Mississippi State broke a four game losing streak and won its second game of the 2020 season this past weekend, defeating the Vanderbilt Commodores on a Homecoming Saturday afternoon.
This year's homecoming game was a special time for many Mississippi State fans, as the popular "Flying M" logo returned to the Bulldogs' helmets for the first time in 49 years. The Bulldogs wore era-accurate throwback uniforms for the first time ever, bringing back the entire 1969-1971 home uniform, translated to a modern template. Mississippi State's Director of Football Equipment Preston "Stick" Rogers and staff did a fantastic job getting all of the details right with this uniform.
Those details, taken directly from the 1969 to 1971 uniforms, include:
Some additional details that were added for the 2020 version of these uniforms:
This was a fantastic week for content at Mississippi State, with plenty of great throwback stories, stats, and memories being brought back regarding the "Flying M" logo, which was first worn on maroon helmets in 1966 and then worn on white helmets from 1969 to 1971. A great example is this article on hailstate.com about Don Saget, a former Mississippi State quarterback who wore the Flying M in 1966 and went on to work in the aerospace industry at NASA. These colorized photographs are pure awesomeness, as is this clip from the 1971 homecoming game.
This was the week that the @MSUhistory twitter account, which has always featured the Flying M in its profile picture, has been waiting for its entire existence. He was putting out great content all weekend, including RT'ing lots of historical Flying M photos and tidbits, as well as tweeting out stats regarding the Flying M helmets before, during, and after the game. Highly recommend checking out his tweets from this weekend if you haven't already.
Some of my favorite stats that @MSUhistory tweeted out this weekend:
Mississippi State's opponent for this year's homecoming game was Vanderbilt; the Commodores are one of the SEC teams that Mississippi State plays the least, though when they do, they usually find success. After Saturday's win, Mississippi State is now 12-2 against Vanderbilt since 1972. This was the Bulldogs' fourth consecutive win over the Commodores, succeeding wins at home in 2008 and 2014 and a win in Nashville in 2009.
Vanderbilt wore its matte black helmets, white jerseys, and black pants in Starkville, which was probably the best selection they could've made, as it created a nice dark/light/dark vs light/dark/light contrast with Mississippi State's white/maroon/white throwback look. It was the first time that Vanderbilt had worn black/white/black in Starkville since 1981, when they were defeated 29-9 by the Bulldogs. On a similar historical note, it was the first time that Mississippi State had worn the Flying M logo against Vanderbilt since 1971, which was actually the Commodores' only-ever win in Starkville. The Bulldogs had defeated Vanderbilt in the Flying M helmets once before, in Memphis in 1970.
This game marked the first time all season that the Bulldogs had not worn their traditional gloss-finished maroon helmets. State has now worn white helmets in six consecutive seasons; the Bulldogs had worn the same white helmet design, with white facemasks and a metallic M-State logo, for each of the last five seasons. This was the first time that State had worn white helmets with a maroon stripe since 2008, the first time with the large two-inch numbers on the back since 2002, and the first time with gray facemasks since 1972 (though silver facemasks were worn with the "Snow Bowl" helmets in 2012). The Bulldogs are now 12-15 (.444) in alternate white helmets since 2000.
This year's homecoming game was a special time for many Mississippi State fans, as the popular "Flying M" logo returned to the Bulldogs' helmets for the first time in 49 years. The Bulldogs wore era-accurate throwback uniforms for the first time ever, bringing back the entire 1969-1971 home uniform, translated to a modern template. Mississippi State's Director of Football Equipment Preston "Stick" Rogers and staff did a fantastic job getting all of the details right with this uniform.
Those details, taken directly from the 1969 to 1971 uniforms, include:
- White helmets with gray facemasks, a single maroon stripe, the "Flying M" logo on both sides, and two-inch numbers on the back.
- Maroon jerseys with block numbers on the front, back, and shoulders, with double white stripes on the sleeves.
- White pants with double maroon stripes down each side.
Some additional details that were added for the 2020 version of these uniforms:
- A decal on the back of the helmets featuring both the American flag as well as the new flag of the State of Mississippi, which was adopted by a statewide vote earlier in the week. Former Mississippi State running back Kylin Hill was one of the leading voices in the removal of the previous flag. In a moving moment, Starkville native and Mississippi State defensive lineman Kobe Jones carried the flag as the team ran out onto the field on Saturday. The "Stronger Together" decal was also worn on the back of the helmets, as it has been all season. The front helmet bumper featured a smaller Flying M, which was a cool detail, while the back helmet bumper featured the "Bulldogs" wordmark that has been on the back helmet bumpers for the last few seasons.
- When the "Flying M" logo was originally worn on the helmets in 1966 and again from 1969 to 1971, it featured a 3D, drop-shadow style outline. However, the logo worn on Saturday featured a more simple logo with no such outline. Even though it's not 100% historically accurate, I think this was the correct decision; the 2d logo is cleaner and more well-defined. And it's possible that it could still be historically accurate; helmet logos and the such were notoriously inconsistent around that time, so it's possible that both the 2d and 3d versions of the logo were worn at times.
- The jerseys and pants featured modern requirements such as the SEC and Adidas patches; the jerseys also featured player names on the back and contrasting white collars, neither of which were present on the original uniforms (though the contrasting collars were reminiscent of the neck rolls worn by some players with the original uniforms), but both of which made the look more complete on a modern template.
This was a fantastic week for content at Mississippi State, with plenty of great throwback stories, stats, and memories being brought back regarding the "Flying M" logo, which was first worn on maroon helmets in 1966 and then worn on white helmets from 1969 to 1971. A great example is this article on hailstate.com about Don Saget, a former Mississippi State quarterback who wore the Flying M in 1966 and went on to work in the aerospace industry at NASA. These colorized photographs are pure awesomeness, as is this clip from the 1971 homecoming game.
This was the week that the @MSUhistory twitter account, which has always featured the Flying M in its profile picture, has been waiting for its entire existence. He was putting out great content all weekend, including RT'ing lots of historical Flying M photos and tidbits, as well as tweeting out stats regarding the Flying M helmets before, during, and after the game. Highly recommend checking out his tweets from this weekend if you haven't already.
Some of my favorite stats that @MSUhistory tweeted out this weekend:
- This was the first game in the Flying M helmets at Scott Field since November 25, 1971; it was only the 11th game in which the logo had been worn on the field in Starkville, and 9th time in which it had appeared on white helmets. The win improved the Bulldogs to 7-4 white wearing the logo at home, and 5-4 when wearing it on a white helmet at home.
- Brandon Ruiz's field goal on Saturday was the first one made in a Flying M helmet since November 6, 1971, when Glen Ellis made a 23-yarder against LSU in Jackson on November 13, 1971.
- Will Rogers’ TD pass to Osirus Mitchell was the first Mississippi State TD win a Flying M helmet since Billy Baker hit Bill Buckley for a late TD against Auburn on November 6, 1971.
- Saturday's win was the first home SEC win IN SCHOOL HISTORY while wearing the Flying M helmets. State only played 3 home SEC games total in 1966, 69, 70, and 71, losing all 3.
Mississippi State's opponent for this year's homecoming game was Vanderbilt; the Commodores are one of the SEC teams that Mississippi State plays the least, though when they do, they usually find success. After Saturday's win, Mississippi State is now 12-2 against Vanderbilt since 1972. This was the Bulldogs' fourth consecutive win over the Commodores, succeeding wins at home in 2008 and 2014 and a win in Nashville in 2009.
Vanderbilt wore its matte black helmets, white jerseys, and black pants in Starkville, which was probably the best selection they could've made, as it created a nice dark/light/dark vs light/dark/light contrast with Mississippi State's white/maroon/white throwback look. It was the first time that Vanderbilt had worn black/white/black in Starkville since 1981, when they were defeated 29-9 by the Bulldogs. On a similar historical note, it was the first time that Mississippi State had worn the Flying M logo against Vanderbilt since 1971, which was actually the Commodores' only-ever win in Starkville. The Bulldogs had defeated Vanderbilt in the Flying M helmets once before, in Memphis in 1970.
This game marked the first time all season that the Bulldogs had not worn their traditional gloss-finished maroon helmets. State has now worn white helmets in six consecutive seasons; the Bulldogs had worn the same white helmet design, with white facemasks and a metallic M-State logo, for each of the last five seasons. This was the first time that State had worn white helmets with a maroon stripe since 2008, the first time with the large two-inch numbers on the back since 2002, and the first time with gray facemasks since 1972 (though silver facemasks were worn with the "Snow Bowl" helmets in 2012). The Bulldogs are now 12-15 (.444) in alternate white helmets since 2000.
The Bulldogs were scheduled to wear an all-black alternate look against Auburn this upcoming weekend, per a teaser video released two weeks ago; the replica jerseys have been on sale in the weeks since. The teaser appeared to show the first black helmets in program history- and that was seemingly confirmed this past Sunday night when a player posted a picture of the new black shells on his snapchat story.
However, due to a COVID-19 outbreak within the Mississippi State team, this Saturday's game against Auburn has been postponed until the end of the season and will now take place on December 12th. As a result, the Bulldogs' next game is now on November 21st at Georgia. For that game, I would expect to see the Bulldogs back in maroon helmets and white jerseys, but the pants color is really up in the air. I would not be surprised all to see the maroon or gray pants make their 2020 road debuts; personally I would love to see the gray pants worn against Georgia's silver britches to create a very nice, traditional matchup. We'll find out in a couple weeks, assuming that game is able to be played.
However, due to a COVID-19 outbreak within the Mississippi State team, this Saturday's game against Auburn has been postponed until the end of the season and will now take place on December 12th. As a result, the Bulldogs' next game is now on November 21st at Georgia. For that game, I would expect to see the Bulldogs back in maroon helmets and white jerseys, but the pants color is really up in the air. I would not be surprised all to see the maroon or gray pants make their 2020 road debuts; personally I would love to see the gray pants worn against Georgia's silver britches to create a very nice, traditional matchup. We'll find out in a couple weeks, assuming that game is able to be played.
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