Prior to Thursday Night, we thought we had seen everything that could possibly happen in the Battle For The Golden Egg. We were wrong; what happened on Thanksgiving night was the wildest ending to an Egg Bowl in the game's history. After scoring what should've been the game-tying touchdown with four seconds left in the game, Ole Miss's Elijah Moore channeled his inner DK Metcalf, getting on all fours, raising his right leg, and pretending to urinate on a fire hydrant as if he were a dog. The resulting 15-yard penalty was applied to the extra point, which after being made significantly harder was missed, allowing Mississippi State to come away with a 21-20 win, their second consecutive Egg Bowl victory. You just have to love it when Ole Miss doing the most Ole Miss thing ever comes back to bite them.
But the piss and the miss has been covered ad-nauseam. Let's talk about something important: uniforms. For the first time since 2014, and fifth time ever, Mississippi State wore gold-accented alternate uniforms against their rivals from up north. The Bulldogs first wore the gold accents in 2011, in a 31-3 win over the Rebels in Starkville; in total, the gold was worn in four consecutive Egg Bowls, with the Bulldogs winning both games in Starkville (2011 and 2013) and losing both games in Oxford (2012 and 2014).
In 2015, no gold was worn for the first time since 2010. The Bulldogs wore White-Maroon-White at home in 2015 and Maroon-Maroon-Gray at home in 2017; both games were losses. Conversely, without the gold in Oxford, Mississippi State won in White-White-White in 2016 and in White-White-Gray in 2018.
Now, in 2019, the gold is back. With Thursday's 21-20 win, Mississippi State is now 3-0 (11, 13, 19) in gold at home, and 0-2 (15, 17) at home without gold this decade. In Oxford, Mississippi State finishes the decade 0-2 in gold (12, 14) and 3-0 without gold (10, 16, 18). I think it seems clear what the move is from here on out, and it's something I've been suggesting for about five years now: wear gold-accented alternates every other year; at home, but not on the road. Do that, and Mississippi State will never lose an Egg Bowl ever again**
But the piss and the miss has been covered ad-nauseam. Let's talk about something important: uniforms. For the first time since 2014, and fifth time ever, Mississippi State wore gold-accented alternate uniforms against their rivals from up north. The Bulldogs first wore the gold accents in 2011, in a 31-3 win over the Rebels in Starkville; in total, the gold was worn in four consecutive Egg Bowls, with the Bulldogs winning both games in Starkville (2011 and 2013) and losing both games in Oxford (2012 and 2014).
In 2015, no gold was worn for the first time since 2010. The Bulldogs wore White-Maroon-White at home in 2015 and Maroon-Maroon-Gray at home in 2017; both games were losses. Conversely, without the gold in Oxford, Mississippi State won in White-White-White in 2016 and in White-White-Gray in 2018.
Now, in 2019, the gold is back. With Thursday's 21-20 win, Mississippi State is now 3-0 (11, 13, 19) in gold at home, and 0-2 (15, 17) at home without gold this decade. In Oxford, Mississippi State finishes the decade 0-2 in gold (12, 14) and 3-0 without gold (10, 16, 18). I think it seems clear what the move is from here on out, and it's something I've been suggesting for about five years now: wear gold-accented alternates every other year; at home, but not on the road. Do that, and Mississippi State will never lose an Egg Bowl ever again**
This year's gold-accented uniforms were most similar to the 2013 design, with gold foil numbers and only a small amount of white throughout the uniforms. The 2019 versions feature double gold stripes on the sleeves and pants, making them the first Egg Bowl uniforms to actually be consistent the rest of the Bulldogs' uniform set, which is a major plus. The uniforms also featured a small amount of black, with a fading black to maroon gradient on both the sleeves and bottom of the pants; when the replicas were first released, I was worried that the black might be a problem, but it was hardly noticeable on the field and not significantly detrimental.
Arguably, the most interesting part about the Egg Bowl uniforms were the helmets. For the first time since September 1st 2018 against Stephen F. Austin, the first game of the Joe Moorhead Era, Mississippi State wore shiny maroon helmets in an actual game! After being entirely replaced by the matte maroon helmets for the majority of the past two seasons, it was very nice to see the shiny maroon lids back on the field and in action once again. That being said, this was a weird time to bring them back, and it raises a few questions.
The shiny maroon helmets kept their regular white facemasks, but the white M-State decals were replaced with gold decals. Both of these design decisions were questioned multiple times by people in my mentions on twitter; the gold decals were barley visible on the shiny maroon shells and the white facemasks clashed with the rest of the uniform's near entire lack of white (though they did somewhat match the CFB150 patch). However, I was okay with overlooking these critiques as I was just so happy to see the shiny maroon helmets back in action.
The odd thing here is that this, of all games, is one where the matte maroon helmets might've made more sense. Swap out the silver on the matte maroon helmets with gold, and you have a helmet that has clearly identifiable marks and is consistent with the rest of the uniform. That being said, I did like how the shiny-ness of the helmets matched the shiny-ness of the gold numbers, so maybe that's what they were going for.
The last thing I will say on the shiny maroon helmets before moving on: If they're available now, then where the hell have they been all season? Wearing these against either USM or Kentucky and against Kansas State, Auburn, and Alabama would've instantly improved every single one of those games. If Mississippi State is the home team in its bowl game and doesn't wear shiny maroon helmets with maroon jerseys and white pants, then they need to seriously re-evaluate the combination selection process.
Overall, this year's Egg Bowl uniforms were yet another solid alternate for Mississippi State; along with last year's gray "Statesman" uniforms and last week's black "TK Martin" uniforms, the Bulldogs have now worn three consecutive above-average alternate uniforms! Given State's rocky history with alternate uniform design, that's something that everyone involved should be very proud of!
Arguably, the most interesting part about the Egg Bowl uniforms were the helmets. For the first time since September 1st 2018 against Stephen F. Austin, the first game of the Joe Moorhead Era, Mississippi State wore shiny maroon helmets in an actual game! After being entirely replaced by the matte maroon helmets for the majority of the past two seasons, it was very nice to see the shiny maroon lids back on the field and in action once again. That being said, this was a weird time to bring them back, and it raises a few questions.
The shiny maroon helmets kept their regular white facemasks, but the white M-State decals were replaced with gold decals. Both of these design decisions were questioned multiple times by people in my mentions on twitter; the gold decals were barley visible on the shiny maroon shells and the white facemasks clashed with the rest of the uniform's near entire lack of white (though they did somewhat match the CFB150 patch). However, I was okay with overlooking these critiques as I was just so happy to see the shiny maroon helmets back in action.
The odd thing here is that this, of all games, is one where the matte maroon helmets might've made more sense. Swap out the silver on the matte maroon helmets with gold, and you have a helmet that has clearly identifiable marks and is consistent with the rest of the uniform. That being said, I did like how the shiny-ness of the helmets matched the shiny-ness of the gold numbers, so maybe that's what they were going for.
The last thing I will say on the shiny maroon helmets before moving on: If they're available now, then where the hell have they been all season? Wearing these against either USM or Kentucky and against Kansas State, Auburn, and Alabama would've instantly improved every single one of those games. If Mississippi State is the home team in its bowl game and doesn't wear shiny maroon helmets with maroon jerseys and white pants, then they need to seriously re-evaluate the combination selection process.
Overall, this year's Egg Bowl uniforms were yet another solid alternate for Mississippi State; along with last year's gray "Statesman" uniforms and last week's black "TK Martin" uniforms, the Bulldogs have now worn three consecutive above-average alternate uniforms! Given State's rocky history with alternate uniform design, that's something that everyone involved should be very proud of!
Ole Miss wore Navy/White/Gray for their third consecutive trip to Starkville; the Rebels have actually worn that color combination in eleven of their last twelve games in Starkville, with the exception being when they went Navy/White/White with heavy navy accents in 2013.
For history on Egg Bowl uniform matchups dating back to 1969, click here!
The Egg Bowl was the third time in 2019 that Mississippi State has paired maroon jerseys with maroon pants. In fact, they've now done it with three different helmets for the first time ever in a single season: white helmets against LSU, matte maroon helmets against Alabama, and now shiny maroon helmets against Ole Miss. The win improved the Bulldogs to 1-2 on the season in mono-maroon and 22-15 since 1954.
For history on Egg Bowl uniform matchups dating back to 1969, click here!
The Egg Bowl was the third time in 2019 that Mississippi State has paired maroon jerseys with maroon pants. In fact, they've now done it with three different helmets for the first time ever in a single season: white helmets against LSU, matte maroon helmets against Alabama, and now shiny maroon helmets against Ole Miss. The win improved the Bulldogs to 1-2 on the season in mono-maroon and 22-15 since 1954.
That's a wrap on the 2019 regular season, as the Bulldogs have finished 6-6, winning the Egg Bowl for the second consecutive season and clinching their 10th straight bowl berth!
State will find out its bowl destination next Sunday; the four most likely destinations are the Liberty (Memphis), Music City (Nashville), Texas (Houston), and Belk (Charlotte) Bowls. The SEC team is the home team in the Liberty and Belk bowls, and the away team in the Music City and Texas bowls.
State will find out its bowl destination next Sunday; the four most likely destinations are the Liberty (Memphis), Music City (Nashville), Texas (Houston), and Belk (Charlotte) Bowls. The SEC team is the home team in the Liberty and Belk bowls, and the away team in the Music City and Texas bowls.