By Phil Hecken
There were a few costumes and special helmets yesterday, but for the most part Week 12 of the College Football season featured somewhat of a return to normalcy for most teams. Of course, the new Oregon of the football world, Texas Tech, was the outlier, breaking out yet another new uniform superhero costume clown suit for its game against (normally clad) Oklahoma yesterday.
By my count, this was at least the team’s eighth different combo this year (and several of them have been, or should be, “one-offs”). We’ll get to those in a bit. But the uniform they broke out yesterday was for “Senior Day.” For a team named the “Red Raiders” (but who haven’t worn a red top since 2012), they kinda-sorta broke out red tops. Well, they were half-red anyway (click on any images to enlarge):
As you can see — the top half of the jerseys were red, with a very quick (but still noticeable) fade to black. The helmets were new, and they were red shoes.
As mentioned, TT has worn a bunch of combos already this year, but never a red top — even though they’ve donned uniforms in black, gray, white, black and white, throwbacks, something called “Hombre,” and another incarnation of “Lone Star Pride.” IMHO, the throwbacks were the only really good uni they’ve worn all year.
If yesterday’s uniform looks “familiar,” — it’s because they’ve worn the “hombre” version of it earlier this year. And that one didn’t look too bad — but yesterday’s red/black getup was probably the worst uniform they’ve put on this year.
Sometimes uniforms don’t look as bad on the field as they do in the “hype” photos:
Unfortunately, these did not.
But at least it was in school colors — in the college game this year, that’s still saying something. And I’m sure it was a hit with the recruitable 17-year-olds who are really the target audience for this sort of costume.
OK, here’s Terry Duroncelet, Jr., my right hand man on Sundays, with your…
Sunday Morning Uni Watch
By Terry Duroncelet
Yeah, don’t let me find you, NYT.
From Thursday:
• I don’t think we’ve seen East Carolina wear all-white before. Cincinnati played along by wearing all-black, of course.
From Saturday:
• My “wordy” writeups for individual games are normally reserved for the evening games, but there are a number of notable bits from the Minnesota/tOSU game. First off, Minnesota wore gold helmets and jerseys (yeah, yeah, snow game and jokes, get ’em out of your system now) with white pants against Ohio State. I actually thought it was kinda nice, but I would reserve that look for games against teams that are guaranteed to wear dark-colored pants, because as far as matchups go, this was kinda bothersome. Also, at least one Gopher had a reason to show his pearly whites. B1G coaches don’t get more B1G than this. One more thing of mention was that the entire team wore epilepsy awareness neck bumpers.
• But regardless of what you thought about the contrast in that game, at least this didn’t happen. That’s Florida for ya.
• Illinois wore S&S decals for Military Appreciation Day against Iowa.
• Arkansas State got in on the act as well.
• Have I ever mentioned to you guys that (apart from the apparent lack of light blue in the home unis) I LOVE Tulane’s colors? Well, they wore a really spiffy chrome green facemask yesterday for Homecoming. I welcome this change for next year! I don’t know why, but white helmets with white facemasks have always looked… what’s the word I’m looking for? Cakey? Chalky? Like, you know that feeling when the icing on a cake is too thick, or if something is too chalky? Or just the whole white-washed thing? That’s what I get from super-white helmets, so the green facemask is a refreshing sight.
• I don’t talk about Charlotte enough, which is a shame because I actually like their number font (those pits are brutal, though). Well anyway, they wore all-black for the first time yesterday.
• You think this will take the attention off of Kim’s cover shot for the time being?
• Oh come on, just buy a pair of these and be done with it already.
• Marshall wore ’75’ on their helmets to commemorate the 75 lives lost in the plane crash form 1970.
• If only TCU were playing against a school called “California Atheist University”…
• From Coleman Mullins: “Rice has their play-calling backups wear gold pennies for easy spotting…” Interesting, because you would think the gold (especially with a white uni) wouldn’t stand out as red would.
• BYU played in their (seemingly) annual blackout game last night.
• Louisiana-Monroe wore these helmets last night.
• Someone on the Michigan State sideline wore some old gear from the 100th Rose Bowl last night.
• Miami wore orange/grey/grey… or rather, juice/smoke/smoke. One thing comes to mind…
• Whenever Texas makes a change to their uniforms, be it full-time, or a one-off, it’s always subtle. That was the case last night against Oklahoma State when they wore metallic decals, which I really dig, in one part because I have a thing for metallic decals done right, and in another because these decals actually look burnt orange, instead of a somewhat-light brown as per usual. Credit to Chris Perrenot for those pics.
Thanks, TJ!
Catherine Ryan’s 5 & 1
Every Sunday, Catherine will give us the rundown of her best five and one worst uniform matchups from the College Football games played this week. Since it’s practically impossible to watch every game, you guys can help by sending your thoughts on “good” and “bad” matchups (and hopefully with photos from that game) by e-mailing her at UW5and1@gmail.com.
OK, here’s Catherine with this week’s 5 & 1.
5. Notre Dame vs. Northwestern: Classic unis from Notre Dame mixed with a good looking set from Northwestern. Wildcats get the upset in South Bend.
4. Nebraska vs. Wisconsin: This looked like a scrimmage but wow, was it gorgeous.
3. Texas vs. Oklahoma State: Oklahoma State went nontraditional this week but I thought this match-up was fantastic.
2. Iowa vs. Illinois: Everyone knows by now that I have a weak spot for colored pants on the road. You’ll see that is a trend…
1. Virginia Tech vs. Duke: I thought this was the best looking match-up of the week. I love VT in the colored pants on the road.
+1 CMU vs. Miami Ohio: I picked a photo that showed just how bad this game looked on TV.
Thanks, Catherine! Not quite sure I’d agree with a BFBS Duke team at the “best” spot, but it’s hard to argue with the “bad” one.
OK readers, how’d she do?
Premier League Games
By Rob Holecko
It’s time for a classic rivalry in the UWFFL’s Premier League this week…
The top two teams in the Central Division go head-to-head today as the defending champion Minnesota Mustangs show off their new all-white duds as they face their bitter rivals, the Detroit Demons. (I guess since the Mustang on the Demons’ Gameday Program cover is wearing the number “1/4” that must make him a quarter-horse, huh? Haha ha, uh… hmmm.)
Anyway, this week the Demons are wearing throwbacks that harken back to their inaugural 1932 campaign when they competed as the Kalamazoo Malefic in the All-American Indoor Football Association. In 1938 the Malefic moved to Detroit and converted to outdoor football and became the Demons and, along with two other AAIFA franchises joined with five teams from the Indiana Valley Football League and two independent teams (from Dubuque, Iowa and Milwaukee, Wisconsin) and founded the American Midwest Continental Football League, which later expanded to have as many as 22 teams across the country and shortened it’s name to simply the Continental Football League. The bitter Minnesota-Detroit rivalry began in 1963 when the expansion Minnesota Mustangs joined the Continental League and lasted until that league’s demise in 1979, which saw the Demons become an independent team, while the assets of the Mustangs were sold to a group in the Susquehanna River Valley of Eastern Pennsylvania, where they competed (off and on) in the Eastern Pennsylvania Football League (a regional minor league) against such stalwarts as the Hershey Kit Kats, the Reading Railroads, the Kutztown State Bears and the Susquehanna Sidewinders.
In 1997, the Demons became one of the founding members of the TBFFL, and in 1999, the Mustangs merged with the Sidewinders and moved to Jacksonville, Florida, where they too joined the TBFFL and competed as the Jacksonville Mustangs. After two seasons of low attendance in Jacksonville they relocated back to Minnesota, and this great rivalry came full circle. With last year’s relegation of the Chicago Cyclones, Minnesota’s other great rival, to the Division II Central League, the Demons and the Mustangs truly standalone as the UWFFL version of the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears, as far as depth of historic rivalry goes.
Whether you prefer the relatively unchanged classic look of the Mustangs in their traditional red and blue, or the intimidating and bold stylings of the Demons in the black, red and white, that has seen many different iterations through the years, this is definitely a matchup of contrasts. They are meeting for the 49th time, and both teams have identical 23-23-2 head-to-head marks, so this one is for bragging rights.
Come to our website and vote on the rest of the UWFFL action today in the Premier League as well as exciting La Lega International action, at www.uwfantasyfootballleague.com. If you’d like to try your hand at creating a team to compete in the UWFFL next year, check out our Google+ community for prospective expansion teams. Thanks a bunch and we’ll see you next week.
Uni Watch News Ticker:
Baseball News: “Is the guy on the left wearing some kind of giant jersey blanket because he’s icing his arm?” asks Brady Phelps. “I’m confused.” … Great 1910 shot of the Boston Red Sox, and check out the sweater on the trainer! (via Bruce Menard). … “I would toast Uni Watch with every one of these” says Douglas Ford.
NFL News: In case you missed it, adidas and the NFL reached a deal that would allow players who endorse the brand to freely wear cleats and gloves using the logo (thanks to TommyTheCPA). … “A&F getting down with the NFL,” writes Douglas Ford. “That ’53 colts looks good. I can barely see that yellow font for the Steelers, however.” Also from Douglas: “This Eagles sweatshirt from ’88 is gorgeous. Maybe all the green got used up in the late 80’s that’s why there is a shortage now? This “RockEy Blier” jacket has some issues…unless you like bonus Es!” And finally, Doug asks “I wonder if Atlanta Fans will get an awesome gimme cap when they sign on for their PSL?” … Whoh — check out this crazy helmet/facemask worn 64 years ago, yesterday (from Bruce Menard). … “As Katy perry might sing,” intones Douglas Ford, “THIS HELMET’S ON FIRE!!!” Here’s an ultra rare authentic WFL Chicago Fire Football Helmet. … Still more from Douglas: Great pic of KING rocking the 9. … Even though the auction is over, these St. Louis NFL “Hickock” glasses are still beauts (Douglas again). … “This Dartmouth statue makes the Redskins seem ‘PC’,” (more from Douglas). … Saturday Night Live did a “concussion sketch” last night, and the helmets they came up with were pretty funny.
College & High School Football News: Interesting story on rivalry trophies (thanks, Paul). … Reader Christopher LaHaye saw one of his freshman fobtball players wearing Sperry cleats on the sidelines during Marksville (LA) High’s playoff game. He adds, “Needless to say he didn’t get into the game.”
NBA News: The Golden State Warriors will be wearing their black slate sleeved jerseys every night. … “Seeing 76ers spelled out as SEVENTY-SIXERS is a new one on me,” writes Douglas Ford about this 1971 Sports Illustrated Classic poster.
Hockey News: Some good Harold Ballard stuff from Will Scheibler: Picture of Harold Ballard wearing a jacket that is half Toronto Maple Leafs and half Hamilton Tiger-Cats (at time of photo he was former owner of Tiger-Cats). King Clancy (in photo above with Ballard) of Leafs fame wearing a Ti-Cats jersey on ice, and Harold Ballard March 29, 1984, on the ice suited up in hockey gear. … Chris Mizzoni has posted some more great wartime hockey artwork from John Collins if the Montreal Gazette. … Here’s a closeup look at those crazy Cincy Cyclones R2D2 unis worn last night (thanks to Griffin Ward and Jeff Tasca respectively). … “Never mind the Yankees, Mets or other teams with double layered letter logos, here’s one that is more than a bit cluttered with four letters. The YMCA hockey team of Stratford, Ontario; 1907 City League champions and winners of the Makins Cup (from Library and Archives Canada),” says Will Scheibler). … Penguins wore camo jerseys for warmups last night.
Soccer News: According to Todd Gaines, this urinal is located at Toyota Field, in San Antonio. According to the guy who took the pic, “One of best things about Toyota are the urinal targets.”
College Hoops News: Not a monumental change, but Missouri State University switched from Nike to Adidas this season, who changed the Bears’ jerseys from a curvy/rounded font to a block-letter styling (thanks to Nolan Epstein). … Whoops: bit of a spelling problem for the St. Louis UniversTIy banner which was raised last night (h/t Loren Lirely).
Grab Bag: Do you want to buy a pair of “MADBUM” underwear for yourself or your significant other? Now you can (from Brinke, with the qualifier that “A portion of all sales will go to the BRYAN STOW FUND.”). … “As a kid growing up as a KISS fan, I used to love how they would have a new costume for each tour,” writes Blue Burke. “My favorite was the Destroyer (1976) era. Real life super heroes.” … Remember when Reebok was a hot brand? This story, “How Reebok Lost Its Game: A Three-Sport Story” details how that all went wrong (from TommyTheCPA). Also from Tommy, there’s a new breed of high-performance wool clothing out there. Hmmm. Wonder if it is good for curling. … “I went to a Buffalo Wild Wings in Englewood Ohio & I found an ad for a jersey store that sold an interesting Bengals Jersey & old FSU uniforms,” says Ryan Robey. “Check the picture out. Weird stuff.” … Scotland rugby wore a very odd red alternate yesteday against New Zealand (from Padday Flemming). … “The latest case of corporate d-baggery aka sponsorship, apparently Fox Sports wants to be absolutely clear that they use Dell tablets,” writes Stu Taylor. “They treat it like it’s a major headline there.”
And that’s going to do it for this fine Sunday. Hope everyone enjoys the NFL (and NBA, NCAA hoops, NHL, etc.) today. Thanks to TJ, Catherine and Rob, plus all the submitters/twitterers for their contributions as well. You guys and gals have a great week and I’ll catch you next Saturday.
Follow me on Twitter @PhilHecken.
Peace.
“In football, plays are what happens between celebrations.”
— DW
Warriors abominations will be worn every Saturday night, not (fortunately) every night.
Ladies and Gentlemen, your Gold ‘n Slate Warriors!
Booo!!
Why would Katy Perry be singing an Alicia Keys song?
Indeed!
I actually liked the Stars down the stripe of the Arkansas State helmets. I have wanted to see a look like that on a team for a while. I believe the Texas Tech unis would look better if it wasn’t a faded transition from red to black and sans the hombre on the shoulder. I guess that is one of my guilty pleasure uniforms.
..and as far as the 5-and-1 goes, I agree with 5, 4 and 2 (and glad Wisconsin was wearing a white helmet), but 3? Texas was fine, but Oklahoma State in Yosemite Sam helmet and mono-black?
And as for Duke, BFBS in the #1 spot? And I didn’t think CMU-Miami (Ohio) looked that bad, and certainly not worse than the BYU-UNLV game:
link
But then everyone’s got their own opinions.
Yeah, I’ve had some different opinions about the 5 & 1 the last few weeks as well. We should take reader suggestions in the comments each Sunday, because I’d love to see what other people come up with for the 5 & 1. I know mine would be very different. No BFBS, no stars-n-stripes decals.
I also agree. I usually disagree with Catherine’s 5&1, and this week is no different. Again, everyone’s got their own opinions, but I guess I’ve kinda been conditioned to hate BFBS after reading UW for so many years! I saw Duke and BYU’s unis yesterday and gagged :P Can’t stand BFBS, especially with blue.
Okie State would have looked fantastic with gray or orange pants. Still was a pretty decent looking game IMO. Oregon State looked great, but ‘Zona State sure didn’t.
FYI, that soccer urinal is at Toyota Field, home of the San Antonio Scorpions and the site of last night’s North American Soccer League championship game.
The photographer is Peter Wilt, Indy Eleven president and kind of a legendary figure in American soccer.
When I started to read the blurb about the urinals at Toyota Field, I thought they would have “cakes” made of rival automakers e.g. p— on Ford, Chevy etc. like the peeing boy symbols you see on the back windshield of pickup trucks.
I thought that too, but I can’t picture any auto maker being quite that crass. Maybe if it was something like energy drinks.
I think that “peeing boy” is supposed to be Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes. I think.
Am I the only one that loved Texas Tech yesterday? And I loved Duke, BYU, and I hated Nebraska and Wisconsin
I’m not a fan of Duke’s black jerseys and maybe I’m nitpicking, but I don’t think you can call them BFBS. Black has been part of their color pallets since the late 90s. They’re using a secondary color as the primary, like the Carolina Panthers’ blue alts.
It’s not great, but it kinda works for Duke.
Even though they’ve been wearing it for a while, I think it’s BFBS because black is not a school color.
Athletic department colors aren’t always the same as school colors.
Even if it is a school color, their name is the Blue Devils, so they should be in blue.
+1 to Terry for the Rarity clip.
Too bad Miami couldn’t finish the job and burn FSU last night.
Just drop the 5&1 already. Jumped the shark anytime a classy Auburn- Georgia matchup is overlooked completely and any mono-black is in.
The seemingly every year BYU blackout uniforms have been worn twice and last worn in 2012
Harold Ballard was the biggest scumbag in the history of hockey.
With Alan Eagleson a close second…
“Hockey must be a great game to survive the people who run it.” Conn Smythe
Whatever criteria you use I’m sure there are plenty of contenders for the top spot.
I’m certainly no Ballard fan, but I’d put Eagleson above him on that list.
Ahh I hate MLP so much!
With the 5&1 I always wonder is some teams would have made the list if they went with a slightly different combo.
For instance I though the GT vs. Clemson game looked great (admittedly I’m biased), but I wonder if the game missed out on a spot this week because Tech opted to wear their white helmets instead of their traditional golds.
I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing a “close but no cigar” section alongside the 5&1. Where one uniform piece choice cost them a spot on the list (I.e. instead of Wisconsin wearing white helmets they go with the red ones ruining that scrimmage look). I think it’d also minimize complaints about the list as it would suggest exactly why Catherine left them off (not that opinions on what personally looks best need to be defended). It would be different from an honorable mention because it would be pointing out where teams went wrong instead of saying their look wasn’t quite good enough compared to the 5 that made it.
As an example from last week: I would have put the GT v NCSU game in the cost but no so cigar section because the wolfpack went full blood clot. Preferably they would have been in white helmets and pants but going with white pants or helmet would have improved their look drastically.
The 76er uniform that is photo but the problem with that jersey was that the name on the back was also in script and whenever a player was acquired the name had to be handcrafted which took longer .ownership changed uniforms early in the season to the red base uniform also ownership was very cheap at that time and didn’t want to pay for the scripted names on the back
I didn’t know about the script name on back (SNOB?).
The NBA has never allowed the actual name of the team “76ERS” on the front of the jersey because having the number and the player number allegedly makes it difficult to identify who fouled someone.
I’d love to see a story on just how much the Oregons and Texas Techs of the NCAA world are spending on all these different uniforms. I bet they’d be able to send a small army to college for free!
And these two college spend next to nothing on women’s sports. It is thumbing their noses at Federal Title IX laws.
I feel sorry for Douglas Ford’s wife (or significant other, children, etc..), for he must’ve spent a tremendous amount of time to emailing ticker links.
Side note(s):
1.) Those aren’t Sperry ‘cleats’, but just normal Sperrys. Kid probably knew he was not seeing the field.
2.) The 5&1 is cool, but needs an overhaul at the top. Tired of seeing colored pants and bfbs garnering praise and also the east coast bias doesn’t help. She must have a bedtime.
I get the Acme Packer throwback jerseys, but why are they wearing gumballs on their heads?
Because of the NFL’s obscenely stupid one-helmet rule.
Some staffer on Michigan St. wears old Rose Bowl gear but no mention of their opponent, Maryland wearing a new version of their Black Ops uni? It was on the ticker twice last week.
Catherine has opinions, and to make matters worse, they don’t conform to my sensibilities. BURN HER!
I prefer the yellow/gold lids over the brown w/ the packers throwbacks.
But the one helmet rule is stupid. UW has done a study and there’s no evidence that using the same helmet is safer.
Catherine was way off this week.
No Alabama v. Miss State? No Oregon State v. Arizona State? No Ohio State v.Minnesota?
Well, add another high school snagged by a uniform violation rule, this from cross country in New Jersey.
link
Man, that’s my old high school. Bummer. B^(
My understanding is that hombre refers to the fading from one color to another. My wife informed me that women’s haircuts that fade from dark to blonde are called hombre
@cmoney – your wife is not entirely right. The hairstyle she is talking about is ombré, from the French for “shadowed” or “shaded”. Hombre is Spanish for “man”.