During their November 1 against Kentucky, members of the Mississippi State football team will wear a pink ribbon decal on their helmets along with pink wristbands to promote breast cancer awareness.

To complement the effort, Mississippi State coaches and administrators will wear pink hats and lapel ribbons. The school will also stencil the pink ribbon on the football field in two locations.

By adding football to efforts already made by the Bulldog volleyball and soccer teams, officials hope to bring more attention to the battle against breast cancer – and to raise more money.

“We want to bring this to another level,” said Chad Thomas, the school’s athletics promotions coordinator. “Breast cancer has received a lot of national attention over the years, and we felt this was something that we can do on our end. We can be a leader in breast cancer awareness and do our part to help find a cure.”

In addition to the decals, hats and ribbons, Thomas said the school hopes to host 50 breast cancer survivors at the Kentucky game, with biographical videos of the survivors played on the scoreboard throughout the game. Each of the 50 survivors will release a pink balloon in memory of people in all 50 states who have lost their lives to breast cancer.

Thomas said the Mississippi State athletics department is no different from any workplace. Most staff members have been touched by the disease and are happy to support the cause in any way they can.

“This really hits home with everybody,” he said.