of the all-blue look the Wildcats wore against State last year; Kentucky last wore this look against Georgia in 2017. In what's kinda the opposite of the issue with State's matte maroon helmets, I actually think Kentucky's white helmets look better in a vacuum with the white facemask and without a stripe, but the blue facesmask and stripe fit the rest of the uniform much better.
Saturday's white helmet on white helmet matchup ended what was a pretty crazy streak in the Mississippi State vs Kentucky matchup. In 24 of the last 34 Mississippi State vs Kentucky games, at least one team has worn white helmets (Kentucky 18 times, State 6 times), but never in the same game. Saturday's game was the first time since 1972 that both Mississippi State and Kentucky wore white helmets against one another.
Not only were both teams wearing white helmets, but both teams were wearing matte white helmets with white facemasks, no center stripe, and shiny metallic logos. The similarities of the helmets was pretty remarkable, and added to the full-on brightness of the matchup in general. I still thought it was a very solid matchup, though not as good as the beautiful M/M/W vs B/W/B matchup in 2017 or M/W/G vs B/B/B matchup last season.
This was also the first time that Mississippi State's current white helmets had been worn against an opponent that was also wearing white helmets. Actually, it's the first time State has ever been involved a white v white helmet matchup when they have multiple helmet options. The Bulldogs participated in 10 white v white helmet matchups when white helmets were the only option from 2004 to 2008, with the most recent being against Tennessee in 2008.
As indicated in the title of this week's recap, the white helmets are undefeated in 2019, with a 3-0 record. Dating back to last season's Egg Bowl, the white helmets have a 4-game on-field winning streak. Overall, the current white helmets now have an 8-5 (.615) on-field record; State is now 10-12 (.455) all-time in alternate white helmets.
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Next week, Mississippi State is back on the road as they travel to Auburn to play in their first night game of the season. Obviously the Bulldogs will be back in white jerseys as they'll be the road team; with Auburn only having white helmets, you'd think State will be back in the matte maroon helmets for the matchup, but that's not set in stone.
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