Mississippi State traveled up to Oxford on Saturday, taking a still-depleted roster to face Ole Miss in what is always a heated rivalry matchup. The Bulldogs fought hard, keeping the game in reach up until the final play, but ultimately fell by a score of 24-31 as Ole Miss re-claimed the Golden Egg for the first time since 2017.
This year's Egg Bowl featured a somewhat unique uniform matchup, with Mississippi State debuting a brand new white helmet design and Ole Miss wearing a color combination that had never before been worn in an Egg Bowl.
This year's Egg Bowl featured a somewhat unique uniform matchup, with Mississippi State debuting a brand new white helmet design and Ole Miss wearing a color combination that had never before been worn in an Egg Bowl.
Mississippi State wore all-white for the first time this season in Saturday's Egg Bowl, pairing the standard white jerseys and pants with a brand new white helmet design. State had previously worn white helmets this season with its "Flying M" throwbacks, which were worn in the homecoming win over Vanderbilt. Those helmets featured the Flying M logo, matte white shells, gray facemasks, a single maroon stripe, and large maroon numbers on the back. This was a departure from the white helmet design that had been worn from 2015 to 2019, which featured a chrome M-State logo, matte white shells, white facemasks, and no stripe.
The helmets worn in this year's Egg Bowl were a mixture of the Flying M and 2015-2019 designs, keeping the gray facemasks, single maroon stripe, and large back numbers from the Flying M design but switching to the modern M-State logo on the side. The decals from 2015-2019 were not simply slapped on; new non-chrome decals were ordered to make the look more consistent with the stripe + numbers.
At first glance, I wasn't sure about this mash-up of eras design, but after seeing more of it, it quickly grew on me, and I think it was a really good look for this game. I've been curious about seeing gray facemasks on the white helmets for a couple seasons now, and that looked as good if not better than anticipated. The large numbers on the back looked cool and gave off some really nice old-school vibes, but I don't know that it's something I would want full time. I can give or take the stripe; it doesn't really match the rest of the uniform but it looked good with this helmet in a vacuum. If we wanted to keep a stripe on the white helmets full time, maybe a maroon/gray/maroon stripe would be something to try out? Gray facemasks, the non-chrome decals, and a maroon/gray/maroon stripe might be a full-time white helmet design I could get behind.
This was the first time that State had worn white helmets with a maroon stripe and a version of the M-State logo since the 2004-2008 Croom era helmets. Similarly, the Bulldogs' 2000-2002 white alternate helmets featured a single maroon stripe and large maroon numbers on the back, albeit with the interlocking MSU. As a result, this year's Egg Bowl uniform matchup was reminiscent of both the 2004 and 2002 matchups, in both of which State wore all-white and Ole Miss wore navy jerseys.
This was the third consecutive trip to Oxford that State had worn white helmets; the Bulldogs had won in all-white in 2016 and in white-white-gray in 2018. Prior to that State, had lost in gold-accented alternates in 2012 and 2014 and won in maroon-white-white in 2010. So Saturday's loss was the first in Oxford in regular, devoid of gold uniforms since 2008. This broke the decade-long trend of being undefeated in gold in Starkville and undefeated when not wearing gold in Oxford.
The helmets worn in this year's Egg Bowl were a mixture of the Flying M and 2015-2019 designs, keeping the gray facemasks, single maroon stripe, and large back numbers from the Flying M design but switching to the modern M-State logo on the side. The decals from 2015-2019 were not simply slapped on; new non-chrome decals were ordered to make the look more consistent with the stripe + numbers.
At first glance, I wasn't sure about this mash-up of eras design, but after seeing more of it, it quickly grew on me, and I think it was a really good look for this game. I've been curious about seeing gray facemasks on the white helmets for a couple seasons now, and that looked as good if not better than anticipated. The large numbers on the back looked cool and gave off some really nice old-school vibes, but I don't know that it's something I would want full time. I can give or take the stripe; it doesn't really match the rest of the uniform but it looked good with this helmet in a vacuum. If we wanted to keep a stripe on the white helmets full time, maybe a maroon/gray/maroon stripe would be something to try out? Gray facemasks, the non-chrome decals, and a maroon/gray/maroon stripe might be a full-time white helmet design I could get behind.
This was the first time that State had worn white helmets with a maroon stripe and a version of the M-State logo since the 2004-2008 Croom era helmets. Similarly, the Bulldogs' 2000-2002 white alternate helmets featured a single maroon stripe and large maroon numbers on the back, albeit with the interlocking MSU. As a result, this year's Egg Bowl uniform matchup was reminiscent of both the 2004 and 2002 matchups, in both of which State wore all-white and Ole Miss wore navy jerseys.
This was the third consecutive trip to Oxford that State had worn white helmets; the Bulldogs had won in all-white in 2016 and in white-white-gray in 2018. Prior to that State, had lost in gold-accented alternates in 2012 and 2014 and won in maroon-white-white in 2010. So Saturday's loss was the first in Oxford in regular, devoid of gold uniforms since 2008. This broke the decade-long trend of being undefeated in gold in Starkville and undefeated when not wearing gold in Oxford.
Ole Miss wore navy jerseys against Mississippi State for the first time in a decade on Saturday. The Rebels had worn navy helmets, red jerseys, and gray pants in each of the last four Egg Bowls; the combination had worked well for the Rebels in 2012 and 2014, but the 2016 and 2018 games saw domination by Mississippi State, who outscored Ole Miss by a combined score of 90-23 in those games. It makes sense, then, that the Rebels would want to switch things up.
Prior to 2012, Ole Miss had worn navy jerseys and gray pants in six consecutive Egg Bowls, from 2000 to 2010, winning all but the final game in that stretch. The Rebels had only worn white pants in one prior Egg Bowl, the 2013 game in which Mississippi State won in overtime thanks to a Dak Prescott led comeback and infamous Bo Wallace fumble. That game also featured navy-heavy white jerseys, and as a result was the most comparable look to what the Rebels wore on Saturday. According to Randy Morgan of Ole Miss Unis, the Rebels had only worn navy-navy-white twice prior to this weekend- in a 2013 win over Troy and a loss to Alabama earlier this season.
Prior to 2012, Ole Miss had worn navy jerseys and gray pants in six consecutive Egg Bowls, from 2000 to 2010, winning all but the final game in that stretch. The Rebels had only worn white pants in one prior Egg Bowl, the 2013 game in which Mississippi State won in overtime thanks to a Dak Prescott led comeback and infamous Bo Wallace fumble. That game also featured navy-heavy white jerseys, and as a result was the most comparable look to what the Rebels wore on Saturday. According to Randy Morgan of Ole Miss Unis, the Rebels had only worn navy-navy-white twice prior to this weekend- in a 2013 win over Troy and a loss to Alabama earlier this season.
As I mentioned at the end of last week's column, State has had a fantastic year of uniform selection.
In eight games, maroon helmets have been worn six times, three times each with maroon and white jerseys, both of which can be further broken down into being worn twice with white pants and once with maroon pants. White helmets have been worn twice, with maroon and white jerseys once each and with white pants both times.
In the next scheduled game, vs Auburn on December 12th, the Bulldogs have already announced that they are wearing all-black alternates, which are to include the first black helmets in program history.
That leaves only one more regular season game in which the combination is unknown. That game is against Missouri, and though it doesn't currently have a scheduled date, it will presumably be played on December 19th. The combination that I really want to see for that game is maroon-maroon-gray; the gray pants have not yet seen the field in 2020, and their absence in really the only thing holding me back from calling this a near-perfect uniform season. I would be very disappointed if they have been removed from the lineup for some reason; they're one of State's strongest looks and I hope to see them against Missouri and, if things go well, maybe even in a bowl game.
In eight games, maroon helmets have been worn six times, three times each with maroon and white jerseys, both of which can be further broken down into being worn twice with white pants and once with maroon pants. White helmets have been worn twice, with maroon and white jerseys once each and with white pants both times.
In the next scheduled game, vs Auburn on December 12th, the Bulldogs have already announced that they are wearing all-black alternates, which are to include the first black helmets in program history.
That leaves only one more regular season game in which the combination is unknown. That game is against Missouri, and though it doesn't currently have a scheduled date, it will presumably be played on December 19th. The combination that I really want to see for that game is maroon-maroon-gray; the gray pants have not yet seen the field in 2020, and their absence in really the only thing holding me back from calling this a near-perfect uniform season. I would be very disappointed if they have been removed from the lineup for some reason; they're one of State's strongest looks and I hope to see them against Missouri and, if things go well, maybe even in a bowl game.
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