Coming off of a home sweep of Kentucky, Mississippi State rode its momentum into a road series at Auburn and pulled off yet another impressive SEC series sweep. Since being swept by Arkansas, the Bulldogs have now won 7 straight, including 6 straight over SEC opponents.
The week started out with a midweek matchup against the Southern Jaguars. After wearing both of the usual midweek uniforms- the white 85s and white pins- last weekend against Kentucky, State broke out the cream script "State" uniforms for the first time in a midweek game. I saw this as the equivalent of a rehab stint for the cream uniforms; at 2-3, they were the only uniform with a losing record this season. So it makes sense to break them out for a midweek game against a SWAC school to build some confidence back up.
If that was the plan, it worked perfectly, as State cruised past the Jaguars by a score of 15-1, getting the cream uniforms back to .500 with a 3-3 record. With Tuesday's win, none of Sate's 2021 uniform combinations, hats, jerseys, or pants have a non-winning record.
At Auburn, Friday and Saturday's uniforms were the same as the Bulldogs' previous SEC road series at LSU: maroon 85 jerseys with white pants on Friday and the gray script "State" uniforms on Saturday. I'd still rather see gray pants paired with the maroon jerseys on Friday, but it's not a huge deal- the maroon 85 jerseys still looked amazing regardless, as did the gray script uniforms on Saturday. After the wins on Friday and Saturday, the maroon 85 jerseys improved to 6-2 on the season, including 5-2 when paired with white pants, while the gray script uniforms improved to 2-0 in 2021 and 3-0 all-time.
The big surprise of the weekend came on Sunday, when the Bulldogs announced that they would not be wearing all-black, but would instead be debuting updated gray pinstripe uniforms. Two losses in a row (against LSU and Arkansas), it seems, was enough for the all-black look to lose its every Sunday spot. This broke a streak of twelve consecutive Sunday SEC games in which the Bulldogs had worn all-black; it also broke a six game streak of wearing all black in road SEC games, a streak which coincidentally began in the series at Auburn in 2018. The all-black look still holds an impressive overall record of 25-6, but the momentum just isn't on its side right now; it'll be interesting to see if it returns against Ole Miss next weekend, given that its "magic" began with a walk-off over the Rebels all the way back in 2018.
The gray pinstripe uniforms have undergone a few changes for the 2021 season:
These changes create a noticeably different look from the gray pinstripes that were worn from 2016-2019 (and would've continued to be worn into 2020 had the season not been cut short) but keep that same classic feel. The changes both bring the look in line with the Bulldogs' new white pinstripe uniforms and call back to the Bulldogs' 1999-2004 gray pinstripe vests, which also featured white outlines on the M over S logo and jersey numbers.
Overall, these are the third gray pinstripe uniforms in program history, following the 1999-2004 vests and 2016-2019 jerseys; I'm a huge fan of how these take elements from both historical uniforms and create what I would say is easily the best look of the three. I'm really happy with how they turned out- coach Lemonis and Roger Rodeheaver's passion for detail is on display yet again, and I enjoyed being able to take part in that process.
The week started out with a midweek matchup against the Southern Jaguars. After wearing both of the usual midweek uniforms- the white 85s and white pins- last weekend against Kentucky, State broke out the cream script "State" uniforms for the first time in a midweek game. I saw this as the equivalent of a rehab stint for the cream uniforms; at 2-3, they were the only uniform with a losing record this season. So it makes sense to break them out for a midweek game against a SWAC school to build some confidence back up.
If that was the plan, it worked perfectly, as State cruised past the Jaguars by a score of 15-1, getting the cream uniforms back to .500 with a 3-3 record. With Tuesday's win, none of Sate's 2021 uniform combinations, hats, jerseys, or pants have a non-winning record.
At Auburn, Friday and Saturday's uniforms were the same as the Bulldogs' previous SEC road series at LSU: maroon 85 jerseys with white pants on Friday and the gray script "State" uniforms on Saturday. I'd still rather see gray pants paired with the maroon jerseys on Friday, but it's not a huge deal- the maroon 85 jerseys still looked amazing regardless, as did the gray script uniforms on Saturday. After the wins on Friday and Saturday, the maroon 85 jerseys improved to 6-2 on the season, including 5-2 when paired with white pants, while the gray script uniforms improved to 2-0 in 2021 and 3-0 all-time.
The big surprise of the weekend came on Sunday, when the Bulldogs announced that they would not be wearing all-black, but would instead be debuting updated gray pinstripe uniforms. Two losses in a row (against LSU and Arkansas), it seems, was enough for the all-black look to lose its every Sunday spot. This broke a streak of twelve consecutive Sunday SEC games in which the Bulldogs had worn all-black; it also broke a six game streak of wearing all black in road SEC games, a streak which coincidentally began in the series at Auburn in 2018. The all-black look still holds an impressive overall record of 25-6, but the momentum just isn't on its side right now; it'll be interesting to see if it returns against Ole Miss next weekend, given that its "magic" began with a walk-off over the Rebels all the way back in 2018.
The gray pinstripe uniforms have undergone a few changes for the 2021 season:
- White outlines on the M over S logo and back numbers for improved visibility
- No front number, to create consistency with this season's white pinstripe uniforms
- The full custom university number font rather than the condensed version
- A maroon state of MS on the back rather than silver
- Set-in style pinstripes rather than raglan style
These changes create a noticeably different look from the gray pinstripes that were worn from 2016-2019 (and would've continued to be worn into 2020 had the season not been cut short) but keep that same classic feel. The changes both bring the look in line with the Bulldogs' new white pinstripe uniforms and call back to the Bulldogs' 1999-2004 gray pinstripe vests, which also featured white outlines on the M over S logo and jersey numbers.
Overall, these are the third gray pinstripe uniforms in program history, following the 1999-2004 vests and 2016-2019 jerseys; I'm a huge fan of how these take elements from both historical uniforms and create what I would say is easily the best look of the three. I'm really happy with how they turned out- coach Lemonis and Roger Rodeheaver's passion for detail is on display yet again, and I enjoyed being able to take part in that process.
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After finally seeing them in action on Sunday, I have to say that I am a huge fan of these gray pinstripe uniforms. They are yet another elite uniform option for the Bulldogs. I think they may be my fourth favorite uniform that State wears- below the white 85s, white pins, and maroon 85s, and in the same tier as the cream and gray script "State" uniforms.
The gray pins were previously slotted to be worn in road midweek games and road Saturday game 3s, which would've meant a debut on May 5th at the Citadel and only two total regular season appearances in 2021. Expanding them to that Sunday slot is a huge improvement in my opinion, and I really hope that they are able to overtake that spot on a permanent basis.
The gray pinstripes got off to as good a start as you could possibly ask for, as the Bulldogs scored TEN runs in the top of the 1st inning of Sunday's game with Auburn. As State capped off the sweep with a 19-10 victory, the gray pins officially started off 2021 with a 1-0 record. Through 8 weekends, none of Mississippi State's 7 jerseys or 8 uniform combinations have a losing record. Simply incredible.
The gray pins were previously slotted to be worn in road midweek games and road Saturday game 3s, which would've meant a debut on May 5th at the Citadel and only two total regular season appearances in 2021. Expanding them to that Sunday slot is a huge improvement in my opinion, and I really hope that they are able to overtake that spot on a permanent basis.
The gray pinstripes got off to as good a start as you could possibly ask for, as the Bulldogs scored TEN runs in the top of the 1st inning of Sunday's game with Auburn. As State capped off the sweep with a 19-10 victory, the gray pins officially started off 2021 with a 1-0 record. Through 8 weekends, none of Mississippi State's 7 jerseys or 8 uniform combinations have a losing record. Simply incredible.
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