The Wednesday Wrap: Power ranking Mississippi State football’s best logos

Welcome to the newest weekly column here covering Mississippi State football (and more) at Maroon and White Nation, The Wednesday Wrap!

When Ethan Lee asked me if I would be interested in rejoining Maroon and White Nation to discuss all things Mississippi State football (and more), I told him I could do a once a week post. This was back in June and I have proceeded to write exactly one post since that time.

That all changes starting this week.

We are getting ever so close to the start of a new Mississippi State football season, and the excitement around a new season of college football is palpable. And now that we are almost done with the thing I hate most about blogging, offseason coverage, I wanted to start actually contributing to this site.

Every Wednesday, I will post a new Wednesday Wrap where I tell you what I’ve been wondering in relation to Mississippi State football (and more), what I have been watching (and shamelessly plug my podcast), and what I have been whistling to. See all those Ws? I love me some alliteration.

So without further adieu, let’s get into it!

What I have been wondering…

If you didn’t hear, the Mississippi State football team announced their throwback game yesterday. The Bulldogs normally have one game a year where they do something snazzy with their uniforms, and this year, they’re giving the fans what they want with the return of the Interlocking MSU. If you missed it, I have you covered.

The Mississippi State football team will be remembering the 1998 team, the lone Mississippi State football squad to win the west and make it to Atlanta. It was a fun year, and it was also a very different time in the SEC.

I can’t imagine an 8-3 team winning the west ever again, but such was the case in 1998.

The 1998 season was the third season the Bulldogs wore the interlocking MSU. It was the trademark logo for football from 1996 until 2003. Ever since then, it’s been all Banner M. This season, the Bulldogs plan to use the Script State logo as their primary helmet logo.

All this logo talk got me wondering what is the best Mississippi State logo? So I decided to come up with my own personal ranking of Mississippi State logos. Please do not argue. This is the definitive list. No other list can compare.

The Top 5 Mississippi State football logos

No. 5: The Flying M

The Flying M comes in at number five for me.

It’s one of the most unique logos Mississippi State has ever used. It has a cult following among Mississippi State fans, and there are many people who would put this logo at the top of their list, and those people would be wrong. It’s okay to be wrong sometimes.

If you’re unfamiliar with the logo, let me share this video with you when Mississippi State used it as their throwback game a few years ago.

I like the flying M, but there is no other logo that we have ever used that you could undeniably know what era it came from. That thing screams, “I’m from the late 60s and early 70s!” It looks good on a hat, but you start getting any bigger than that, and the appeal goes way down.

No. 4: Walking Bully

I really like the Walking Bully. It’s an underrated logo in my opinion. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, here is a t-shirt with the Walking Bully logo.

The biggest mark against Walking Bully is I don’t know that we have ever worn it on an actual uniform. If we have, feel free to correct me. But it wouldn’t look great on a uniform, so it has to go lower.

No. 3: 1996 Interlocking MSU

Hot take alert!

I like the Interlocking MSU. It’s great, but it isn’t my favorite. If Mississippi State ever decides to go back to it, you will hear no complaints from me. It is far better than the Banner M. My site expert (we don’t have editors here at FanSided, we have site experts, get on our level) Ethan Lee would call me an “old” and say I’m being caught up in nostalgia.

My response:

GET OFF MY LAWN!

The biggest con against the Interlocking MSU is the branding aspect. If you ask any random person outside the Southeast what school MSU is, they’ll normally say Michigan State. MSU isn’t strong branding for the Bulldogs, and for that reason, it can’t be at the top of the list.

No. 2: 1986 Interlocking MSU

Another hot take!

I like the original interlocking MSU better than the new one that was released in 1996. I like the big blocky letters. Am I alone in this? Probably. Do I care? Not even a little bit.

The problem with this one is the same as the 96 Interlocking MSU. Branding Mississippi State as MSU really doesn’t work.

No. 1: The Script State

I love the Script State logo. It is going to be the primary football logo for the upcoming Mississippi State football season. If you missed that announcement, here it is.

https://twitter.com/HailStateFB/status/1681091414610853889?s=20

I think it looks absolutely amazing.

I’m happy we won’t see the Banner M on everything. The issue of branding is a concern still with this one. Most people in the SEC know Mississippi State as State, but I’m not sure that’s a nationwide thing. I know NC State refers to themselves as just State as well. I would assume the same thing for Michigan State. Regardless, the Script State is fantastic

Not mentioned

I didn’t put the M Over S on here because it is specific to baseball. If Mississippi State ever decides to branch it out (like for Mississippi State football or Mississippi State softball or Mississippi State something other than baseball), I’ll consider it for these rankings and would likely go at the top of the list.

The Banner M is not on here because I will be happy if we never see it again. It is incredibly bland. And to top it off, the A in State on the banner is off center.

How did that happen?

What I’m watching…

If you weren’t aware, I host a movies and television podcast with my friend Ryan Nelson called The Main Attraction Podcast. You can listen to it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere else you get podcasts. We talk about movies and television and have fun doing it.

We covered two shows this week. One was Hijack starring Idris Elba on Apple TV+. Remember in the 90s when catastrophe on a plane was a popular genre of movies and television? Well, 9-11 happened and we really haven’t done that genre since. Hijack is a fun return to the genre even if it does have 83,512,973 plot holes.

You can listen to us talk about it here.

We also discussed the first two episodes of season three of Only Murders In The Building on Hulu. The show takes Steve Martin and Martin Short, comedic actors in their 70s, and pairs them with Selena Gomez, a pop star with a Disney Channel background. Despite how weird that sounds, it’s one of the best shows on television. They added Meryl Frickin’ Streep and Paul Rudd to the cast this season and it has gotten off to a fantastic start. Go listen to us talk about it as well.

What I’m whistling to…

I’m not actually whistling or going to subject you to whistling. I know how we all feel about the Vandy Whistler. But I like alliteration so I’m keeping my W theme going. This is just where I’m going to talk about music.

Way back in 2014, I wrote about taking my son Jackson to his first Mississippi State football game. He was seven at the time, and it seems like an eternity ago.

He’s now 16 and driving. Things have changed significantly to say the least. And since he is a teenager, he’ll often surprise my wife and I for both good and bad reasons.

One such surprise came this past weekend. My uncle let me borrow his truck while he was out of town because my wife’s Tahoe was in the shop getting worked on. I had my son follow me to my uncle’s house in my truck when I returned it.

When I got in the truck with my son, he was listening to “Enter Sandman” by Metallica. I had no idea he even liked Metallica. But it was kinda cool to learn.

I hadn’t heard it in a long time and forgot how awesome that song is. Maybe you need to be refreshed as well.

That’s it for this week’s Wednesday Wrap. Come back next week to see what I decide to tackle in a hopefully non serious way.