On New Year's Eve in Fort Worth, TX, Mississippi State's 2020 football season came to a close as the Bulldogs picked up a 28-26 win over top-25 Tulsa in the 2020 Armed Forces Bowl. Postgame brawl aside, it was a good ending to what was an up-and-down first season for Mike Leach in Starkville. Finishing on a two game winning streak and winning their first bowl game since 2017 is something that the Bulldogs should be able to build on for 2021!
For the third time in what is now an 11-game bowl streak, Mississippi State wore all-maroon uniforms for this year's Armed Forces Bowl. It was the second time this season that the Bulldogs had worn the combination this season- it had previously been worn in the fourth game of the season against Texas A&M. Of course, the bowl game look differed in that it included the Armed Forces Bowl patch, which was placed above the Adidas logo on the left chest. It was the second year in a row- but only the fourth time ever- that the bowl patch had been placed on the Bulldogs' left chest, following the 2019 Music City Bowl and 1993/1995 Peach Bowls. Every other time that Bulldogs have worn a bowl patch, it has either been on the right chest, shoulder tops, or sleeve.
State had previously worn all-maroon in the 2016 St. Petersburg Bowl, 2013 Liberty Bowl, and 1941 Orange Bowl, all of which were wins. With the Armed Forces Bowl victory over Tulsa, the Bulldogs are now 4-0 all time when wearing all-maroon in bowl games. Additionally, State wore white-maroon-maroon in the 2007 Liberty Bowl; counting that, the Bulldogs are now on a 5-game winning streak when wearing both maroon jerseys and maroon pants in the bowl game. The only time that the Bulldogs have lost a bowl game when doing so was the 1937 Orange Bowl, when they wore maroon jerseys, maroon pants, and non-maroon leather helmets.
Despite home/away designations in bowl games being essentially arbitrary, Mississippi State has historically performed much better as the "home" team and in maroon jerseys. That held true to this year, as the Bulldogs picked up another bowl win in maroon. State has won 7 straight bowl games when wearing maroon jerseys, dating back to the 1999 Peach Bowl, and has an 11-2 overall record in maroon in bowl games. Conversely, the Bulldogs have lost 4 consecutive bowl games in white jerseys, including both of the Joe Moorhead bowl games, dating back to the 2013 Gator Bowl, and totaling a 3-8 overall record.
For the third time in what is now an 11-game bowl streak, Mississippi State wore all-maroon uniforms for this year's Armed Forces Bowl. It was the second time this season that the Bulldogs had worn the combination this season- it had previously been worn in the fourth game of the season against Texas A&M. Of course, the bowl game look differed in that it included the Armed Forces Bowl patch, which was placed above the Adidas logo on the left chest. It was the second year in a row- but only the fourth time ever- that the bowl patch had been placed on the Bulldogs' left chest, following the 2019 Music City Bowl and 1993/1995 Peach Bowls. Every other time that Bulldogs have worn a bowl patch, it has either been on the right chest, shoulder tops, or sleeve.
State had previously worn all-maroon in the 2016 St. Petersburg Bowl, 2013 Liberty Bowl, and 1941 Orange Bowl, all of which were wins. With the Armed Forces Bowl victory over Tulsa, the Bulldogs are now 4-0 all time when wearing all-maroon in bowl games. Additionally, State wore white-maroon-maroon in the 2007 Liberty Bowl; counting that, the Bulldogs are now on a 5-game winning streak when wearing both maroon jerseys and maroon pants in the bowl game. The only time that the Bulldogs have lost a bowl game when doing so was the 1937 Orange Bowl, when they wore maroon jerseys, maroon pants, and non-maroon leather helmets.
Despite home/away designations in bowl games being essentially arbitrary, Mississippi State has historically performed much better as the "home" team and in maroon jerseys. That held true to this year, as the Bulldogs picked up another bowl win in maroon. State has won 7 straight bowl games when wearing maroon jerseys, dating back to the 1999 Peach Bowl, and has an 11-2 overall record in maroon in bowl games. Conversely, the Bulldogs have lost 4 consecutive bowl games in white jerseys, including both of the Joe Moorhead bowl games, dating back to the 2013 Gator Bowl, and totaling a 3-8 overall record.
Tulsa wore white helmets with an American Flag design on the script "Tulsa" decals in the Armed Forces Bowl. Teams have commonly worn such helmet decals in both the Armed Forces and Military Bowls; in last year's matchup, Southern Miss wore a similar American Flag design while Tulane sublimated a camoflauge pattern over their decals and stripes.
Mississippi State elected not to adhere to this trend- that may have been due to the short, week-and-a-half turnaround time, but I think it's a great thing that we didn't. I can't imagine such a design would work well with the M-State logo. Instead, the Bulldogs brought back the helmet stickers from this season's Military Appreciation game against Auburn. This included one sticker with a circular logo for either a branch of the US Military or National Guard, while the other was a square-shaped camouflage sticker with black lettering that read “We Salute Our Military.” These decals were perfect for the Armed Forces Bowl- nothing gaudy or attention-seeking, but instead clearly honorary and meaningful.
Mississippi State elected not to adhere to this trend- that may have been due to the short, week-and-a-half turnaround time, but I think it's a great thing that we didn't. I can't imagine such a design would work well with the M-State logo. Instead, the Bulldogs brought back the helmet stickers from this season's Military Appreciation game against Auburn. This included one sticker with a circular logo for either a branch of the US Military or National Guard, while the other was a square-shaped camouflage sticker with black lettering that read “We Salute Our Military.” These decals were perfect for the Armed Forces Bowl- nothing gaudy or attention-seeking, but instead clearly honorary and meaningful.
Admittedly, all-maroon isn't my favorite combination that Mississippi State wears, but in the current set, it's a solid look. It's certainly come a long way from the 2016 look with mis-matched stripes and colors!
With that in mind, I want to take this as an opportunity to thank everyone who's helped get Mississippi State's football uniforms to this point, from Adidas to the athletic department to the hard-working equipment managers. The Bulldogs have a very crisp, clean look, and they did a great job with combination selection this season. I'll touch more on this in the season recap next week, but I think it's important to re-iterate how great of a job the EQ guys have done keeping things rolling during the midst of a global pandemic. Because not only did State keep things rolling, but they had one of the better uniform seasons in recent memory- and that's a credit to everyone involved.
I'm going to close this recap with the updated version of the bowl game uniform history graphic. You can check out the Bowl Game History page for more!
With that in mind, I want to take this as an opportunity to thank everyone who's helped get Mississippi State's football uniforms to this point, from Adidas to the athletic department to the hard-working equipment managers. The Bulldogs have a very crisp, clean look, and they did a great job with combination selection this season. I'll touch more on this in the season recap next week, but I think it's important to re-iterate how great of a job the EQ guys have done keeping things rolling during the midst of a global pandemic. Because not only did State keep things rolling, but they had one of the better uniform seasons in recent memory- and that's a credit to everyone involved.
I'm going to close this recap with the updated version of the bowl game uniform history graphic. You can check out the Bowl Game History page for more!
This week's relevant Hail State Unis Database links:
- History in Bowl Games
- History in Bowl Games in Gloss Maroon Helmets
- History in Bowl Games in Maroon/Maroon/Maroon
- History in Bowl Games in *Gloss*Maroon/Maroon/Maroon
- History in Bowl Games in Maroon Jerseys and Maroon Pants
- History in Gloss Maroon Helmets
- History in Maroon/Maroon/Maroon
- History in *Gloss*Maroon/Maroon/Maroon
- History in Maroon Jerseys and Maroon Pants
- 2020 Season
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