By Phil Hecken
Week 12 came and went, and there were still a few new uniforms costumes and surprises, even at this late stage of the season. Notre Dame went mono-green, FSU finally broke out their BFBS numbers, Clemson went all-purple (as is their wont), BC had a gorgeous throwback, the boys from Virginia Tech had a special all-black uni to bid farewell to Frank Beamer at Lane — even aTm had a new costume. And of course, there were a couple of surprises.
There was a bit of technical difficulty with the UW dashboard last evening, so I wasn’t even sure there would BE a post today, but it looks like everything is OK for now.
With a rundown of yesterday’s action, I’ll now turn it over to my SMUW main dude — Terry Duroncelet. So here’s TJ with your…
Sunday Morning Uni Watch
By Terry Duroncelet
Fairly slow week, which is appropriate, given the sudden chill. It’s interesting how a little cold can really get you in that autumn years sort of mood.
From Saturday:
• Oh boy. I um… well, this at least gives me an excuse to get a new prescription for my glasses.
• Virginia Tech wore all-black in honor of Frank Beamer’s final home game as the VT head coach. Personally, I think there are better ways to honor a coach as decorated as Beamer than lame BFBS togs, but whatever floats your boat. At least these are better than the things they wore the last time they went BFBS. Also in that same game, UNC wore all-white, and Tar Heels WR Mack Hollins wore a SANDMAN NOB in Beamer’s honor.
• Clemson wore mono-purple for Military Appreciation Day. Better than most military “tributes” that I’ve seen.
• Case in-point.
• LSU wore all-white for the first time since 2011. Is it necessary? No. Is it overdone? Yes. Did they look rather nice? Did Ohio State go down yesterday? Well, there you go.
• Speaking of THE, they wore their playoff uniforms (which are basically throwbacks) against Michigan State, who wore their bronze helmets with their regular road whites. Both teams wore “Chad Strong” decals on the back of their helmets. JB Johnson spotted Robert Craft wearing a Pat Patriot hat on the sidelines.
• Graphics teams are still on point this season. One of the best seasons in history.
• Hard to see, but Minnesota’s scoreboard apparently uses their specific number font (h/t to Dustin K.). Also, history repeats itself. Keep in mind that it was supposedly 20 °F in Minneapolis yesterday in regards to the latter pic.
• I don’t know what Louisiana-Lafayette was wearing yesterday, and I’m not sure I want to find out.
• Rutgers wore S&S decals against Army.
• Utah State wore camo decals.
• GG, Maryland.
• Well, it took what feels like a century, but Florida State finally wore their black alts against Chattanooga.
• Interesting note about Bethune-Cookman: they wore mono-gold uniforms against FAMU. But more on that in a second. They also unveiled these logos yesterday on Twitter. Some of those marks look awfully familiar. Interestingly enough, the BCU Twitter mod was experiencing some “technical difficulties” and miraculously, that exact tweet disappeared. But back to the uniforms. These were worn the same week as the Colon Flush uniforms that the Jacksonville Jaguars wore. Purely coincidental, and never mind the fact that those are clearly not Russell uniforms (that template doesn’t exist in their catalog, and there are no maker’s marks), but you know, semantics, details.
• Rare HarBro sighting. Credit to Brinke Guthrie for the pic and the one-liner.
• aTm wore some white uniform with an odd (but not horrible in a vacuum) helmet against Vanderbilt, who wore black helmets and mono-grey unifrorms. You can guess how well that worked out.
• Interesting that both Notre Dame and Boston College are outfitted by Under Armour AND are both private, Catholic schools. Looks like the Fighting Irish channeled their inner logo during the game (minus the gold shoes). Notre Dame, the only living entities that are somehow able to emit a stronger green glow with gold domes than Broly. I did enjoy the striped numbers, however. Also, Boston College wore some really rad throwbacks (even though most of them didn’t wear the striped compression shirts that go with them). Also-also, the ND coaching staff wore green trou.
That’ll do it for Week 12. Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and I’ll see you next week.
Thanks, TJ. Now onto the rest of the SMUW…
NCAA Uni Tracking
Back again today with our new feature: NCAA Uniform Tracking.
Once again, I’m pleased to welcome our 4 NCAA trackers, tallying the uniforms worn by the Power 5 conferences.
We’ve got Rex Henry (tracking the ACC & SEC), Dennis Bolt (tracking the PAC-12), Kyle Acker (tracking the Big XII) and Joey Artigue (tracking the B1G).
I’m not sure what happened with Joey yesterday/last evening. I tried repeatedly to reach him via several channels, but I wasn’t able to connect. Unfortunately, there will be no B1G tracking today. I may be in the market for a new B1G tracker for the remainder of the season. Apologies
Rex is up next today:
ACC
More Here.
SEC
And now, here’s Dennis with the PAC-12:
PAC-12
More here.
Here is your link to the 2015-16 Duck Tracker.
And finally, here is Kyle with the Big XII:
Big XII
And that’s all for today — thanks Rex, Dennis and Kyle!
Joe Ringham’s 5 & 1
We’re on to week 12 in the NCAA, and there were a bunch of games that might make the list for 5 & 1 decider Joe Ringham.
You may not agree with him, (I rarely agreed with Jimmer Vilk and only occasionally with Catherine), but he’s got his reasons for his picks.
Here’s Joe:
Good Sunday, everyone! Man, was this a good football weekend or what? So many good games, and good looking games, as the regular season hits the last two weeks. Time to see who made the list this week.
5) Western Michigan at Northern Illinois — Wednesday Night MAC-tion looked rather sharp in DeKalb. The Huskies looked good in their black/red/black usual home threads, with a few in red socks. But I really dug the chrome gold/white/brown of the Broncos.
4) Houston at Connecticut — A great looking game in the American, and an upset to boot. The Cougars looked great in red/white/red. But, after not really liking them when they brought them out earlier in the season, the mono-gray set UConn brought out for this looked fantastic in contrast to Houston.
3) Harvard at Yale — The Game is always one of my favorites, and the 132nd edition was no different. Love the classic looks both teams bring out, with Yale going with their usual home white/navy/white against Harvard’s classic crimson/white/cream road look. A classic looking game in the classic setting of the Yale Bowl.
2) Kansas at West Virginia — Probably one of the most colorful games I have seen all season. Really loved the yellow/white/yellow set West Virginia went with. Probably their best look of the season, and it matched up great with the blue/red/gray the Jayhawks went with. Throw in the some November sunshine in Lawrence, and you have probably the Big 12’s most vividly colorful match-up of the season.
1) Baylor at Oklahoma State — I had another game slotted into this slot originally (hint: it’s one of the honorable mentions below). But then I saw this one on TV and my eyes lit up. Love the Bears white/white/green against the orange/black/orange of the Cowboys, especially with the ginormous Pistol Pete on the domes.
Just off the board: Northwestern at Wisconsin, Louisville at Pittsburgh, Iowa State at Kansas State, California at Stanford
And, finally…
+1) Boston College vs Notre Dame — This spot for this week was reserved for this game ever since ND unveiled their costumes back in the summer. I actually really liked BC’s throwbacks here for the game at Fenway. But this is all about the monstrosities the Irish brought out.
++1) Wake Forest at Clemson — At least Clemson waited until the end of the season to bust out one of their more unappealing looks.
Enjoy the week, everyone, and have a great Thanksgiving!
Thanks, Joe! Remember, the tip-line email (UW5and1@gmail.com) is back for any games you want Joe take a look at. Pictures of the game/games you want are very much suggested.
Uni Watch News Ticker
Baseball News: Awwww. Very cool story from Kyle Geralds, who writes, “I had a baby shower today and got a new era 59fifty cap for my future infant son, Henry. I know uni-watch frowns upon excessive merchandising, but in Detroit, the old English D extends beyond sports and is a symbol of regional pride in a region that is shit on by most of the country. I am very proud of that D and happy to receive the cap and dress my baby in a simple ‘D’ and not some cap with the shitty mascot Pawz on it. The reason I am sending it to uni-watch is that…it does not have a squatcho! Which is good for infants who are born with gaps in their skull.” … Check out this shirt done in a Houston Astros tequila sunrise motif, or “Pretty sweet merch by Nashville coffee shop” as noted by David Trett.
College Football News: There will be a new Iron Bowl (Auburn/Alabama) coming next week. Could this be it? (from Clint Richardson). … This is awesome — one of my Twitter buddies (and I think he is a Uni Watcher as well), Clark Ruhland made the commemorative designs for Frank Beamer’s last home game. Well done, Clark!!! … While the Irish wore their “Shamrock Series” unis last night, and those uniforms (like several others worn during the Shamrock Series’ games) had a helmet design, the Irish also had shamrocks on their helmets from 1959-62 during the Joe Kuharich era (h/t Andrew Winn). … And while they didn’t use them for last night’s game, Fenway Park used to have temporary bleachers in front of the Green Monstah (nice find from Jeff Flynn).
Basketball News: After the Golden State Warriors tied the 1957-58 Boston Celtics for the most consecutive wins to start a season (following an NBA Championship), Mike Forde found this interesting Celtics graphic. Never seen that one before. … Virginia Tech basketball coach Buzz Williams wore a Frank Beamer tee shirt tonight vs VMI (from Andrew Cosentino). Here’s an even better shot. … The OK State football teams mascot is the “Cowboys” but the Women’s b-ball team are the “Cowgirls,” as noted by Graham Spell.
Soccer News: “Ahead of El Clásico between Barcelona and Real Madrid I wrote a piece about Barcelona’s surging popularity in the USA,” writes David Brand. “I believe Marshalls, Ross and TJ Maxx are responsible for much the clubs popularity because they have flooded the Northeast with cheap, off-brand Barca apparel for years. I’ve bought several pieces of clothing for my brother and myself and I see weird Barca clothing on a daily basis in NYC — most of it comes from Marshalls.” … Whoops: Benfica’s Julio Cesar had his shorts torn after a hard collision (via Mike D.). … New kits for Sacremento Republic FC (h/t Grant Young).
Grab Bag: In a rugby contest yesterday, players on both the Scarlets & Racing 92 wore arm/wrist bands of French flag colors (from Joe Stephens). … “The blue loading bar at the top of my phone’s web browser combined with the Uni-Watch’s green header is a daily reminder of the blue details in the Milwaukee Bucks uniforms,” says Jared. Uh oh — Apparel giants Nike and adidas have found a new arena in which to compete: for the uniforms of high school student athletes in the Eugene School District. … Boxer Miguel Cotto wore his headphones over his hood before his fight with Canelo last night (thanks to Mike Chamernik).
That’s it for today. Thanks to TJ, Rex, Joe, Kyle, and Dennis for their contributions. Paul will be back on Monday with a MMUW and we’ll have some special content for Turkey-day week! Everyone have a great Sunday and I’ll be back soon.
Follow me on Twitter @PhilHecken.
Peace.
“If the Kardashians can captivate the tabloid world for what seems like a millenia, Marlins Man can have a few years of notoriety.”
–Jimmer Vilk
Under Armour screwed up on the BC throwbacks by not using the “Champion” number font that BC wore back then. It was one of the most salient features of Champion jerseys from the ’80s.
I always find it ironic when the Kansas Jayhawks wear gray. Do they not know the Jayhawkers were the North sympathizers who rose up after the southerners burned Lawrence to the ground?
Robert KRAFT…with a K!
“LSU wore all-white for the first time since 2011. Is it necessary? No. Is it overdone? Yes.”
LSU fan and alum here who was pissed off seeing the Tigers in all white. First, all-white uniforms suck. Have at least one uniform piece that is filled with color. Two, traditionally, we wear gold (OK, fine, yellow) helmets and pants and most years we’ve done that every game. This is the second time THIS YEAR we’ve worn white helmets and pants.
We’re not Oregon, Baylor, Oklahoma State, (insert non-traditional power that needs a gimmick here) and I don’t want LSU to start resembling the middle-of-the-road school that wears different uniforms. The play on the field already has made them a middle-of-the-road team. I don’t care about appeasing players or recruits. If they want to wear different uniforms, tell them to go pick another of the 120-odd FBS schools out there. They looked inspired getting their asses beat 38-17.
Every week the 5 and 1 just gets worae and worse. Three out of top five look like crap, contrast doesn’t always mean the match-up is good looking.
yes indeed. now reduced to frivolity. list for list’s sake (LFLS)
when i click on “GG, Maryland” it takes me to a page of the Wisconsin Players guide
It’s the Maryland program from yesterday. Right players shown, wrong team named (They were playing Indiana yesterday, as noted in the top right corner of the page).
ahhhhh
thanks Rob S!
That “interesting Celtics graphic” was Boston’s primary logo from 1950-1968.
link
I remember having some of the Fleer basketball cards from the early 60s that used that logo.
link
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That Harbaugh picture isn’t from yesterday. John’s credentials clearly show Michigan and Maryland’s logos. Michigan played Penn State yesterday.
Also it is a Big Ten Network graphic when yesterday’s game was on ABC/ESPN2
Am I the only person over 35 who doesn’t have an issue with BFBS, Stormtrooper or GFGS looks?
WSU played Colorado late last night, so you can be excused for not mentioning the Cougars’ white helmets with crimson numbers instead of their logo, throwing back to a few separate years in the 50’s and 60’s.
Hi Jon-yes the lateness kept us from noticing the number instead of logo. Fixed on my blog. The twitter preview they tweeted only showed the front so I assumed it was normal white helmet since they had no “Oregon-ized” their helmet this season!
Should be fixed above now.
Air Force chose a really bad day to wear so much link:at mono-blue Boise on smurfturf.
Detroit pride Kyle! Amen brother.
Wyoming’s Women’s BBall team is also referred to as the Cowgirls. OSU and Wyo seem to share not just the logo…
The best looking game was easily Michigan Penn State. TCU OU looked great as well.
A&M and Vanderbilt. The Aggies should have won by forfeit.Idiots.
I agree with Brent and think Mich vs Penn State rule the day
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I also like the UGA vs Ga-Southern matchup. Though they always reminded me of Bama’s uniforms but in navy blue, I read “…in 1982, GS hired Georgia defensive coordinator Erk Russell to build a modern program with virtually no budget. Uniforms were expensive, so tradition became athletic tape striped down blue helmets with no logos.”
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Ugh, as long as Michigan insists on white pants, they aren’t top anything.
Not to be THAT guy, but Black is one of FSU’s colors, so while they did break out the black alternates yesterday, I don’t think they qualify under the uni-versal defintion of BFBS. It’s more BBJGTOBAAI (Black Because Jimbo Got Tired Of Being Asked About It). :)
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If they had broke out in Grey or Turquoise (Like the N7 stuff for the basketball team) then yeah, that would have been for show. TFTS? That’d be new, right?
I’m pretty sure that various fonts are copyrighted such as the classic Rawlings baseball font and therefore an exact copy of BC’s old Champion font would not be permitted without permission.
JB Johnson spotted Robert Craft wearing a Pat Patriot hat on the sidelines.
Kraft.
New kits for Sacremento Republic FC
Sacramento
And, to show I can take it as well as dish it out…
If the Kardashians can captivate the tabloid world for what seems like a millenia, Marlins Man can have a few years of notoriety.”
Millenium, Vilk…millenium.
Black is as much of an FSU school color as it is for UNC. There is black tar on the heel of one of UNC’s alternate logos but it is not a school color. Yet UNC has black alts for hoops. It’s BFBS.
You’re stretching this one so hard you might sprain something. FSU is garnet and gold. FSU in black = BFBS.
@ Jeff – but Majestic makes MLB uniforms and when they took over from Rawlings, they kept the fonts unchanged. Certain teams who wear generic “MLB block-style” numbers (Dodgers, Mets, Cardinals; or Braves, Yankees, Tigers in the other style) didn’t change their style. Ditto for most NFL teams when Nike took over and most NBA teams when adidas took over. It may be a proprietary font but other companies find ways around that all the time, in regular uniforms as well as throwbacks.
Jones on Green Bay wearing a hooded sweatshirt? Is that new?
Interesting note about the Barça apparel at discount retail chains. Whenever I get dragged along to one (Marshalls, Ross, and Burlington Coat Factory) here in the midwest, that’s about the one thing I’ll check for. And it’s not just Barcelona stuff, either. I’ve seen Manchester United, Chelsea, & Real Madrid, as well, pretty much every time. I think I’ve even seen national team stuff from Nike, most notably Brazil & Italy.
All that said, I’m not so sure they have that much to do with it. You’ve got a top-notch soccer game that EA’s been producing for several years now and several cable networks regularly showing top-level matches from around the globe around the clock. I guess those retailers are an easy way to get (apparently) official team merchandise (or should I say “gear”?) for cheap, but Americans have shown a willingness to spend up to and over $100 for authentic jerseys, and with the internet shops and all, they’ve made it increasingly easy.
I remember as a kid (mid-’90s) perusing Eastbay and Soccer Master (local chain) catalogs–not exactly the most convenient way to order something.
I actually just saw a bunch of soccer gear at Ross the other day. It was primarily Barca, but there was some Chelsea and Man United stuff as well. Much of it wasn’t Nike/Adidas-gear but unbranded or unkown brands (at least to me).
James Jones is wearing a green hooded sweatshirt under his jersey and pads for the Packers. Never seen that before.
That Texas A&M / Vandy matchup looked like an intrasquad scrimmage!
The saving grace of the day was Harvard vs Yale. No frills….just classic unis steeped in tradition.
Always cracks me up when Paul posts how horrendous a uniform is… and then it’s listed as a good look in “5 and 1.”
*Correction – When PHIL posts…*
Yeah, it seems Joe and I seem to have a pretty big difference of opinion on what makes a good uniform and a good matchup. But that’s fine — I’m sure you guys wouldn’t like the 5 & 1’s I’d come up with. Maybe next year.
“Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder.”
But yeah, that’s the odd thing about discussing what looks good – it’s all subjective.
For example, I have no idea why so many people love “color vs. color” matchups when to me about 90% of them are total eyesores.
+1
Bethune Cookman logo reveal is looking way more Bayside High than anything…
the’s BFBS shoulder numbers was pretty much the worst part of my weekend sports viewing. Although seeing them lose with these was one of the best.
Also I’m not opposed to side helmet numbers popping up with every-other college alternate uniform that comes to light – it’s just that when the number font is sooo drastically different than the jersey numbers, it’s more of a distraction than any sort of benefit. Alabama is obviously the gold standard with this, and despite the fact that their typesets don’t match verbatim, it just WORKS visually. so when picking a seemingly random mismatched font for the side of their helmets that doesn’t remotely resemble their Jersey or TV numbers, it boggles the mind.
This violation is still not necessarily as bad as giant alternate helmet logos which grossly overrun the sides of said helmet (see Mich St.), and can only really be observed in their entirety from a mile away at just the right angle. totally unnecessary eyesore on TV or at a normal distance.
Sorry if this has been noted, but click below and scroll down for a very cool time-lapse video of Fenway Park being turned from a baseball to football stadium:
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I really love the recent trend of playing a few college football games/bowls in baseball parks (Fenway, Yankee, Wrigley, and AT&T Park are the ones I recall).