The Michigan State University football team returns home this Saturday, with a big-time opponent coming to town. For Week Five’s prime time matchup, the Spartans take on the No. 3 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes.

Wednesday evening, the Spartans’ social media accounts announced the team’s uniform combo for the game: green helmets with a white Spartan logo, green jerseys, and white pants.

This is the third time the Spartans will wear this combination this season as they have worn it in each home game so far. MSU's record is 2-0 in this combo with wins over Florida Atlantic and Prairie View A&M.

The decision was met with some confusion and disappointment on social media as the Spartan faithful were left wondering why MSU would wear a simple uniform for a marquee matchup. Many fans, myself included, thought the Spartans would wear either the Black shadows uniforms or an all-green combination. All-green was the trademark big game combo during the peak Mark Dantonio seasons, and Dantonio is being honored by MSU this Saturday.

I think criticism over the again-repeated uniform combination is valid. The last head coach era, the fanbase has become accustomed to ever-changing uniform combos and new things being introduced each week. But at the same time, this week’s uniform combo shows what head coach Jonathan Smith is looking for in this era of Spartan football: low ego, high output. This mundane uniform combo shows that Smith is focused on the on-field product over focusing on what the team is wearing.

This pattern also follows Smith’s history at Oregon State. In his time there, the Beavers would frequently repeat the same uniforms in the first half of the season, before branching out and changing up combinations in late-season matchups.

We have yet to hear anything from the Buckeye's front on their uniforms, so it is safe to assume they’ll go with their normal silver/white/gray combo. OSU has a history of wearing alternates against MSU, from gray alternates in Columbus last season, to white pants in East Lansing in 2020 and 2022, to black alternates at home in 2019.

There are still plenty of big fixtures on the calendar for MSU in the coming weeks as the enters the gauntlet of its Big Ten season. The next of those is just one week away when the Spartans head to play at No. 8 Oregon for the first time since 2014. We all know about the Ducks and their ever-changing Nike uniforms. Will MSU counter with a unique combo of its own?

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