PassInterference
09-28-2014, 11:25 AM
As late as Wednesday, Sept 24th, many media outlets including the Clarion Ledger reported that Ole Miss was slated to wear the "38" helmets in honor of Chucky Mullins. Ole Miss staff had tweeted our pictures of the helmets and indicated that they would be worn for the Memphis game.
http://www.clarionledger.com/story/olemisssports/2014/09/24/ole-miss-chucky-mullins-38-helmet-memphis/16174245/
Ole Miss will honor Chucky Mullins this week, in advance of Saturday's game against Memphis.
As part of that celebration, all of the Rebels will wear special No. 38 helmets against the Tigers.
On Friday, a few message board people wondered aloud how that might be legal in light of the NCAA's recent enforcement of ridiculous rules pertaining to uniforms.
On Friday, Sept 26 your honorable Pass Interference checked the NCAA rule book and saw that the 38 helmets were against NCAA rules. I posted here - http://www.elitedawgs.com/showthread.php?21530-Ole-Miss-s-Chuckie-Mullin-helmets-are-a-violation&p=255699&viewfull=1#post255699 - citing chapter and verse that the 38 helmets were illegal.
I, as nearly all of you, find that rule absurd. That thread and web traffic at NAFOOM quickly engaged in a shoot-the-messenger activity and the thread was closed.
But it turns out I was right. Hours after my aforementioned thread here on Elitedawgs, Hugh Kellenberger questioned Ross Bjork about helmet. Hugh proceeded to mention the issue in the Friday afternoon article I'm linking below. Hugh used the same NCAA rulebook link that I used in my thread. Thanks for reading, Mr Kellenberger.
http://www.clarionledger.com/story/olemisssports/2014/09/26/ole-miss-chucky-mullins-drive-campus-38/16281201/
Shackelford wears the No. 38 jersey this season and will do so again Saturday against Memphis, but the rest of the team will wear a No. 38 decal on the side of its helmet. There's been some question about how Ole Miss is getting around a NCAA rule that restricts insignia representing a person or event to 2.25 square inches (http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/FR14.pdf), but Bjork said that would be explained on Saturday.
"There's a surprise tomorrow where we can have the 38 on the helmet and continue to honor Chucky, while also following the rules," Bjork said.
Ole Miss had surely planned on wearing the "38" helmets. Frankly, I wish they had requested and been given NCAA permission to wear those. It was a cool idea and Ole Miss players deserved to wear those helmets. But word of "something else" for a helmet didn't come up until helmet legality was brought to light.
Now surely, Ole Miss didn't come up with powder blue helmets on a whim. My guess is they had a plan to wear them in a different game, but brought them out for Memphis since 38 wasn't allowed. I suppose they planned to use these helmets for the Egg Bowl.
MSU has drawn a lot of attention and fan excitement for the gold helmets and other accents worn during the Egg Bowl. Ole Miss folks say they hated those things - whatever, it wasn't for Ole Miss fans to enjoy.
The fact is, Ole Miss has been looking for a way to duplicate MSU's success and game day excitement. They've already copied our field-level endzone lounge idea. They straight ripped that from as because we're the only school that has done it.
Its not stretch to assume these powder blue helmets had been intended for an Egg Bowl surprise. Obviously, the helmet ignited the fans and their players against lowly Memphis. It would have been even more huge for an Egg Bowl.
I still think they'll wear this helmet in the Egg Bowl. And it will have an emotional impact, just less than it would have had it been a complete surprise.
You're welcome.
Parting thoughts on this:
1) NAFOOM has a self-imposed ban on any State talk during Alabama week. Doubt they stay with that.
2) Mississippi State's uniform changes have resonated with recruits. Ole Miss isn't going to get any crootin help with powder blue helmets. Those powder blues are only important to old Rebels who remember them from the Vaught days and to rebels who've been told by the old guard how cool the powder blues are supposed to be. I don't see any 17-18 year old high school giving a damn about powder blue helmets and they'll likely see them for being as ugly as they really are.
http://www.clarionledger.com/story/olemisssports/2014/09/24/ole-miss-chucky-mullins-38-helmet-memphis/16174245/
Ole Miss will honor Chucky Mullins this week, in advance of Saturday's game against Memphis.
As part of that celebration, all of the Rebels will wear special No. 38 helmets against the Tigers.
On Friday, a few message board people wondered aloud how that might be legal in light of the NCAA's recent enforcement of ridiculous rules pertaining to uniforms.
On Friday, Sept 26 your honorable Pass Interference checked the NCAA rule book and saw that the 38 helmets were against NCAA rules. I posted here - http://www.elitedawgs.com/showthread.php?21530-Ole-Miss-s-Chuckie-Mullin-helmets-are-a-violation&p=255699&viewfull=1#post255699 - citing chapter and verse that the 38 helmets were illegal.
I, as nearly all of you, find that rule absurd. That thread and web traffic at NAFOOM quickly engaged in a shoot-the-messenger activity and the thread was closed.
But it turns out I was right. Hours after my aforementioned thread here on Elitedawgs, Hugh Kellenberger questioned Ross Bjork about helmet. Hugh proceeded to mention the issue in the Friday afternoon article I'm linking below. Hugh used the same NCAA rulebook link that I used in my thread. Thanks for reading, Mr Kellenberger.
http://www.clarionledger.com/story/olemisssports/2014/09/26/ole-miss-chucky-mullins-drive-campus-38/16281201/
Shackelford wears the No. 38 jersey this season and will do so again Saturday against Memphis, but the rest of the team will wear a No. 38 decal on the side of its helmet. There's been some question about how Ole Miss is getting around a NCAA rule that restricts insignia representing a person or event to 2.25 square inches (http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/FR14.pdf), but Bjork said that would be explained on Saturday.
"There's a surprise tomorrow where we can have the 38 on the helmet and continue to honor Chucky, while also following the rules," Bjork said.
Ole Miss had surely planned on wearing the "38" helmets. Frankly, I wish they had requested and been given NCAA permission to wear those. It was a cool idea and Ole Miss players deserved to wear those helmets. But word of "something else" for a helmet didn't come up until helmet legality was brought to light.
Now surely, Ole Miss didn't come up with powder blue helmets on a whim. My guess is they had a plan to wear them in a different game, but brought them out for Memphis since 38 wasn't allowed. I suppose they planned to use these helmets for the Egg Bowl.
MSU has drawn a lot of attention and fan excitement for the gold helmets and other accents worn during the Egg Bowl. Ole Miss folks say they hated those things - whatever, it wasn't for Ole Miss fans to enjoy.
The fact is, Ole Miss has been looking for a way to duplicate MSU's success and game day excitement. They've already copied our field-level endzone lounge idea. They straight ripped that from as because we're the only school that has done it.
Its not stretch to assume these powder blue helmets had been intended for an Egg Bowl surprise. Obviously, the helmet ignited the fans and their players against lowly Memphis. It would have been even more huge for an Egg Bowl.
I still think they'll wear this helmet in the Egg Bowl. And it will have an emotional impact, just less than it would have had it been a complete surprise.
You're welcome.
Parting thoughts on this:
1) NAFOOM has a self-imposed ban on any State talk during Alabama week. Doubt they stay with that.
2) Mississippi State's uniform changes have resonated with recruits. Ole Miss isn't going to get any crootin help with powder blue helmets. Those powder blues are only important to old Rebels who remember them from the Vaught days and to rebels who've been told by the old guard how cool the powder blues are supposed to be. I don't see any 17-18 year old high school giving a damn about powder blue helmets and they'll likely see them for being as ugly as they really are.