Players wore classic football helmets with ‘MSU’ decal
Memphis football is arguably in the midst of its most successful run in program history. The Tigers have had four straight bowl appearances, featured two record-setting quarterbacks and hired two innovative coaches in Justin Fuente and Mike Norvell within a fouryear window.
Someday, a future group of Tigers will surely pay tribute to this team. But for now, it's Norvell's bunch that's honoring the past.
The University of Memphis celebrated Memphis State Day Friday by wearing gray helmets with the classic "MSU" decals in the Tigers' football game against Georgia State. Fans were also encouraged to wear vintage Memphis State apparel.
The Tigers did something similar in 2016 when they wore an adjusted version of the 1993 Memphis State helmet decals in their 43-7 win over Kansas. However, this game's throwback decals were more authentic.
The original 1993 Memphis State helmets — worn in the last season before the school name was changed to the University of Memphis — were a gray base with blue lettering. But the "throwback" logo used in 2016 featured an updated version of the Tiger logo and white MSU lettering to make it visible on a blue helmet.
Friday's gray helmet with white and blue stripes was true to the original style and an ode to a look Memphis State sported in the 1970s.
The 1970s marked the end of legendary Memphis football coach Billy Murphy's stint with the Tigers. Murphy compiled a 91-44-1 record as the Tigers' coach over 14 seasons. Following Murphy was coach Fred Pancoast, who went 20-12-1 from 1972-74.
Norvell, Fuente, Murphy and Pancoast are the only coaches since 1970 to boast a winning record with the Tigers.
"I like the fact that they (honor Memphis State) for one game," Memphis fan John Sumerel said. "... I feel like we kind of lost that for a while, so it's great that they are bringing it back."
Sumerel has been tracking Memphis football uniforms since Fuente started to debut new looks in 2013. He now works to recreate each helmet that the Tigers' wear, and charts the team's record in each color combination on his personal website.
Memphis also debuted an all-gray version of its base uniform on Friday night. The team will have at least eight different uniform combinations this season.
"I like that it's different each game because it gets the casual fan into it," Sumerel said. "People are always asking on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday what (the team) is going to wear."