Sunday Morning Uni Watch

By Phil Hecken, and the SMUW crew
Follow @PhilHecken

It must be that time of year — the time of year when your favorite home team decides that school colors are for other games and it’s time to wear white from head to toe (or at least to sock). This looks great on UT (either Tennessee or Texas) when they’re on the road. White helmets, jerseys and pants are (or were) their thing. Now, though, it seems more and more schools want to adopt the Stormtrooper icy whites snowflake all white look. UCLA, or as rpm called them “UTLA” were the latest to go mono-white.

It’s actually not a bad look. But it’s just not UCLA (Vandy & Georgia Tech did it yesterday too). And after switching uni manufacturers this season and finally getting decent UCLA stripes and a nice blue jersey and gold pants, they decided to do a “white out” at home. It’s that time of the year, I’m sure they won’t be the last team to go mono-white.

Here’s TJ with your SMUW:

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Sunday Morning Uni Watch
By Terry Duroncelet, Jr.

From Thursday:

• Iowa State wore anthracite pants and new helmet decals against Texas.

From Friday:

• I know I’ve given Duke flak in the past for wearing black in the past, so I’m marginally-ashamed to admit that their grey uniforms from Friday night were actually pretty solid??? Especially the helmet. I know, I’m not proud of me either.

From Saturday:

• Given how today’s jersey tops are basically glorified muscle shirts that fold in on themselves more often than not, it’s easy to miss that Northwestern has a Northwestern stripe sliver on their sleeve cuffs.

• Minnesota wore Salute To Service helmet stripes against Maryland. And I’m not sure if they’ve been doing this all season, but at least in this game, they used captain’s C’s.

• Syracuse looked significantly better yesterday compared to their Thanksgiving-pie-two-months-too-soon look from last week, but WOW, NC State looked rough. Tuffy on the lids is the only real silver lining here.

• A tweak that Florida apparently made to their white pants (for those unaware) is that they seemed to have shrunk the orange stripe on the white pants (here’s one shot from last year for comparison, and another). This is the first time all season that Florida have worn the white pants (huge thanks to Jeff Stark for the spot). Also, Vanderbilt wore all-white (and I really do like their anchor helmets).

• Georgia Tech wore all-white, including their nest helmets, which are among one of my favorite helmets in college football. UNC wore an inoffensive all-blue look.

• Wake Forest wore these sweet decals along with an all-black look against Florida State.

• SMU was seeing red against UConn, and wore a new helmet configuration as well.

• Pitt wore navy helmets against Rice.

• In 1967 (correct me on the year if I’m wrong), Nate Northington Sr. became one of the first four African-Americans to play football in the SEC (along with Greg Page, Wilbur Hackett, and Houston Hogg), and Kentucky (the school Northington played at) honored him on Saturday by wearing #23 decals, his number from when he played at Kentucky. Their look from Saturday was otherwise straightforward.

• Michigan State wore white/green/white against Iowa.

• Tennessee wore their smoke uniforms against Georgia. In addition, Paul DeMay notes that Vols RB John Kelly’s nose bumper glitched hard in that same game (that’s what, the third nose bumper issue this season?).

• Penn State wore their hybridback uniforms against Indiana. You can read more about them here. Furthermore, I’m a fan of the look (except for the white cleats), but I think as a full-time switch (should they ever go through with one), this is an idea of what I would like them to do, along with the late-Autumn/early-Winter version (these are merely Q&D’s that I whipped up quickly to make time for the column, so it’s probably not spot-on, but you should get the idea). Also, I LOVE the cardigans worn by the PSU cheer team (PC: Blake Fox/@tennisblake).

• LSU wore white/purple/white against Troy.

• ULM wore their tribute uniforms against Coastal Carolina, honoring the 1987 D1-AA championship team.

• Texas Tech wore these wonderful uniforms (1974-inspired, I think) against Oklahoma State. Well-executed from top-to-bottom, right down to the helmet stars! Here’s an original photo for reference (PC for the last two pics: @SWCfootballNow).

• (***please note that concussions should NEVER be taken lightly. I am merely reporting a uniform-related finding***) There was a collision in the Notre Dame/Miami (OH) game that resulted in a Golden Dome helmet casualty. The player in-question appears to be sophomore RB Tony Jones Jr. (please correct me if I’m wrong), and I honestly hope he’s alright.

• Ole Miss wore their light blue helmets against Alabama.

• So I go to glance at the UCLA/Colorado game to see how the Buffs would look in all-black, but to my surprise, UCLA came out in all-white. If I remember correctly, this is the first time that they’ve worn white helmets since 2011 (against USC). Even the endzones and outline on the script logo at midfield was even painted white. Not a bad look, but it needs a blue facemask and a stripe (similar to the 2011 affair). Like this old colorization that I did years ago (well, someone lengthened the pant stripe and removed the PAC 12 patch and Adidas logo, and then I colorized it. I don’t know the original editor). Here’s how the two teams looked when eye-to-eye with one another.

That’ll do it for this last day of September 2017. Next week… WE GET SPOOPY (link provided because I know people will ask). See ya next week!

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Joe Ringham’s 5 & 1

Following in the footsteps of the original “5 & 1,” Jim Vilk, and Catherine Ryan after him, Joe Ringham is back again for 2017 to make his “5 & 1” (five good looking and one stinker) uni-vs-uni matchups. Sometimes he’ll have some “honorable mentions” and sometimes there will be more than one “bad” game. You may agree and you may disagree — these are, after all, just opinions and everyone has one. Feel free to let him know what you think in the comments section.

Here’s Joe:

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Good Sunday morning, everyone! And, welcome to October! But, before we start accenting everything in pink, we close out September and Week 5 of the season. Let’s see who made the list…

5) Washington at Oregon State — We head to the Pac-12 to start off the list. Love how the gold/white/purple of the Huskies clash against the orange/mono-black of the Beavers. Helps to create quite the eye-pleasing game to me.

4) Northwestern at Wisconsin — I’ve always loved the Badgers traditional home white/red/white look. Simple, classic, and it pairs up very well against the Wildcats purple/white/purple road set (which they should always go with). A beautiful-looking game in Madison.

3) San Jose State at UNLV — A late, but oh-so-good looking entry to the list. Loved how the gold/white/gold of the Spartans matched up brilliantly against the red/red/white of the Runnin’ Rebels. Bright and colorful on a Saturday night in Vegas.

2) UTEP at Army — While going through the afternoon games, this one popped out at me. Love the simple gold/black/gold home uni’s for Army, always a classic. Pair it up against the navy/white/navy of the Miners and you have quite the sharp-looking game at West Point on a Saturday afternoon.

1) Iowa at Michigan State — Full disclosure: Iowa was nearly on this list last week (got bumped from #5). Always a fan of the Hawkeyes simple look, in this case their black/white/gold road set. And I’ve been waiting for Sparty to pair the new white hat with their green/white home set. Looked fantastic, and helped make this one look even better.

And, finally…

+1) Georgia at Tennessee and Syracuse at North Carolina State — This is a tie because you had two games that actually could’ve been decent looking match-ups… except both home teams had to screw it up by going mono-grey.

Have a good week, and I’ll see you next Sunday!

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Thanks Joe! You can follow Joe on the Twitter and let him know what you think of his choices or make a 5 & 1 suggestion of your own!

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NCAA Uni Tracking

Uni Watch will again track the uniform combinations worn by the “Power 5” conferences. All of the 2016 trackers are back!

We’ve got Rex Henry (tracking the ACC), Dennis Bolt (tracking the PAC-12), Kyle Acker (tracking the Big XII), and Ethan Dimitroff (tracking the B1G AND the SEC). Rex, Dennis, and Kyle and are all returning from 2015, and Ethan is back after joining the NCAA Uni Tracking last season. Ethan has stepped into the dual role of both the B1G and the SEC.

Here are the Uni Trackers for the Power 5 Conferences:

+ + + + + + + + + +

Rex is up first today (ACC):

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ACC

More Here.
Follow Rex on Twitter here.

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And now, here’s Dennis with the PAC-12:

PAC-12

More here.
Follow Dennis on Twitter here.

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And here is Ethan, with the SEC:

SEC

And be sure to check out Ethan’s WVU Mountaineer Tracker.
Follow Ethan on Twitter here.

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And here is Kyle with the Big XII:

Big XII

Follow Kyle on Twitter here.

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And here’s Ethan with the B1G:

B1G

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Welcome to the 2017 Oregon Ducks Uni Tracker. This little project was originally begun way back in 2008-09 by Michael Princip, who retired after several seasons, whereupon the project was continued by Tim E. O’Brien. He, too, retired from the tracking, but the project has been ably kept up by the man who also tracks the Pac12, Dennis Bolt.

Here’s this week’s Uniform Combo for the Ducks (you can click to enlarge):

You can read about this uniform, and MUCH MORE, by checking out the Duck Tracker here!

Thanks Dennis!

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And now a few reminders from Paul

Hi there, in case you missed Friday’s entry, here are three things you should know about:

1. The annual Uni Watch NHL Season Preview is now available, with all of the uniform changes for the coming season. Check it out here.

2. Our latest limited-edition shirt from the Uni Watch Artist’s Series is by the great Sean Kane (shown at right; click to enlarge). It’s available here until Oct. 9. Additional info here.

3. We also have a bunch of new Naming Wrongs designs. Check those out here.

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Uni Watch News Ticker
By Phil

Baseball News: “When you’re the SmackDown Women’s Champion, apparently the Red Sox give you a NickNOB on a home uni,” says Derek Reynolds. … We’ve seen throwback and vintage baseball games before, but these modern-day sailors and soldiers recreated the U.S. Army versus Navy games from World War I (from Walter Young). … Possible uni changes for the Padres??? It’s a debate that has long been around the San Diego sports world, but also seen a new furor among the next generation of local fans: To bring back the brown, or not? … A fully uniformed Ben Zobrist biked to the park with his family to watch some sandlot baseball (from Bob Gassel). Bob adds, “Check out the socks.” … Is nothing sacred (TPFIC) “I’ve never seen @NewEraCap make celebration goggles before – each player has their own number on them in the middle” says Joe Giza.

NFL News: Over the last week we’ve seen plenty of controversy over kneeling during the national anthem in the NFL, with fans burning jerseys and bar owners using jerseys as doormats. Now, a radio station is planning on using NFL player jerseys to wash/dry cars at a car wash for veterans. … Two Washington running backs bought an Xbox for a young fan wearing a Colin Kaepernick jersey. … A twitter pal of mine, @OTBaseballPhoto, in a rare non-baseball DM, writes, “Stumbled on this Phil, it’s Mel Farr in 1968 (I think) with a crude helmet cam, figure it’s something you might want run with.”

College/Canadian/High School Football News: Our resident expert on football up north, Wade Heidt, writes, “The UBC Thunderbirds traded in their royal blue uniforms for black ones for their game against the Calgary Dinos in Vancouver on Friday night. Going all out BFBS for the first time. What is notable is the return of their Thunderbird Head logo to the helmet for this game. It is still the school logo, but UBC quit wearing their logo on their helmets after 2014. They now wear an interlocking ‘BC’ on the helmets with new uniforms starting in 2015.” … This is a new one. My pal Jimmy Corcoran has a nephew who is in 10th grade. Jimmy asks, “I can’t remember seeing this before in high school football? Instead of wearing a patch, the captains wear a huge C on the back of their helmets.” Anyone ever seen this before? … “Technically a panther is a wildcat,” writes Eric Lovejoy. “Local HS in northern IL borrows from the Florida Panthers.” … Here’s an article from the CFL website. It’s about the Miami (“Manatees”) team that was going to be part of the CFL’s American expansion in the 1990’s (thanks to Tom Pachuta). … The Columbia Lions football stadium uses the Detroit Lions logo from the Barry Sanders era on their seats (from Alexander Ganias‏).

Hockey News: If you follow this blog, or you read Paul’s NHL Season Preview (and you know you did), you’ve seen the Vegas Golden Knights have put season ticket holders’ names on ice. But they’re not alone: the San Jose Sharks do it too (from Adam Fritzen). … Check out this giant size goalie mask, seen at a Canadian Tire in Toronto (from Ted Arnold). … “Noticed small change this year to the alternate black jersey of the Vancouver Giants,” says Wade Heidt. “Previously, the jersey featured white letters on the nameplate. This year the nameplate has been changed to white with black lettering. Also noticed the ear loops and chin straps on the helmets have been changed to white from black.” … Here’s a look at the helmets for Arizona State University Hockey for the 2017-18 season (from Patrick Thomas).

NBA News: We don’t (usually) deal with the retail side of unis/jerseys here, but several readers (James MacNeil, Broc Barwick) have pointed out that the “swingman” version of the NBA jerseys do not have the truncated shoulder striping that the on-court jerseys will have. … Pretty sure we’ve had this item before, but Converse has now released special edition Celtics sneakers (from Phil Lawson). … Also from Phil, the Celtics’ Terry Rozier III has RNOB for his NOB. … Have we seen Dwayne Wade in his new Cavaliers jersey yet? … MRogers writes, “[F]irst G-league Nike stuff I’ve seen. Looks pretty consistent with NBA stuff.” … Missed in the hoopla of Nike gear was this Wolves hat on Lids with an all-new alternate logo. Maybe it’ll be on the City uni? (from Conrad Burry). … Whoops — major jersey malfunction last night for the Lakers’ Tyler Ennis (from Xanthony Barr). Here’s another look (from Griff Zakarin‏). As Jimmer Vilk says, “Lighter, stronger, moisture wicking…wait…make that just lighter and moisture wicking.”

College Hoops News: We’re seeing this more and more: R.J. Barrett has named his “final three schools” from which he’ll choose one. However, as Josh Hinton points out, “Barrett uses the new, updated UK logo but the old court design.”

Soccer News: During action yesterday in the English Premier League (EPL), Manchester City wore all maroon vs Chelsea at Stamford Bridge (from James Beattie).

Grab Bag: Check out some of the custom lacrosse sticks and gear being used by the WPLL (“Womens Professional Lacrosse League”). You can see more here as well (from Lax Sports Network). … On Facebook, a school administrator has asked whether school uniforms should be traded for track suits.

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