In its first SEC road game of 2019, Mississippi State traveled to Auburn and left with significantly lower spirits than it entered. This wasn't a game most people expected State to win by any means, but the Bulldogs were completely and dominated Auburn, who they had beaten last year as well as three of the past five years.
For the second consecutive trip to the Plains, and fourth time in the last six trips (2009, 2011, 2017, 2019), Mississippi State wore maroon helmets, white jerseys, and maroon pants. Given Auburn's single home combination of White-Navy-White, it makes sense to go with the M-W-M combination that provides maximum contrast. This was the first time, however, that the M-W-M combination had been worn at Auburn with matte maroon helmets. State had previously wore matte maroon helmets at Auburn in 2013 and 2015, but with white pants.
Saturday was the third time that State had ever worn the MatteMaroon-White-Maroon combination; the previous times were a 2012 win at Troy and a 2015 loss at Texas A&M. This is the first time that the current matte maroon helmets have been worn in this combination; over the past season and a half, they've actually now been worn with all six possible pants/jerseys combinations (M/W, M/M, M/G, W/W, W/M, W/G). This game, however, something was different about the matte helmets.
Finally, after many had been asking for it ever since the helmets were first worn, the silver stripe was removed from the matte maroon helmets for Saturday's game at Auburn. I imagine this was done specifically because the stripe would have badly clashed with the white/silver/white stripes on the maroon pants.
The matte helmet looked as great as I thought it would without the stripe; I wouldn't be shocked if the stripe gets added back at some point, but it definitely shouldn't be. We're one step closer to 2015 matte maroon helmet greatness; make the decals and facemask white and you've got the perfect Mississippi State road helmet.
The matte maroon helmet without the silver stripe is the first new helmet design of 2019, the 23rd helmet design of the now 11-year Adidas Era, and the 42nd helmet design since the switch to plastic helmets in 1949. The graphics below show the history of State's ever-evolving helmet designs. SEC Nation could've probably used such a timeline Saturday morning; they used a variation of the 2012-2014 design that was never even worn in a game.
For the second consecutive trip to the Plains, and fourth time in the last six trips (2009, 2011, 2017, 2019), Mississippi State wore maroon helmets, white jerseys, and maroon pants. Given Auburn's single home combination of White-Navy-White, it makes sense to go with the M-W-M combination that provides maximum contrast. This was the first time, however, that the M-W-M combination had been worn at Auburn with matte maroon helmets. State had previously wore matte maroon helmets at Auburn in 2013 and 2015, but with white pants.
Saturday was the third time that State had ever worn the MatteMaroon-White-Maroon combination; the previous times were a 2012 win at Troy and a 2015 loss at Texas A&M. This is the first time that the current matte maroon helmets have been worn in this combination; over the past season and a half, they've actually now been worn with all six possible pants/jerseys combinations (M/W, M/M, M/G, W/W, W/M, W/G). This game, however, something was different about the matte helmets.
Finally, after many had been asking for it ever since the helmets were first worn, the silver stripe was removed from the matte maroon helmets for Saturday's game at Auburn. I imagine this was done specifically because the stripe would have badly clashed with the white/silver/white stripes on the maroon pants.
The matte helmet looked as great as I thought it would without the stripe; I wouldn't be shocked if the stripe gets added back at some point, but it definitely shouldn't be. We're one step closer to 2015 matte maroon helmet greatness; make the decals and facemask white and you've got the perfect Mississippi State road helmet.
The matte maroon helmet without the silver stripe is the first new helmet design of 2019, the 23rd helmet design of the now 11-year Adidas Era, and the 42nd helmet design since the switch to plastic helmets in 1949. The graphics below show the history of State's ever-evolving helmet designs. SEC Nation could've probably used such a timeline Saturday morning; they used a variation of the 2012-2014 design that was never even worn in a game.
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I said coming to the season, as well as after the combination was announced, Matte-White-Maroon was the only road combination for Mississippi State this season that I couldn't guarantee would be a great look. This was because of three reasons: A. The inconsistent striping patterns (silver vs white/gray/white), B. The matte maroon helmets being noticeably darker than the maroon pants, C. The maroon pants featuring large white stripes while the matte maroon helmets have no white.
Problem A was solved by removing the stripes, so props to whoever made that decision; it made the look flow much better. Problem B was pretty noticeable for the first few drives of the game that were played in daylight, but was negligible once the sun set. Problem C wasn't a huge deal, but white decals and white or maroon facemasks would've definitely improved this particular combination.
Overall, this will probably go down as State's worst road combination of the season, but it certainly wasn't a bad look. M-W-W, M-W-G, W-W-W, and W-W-G are just better; in State's current set, the white jerseys are easily the single best uniform element, and as a result most of the combinations they're worn in are borderline elite. I'm not bashing the M-W-M color combination; I really like it in some situations (I thought it looked really good at Alabama in 2016 and at Auburn in 2017 when worn with shiny maroon helmets), it just isn't as good as the other road combinations in State's current set.
The loss was State's third straight in matte maroon helmets; as noted in last week's headline, the Bulldogs have still only won (and are undefeated in) white helmets this season. State is now 14-15 (.483) in matte maroon helmets all-time, including 4-5 (.444) in the current matte helmets, and obviously 0-1 (.000) when the current matte helmets are worn without the silver stripe.
Problem A was solved by removing the stripes, so props to whoever made that decision; it made the look flow much better. Problem B was pretty noticeable for the first few drives of the game that were played in daylight, but was negligible once the sun set. Problem C wasn't a huge deal, but white decals and white or maroon facemasks would've definitely improved this particular combination.
Overall, this will probably go down as State's worst road combination of the season, but it certainly wasn't a bad look. M-W-W, M-W-G, W-W-W, and W-W-G are just better; in State's current set, the white jerseys are easily the single best uniform element, and as a result most of the combinations they're worn in are borderline elite. I'm not bashing the M-W-M color combination; I really like it in some situations (I thought it looked really good at Alabama in 2016 and at Auburn in 2017 when worn with shiny maroon helmets), it just isn't as good as the other road combinations in State's current set.
The loss was State's third straight in matte maroon helmets; as noted in last week's headline, the Bulldogs have still only won (and are undefeated in) white helmets this season. State is now 14-15 (.483) in matte maroon helmets all-time, including 4-5 (.444) in the current matte helmets, and obviously 0-1 (.000) when the current matte helmets are worn without the silver stripe.
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This weekend, Mississippi State gets to rest up and enjoy the first of two bye weeks; the next game for the Bulldogs is in two weeks on the road at Tennessee. Given that, like Auburn, Tennessee only wears white helmets, it would make sense for State to wear the matte maroon helmets again for that game. That being said, it wouldn't be shocking if they decide to go back to the white helmets that have "worked" so far this season.
I'd love to see the matte maroon helmets remain stripe-less and get paired with the gray pants for the game at Tennessee. I think that combination would potentially be the best Mississippi State has ever worn; even with the stripe it looked incredible at Kentucky last year. State wore the Maroon-White-Gray combination in a win in Knoxville in 1986; it'd be awesome if history repeated itself 33 years later!
I'd love to see the matte maroon helmets remain stripe-less and get paired with the gray pants for the game at Tennessee. I think that combination would potentially be the best Mississippi State has ever worn; even with the stripe it looked incredible at Kentucky last year. State wore the Maroon-White-Gray combination in a win in Knoxville in 1986; it'd be awesome if history repeated itself 33 years later!
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