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Uni Watch

Sunday Morning Uni Watch

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By Phil Hecken & The Cast and Crew of the Sunday Morning Uni Watch

Ah…USC vs. UCLA — always the best looking game of the year. And yesterday didn’t disappoint. In fact, I happen to think this game looked better than the past several years due to UA taking over the contract from adidas, who had the trademark treadmark unis, and used to truncate the classic UCLA shoulder loops (although they did remedy that problem in recent vintage).

There is probably no better color vs. color matchup in the college game. The two teams have such distinctive colors and they just go so well together. In fact, I’d actually prepared two different splashes for today, and I can’t waste the second one.

Cardinal and gold versus… well, UA is calling this UCLA Blue and gold now. It’s not quite as great as the more powder blue they once sported, and still don’t love the UCLA blue script on the hats, but that’s a small complaint. Give me two servings of this and this every third Saturday in November and I’ll be a happy camper.

If you didn’t happen to catch this game, just feast your eyes:

This was just one of many great looking games yesterday (pleasantly and surprisingly so), with just a couple stinkers scattered about. I’ll bet Joe picked this (as I think he does every year) for the #1 of the 5 & 1, but it’s up against some strong competition.

And with that, here’s my right hand man, Terry D. with your…

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Sunday Morning Uni Watch
By Terry Duroncelet, Jr.

The gloomy weather didn’t dampen Saturday’s mood, as it was Senior Day for many schools.

From Saturday:

• The Texas Longhorns played against the Los Angeles Rams on Saturday. Seriously, what was West Virginia thinking?

• During the Miami/UVA game, the Canes were penalized for having two #4’s on the field at the same time (you can have number duplicates in college ball due to the larger roster sizes compared to say, the NFL, just not in play simultaneously [PC: Ƒunhouse/@BackAftaThis]). Also, as a result of Adidas’s Laffy Taffy fabric, NOBs tend to become warped in certain places. Specifically, H’s become backwards K’s more often than not (PC: Rex Henry).

• It’s only a matter of time, Pitt. As an aside, how great did this game look?

• Blake Fox on Twitter noted that The Mothership score bug omitted Central Florida’s #15 ranking (how it would normally look, albeit with another team).

• I hate this and love it at the same time.

• You want to see a downgraded version of the Ohio State/Illinois game? No? Well, here ya go anyway.

• Georgia Southern wore S&S helmet stripes against South Alabama.

• Utah State did a similar gesture using S&S decals.

• As did Washington.

• Clemson wore mono-purple for Military Appreciation Day against The Citadel.

• Minnesota wore a new “White Goldy” uniform against Northwestern. There’s just oooooooooooooone problem with the look. Too bad about the anthracite pants, because those helmets are great.

• Kentucky wore all white with no helmet stripe against Georgia (white lids are usually stripe-inclusive). Also, Josh Hinton noted that “KSR (UK-sports blog/site) claims that today is the first time that the Cats have worn all white under Mark Stoops, but an earlier article contradicts this.”

• We’ll call this look “Black Cherry”.

• Notre Dame finally wore their Rockne uniforms (I love this gif), which strike that perfect balance between fun and familiar. These photos, and more, can be found on the ND Insider webpage.

• UCLA/USC looked amazing, as always, but this year was especially nice as the Bruins actually look like, well, like the Bruins.

And that’ll do it for Week 12! Tune in next week as we try to get over the Thanksgiving food coma hump for Week 13. See you then!

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Joe Ringham 5 & 1

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, everyone! This second-to-last week of the college football regular season was rather eye-popping. So many good looking games this week. So, without further ado… to the list we go!

5) Fresno State at Wyoming — I’ve been looking to get Wyoming on here for a while, and they come through here with a real beauty of a game. Loved the white/brown/gold at home for the Cowboys, and it matched up great with the red/white/red of the Bulldogs on the road. And, it gives me an excuse to pull this recent quote out…

4) San Jose State at Colorado State — This was a game that, when scrolling through the Saturday slate, just popped out at me fiercely. SJSU looked awfully good in gold/white/gold on the road, and it paired up excellently against the green/green/gold of the Rams at home. It made for quite the good-looking game on a Saturday afternoon in Fort Collins.

3) California at Stanford — The Big Game, from a uni perspective, did not disappoint. Cal looked fantastic in navy/white/navy on the road, and the Cardinal looked strong in their usual white/cardinal/white home look.

2) Harvard at Yale — Two classic rivals who always look great when playing one another. Just something about the Crimson’s crimson/white/gold road set against the Bulldogs’ white/blue/white home set that just looks like it belongs together.

1) UCLA at Southern Cal — The best looking game of the season to date. No other explanation needed.

Honorable Mention: Illinois at Ohio State, Pittsburgh at Virginia Tech, Massachusetts at BYU, North Dakota State at Illinois State

And, finally…

+1) Minnesota at Northwestern — On a day with a plethora of good-looking games to choose from, there had to be a clunker among the bunch. This one was it, looking as drab and dreary as the weather was in Evanston. Props to Kyle Good for tweeting this suggestion out to me.

Enjoy the Turkey Day Week, everyone! I’ll catch you next week!

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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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Duck Tracker

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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Uni Watch News Ticker
By Phil

Baseball News: Check out this photo of Yankees legend Yogi Berra rocking the oft rumored, rarely captured, white chest protector/maroon leg guard combo (from @OldTimeHardball). … Was there nothing the great Ted Williams couldn’t do? Here he puts on football gear for a workout at the United States Navy Pre-Flight School in North Carolina, in 1943 (from Bruce Menard). … Tweeter Jesse Alkire thinks MLB socks should better reflect each team’s brand and heritage. Here are his behance concepts to see how he proposes teams start suiting up in tradition from head to toe. … Apparently Chuck Tanner’s warmup jacket from 1979 is currently up for auction (from South Jersey Giants). I’d wear that. Jimmer Vilk would wear the pillbox.

NFL News: Great wire photo of the Boston Shamrocks football team posing at Fenway Park before a game with their AFL rival Pittsburgh Americans (1937). Says submitter Bruce Menard “Love those uniforms!” … The NFL wasn’t always about touchdown celebrations and concussion protocols, sometimes it was just about SWEET LOVE (from John Turney). … The Philadelphia Eagles have officially announced their uniform selection for their Sunday Night Football game against the Dallas Cowboys: Green hat & jersey, white pants. … Check out this sweet “Raiders en Mexico” helmet (from Maximiliano).

Hockey News: “The Ligue Nord-Americaine de Hockey (LNAH) is a low-level independent pro league based in Quebec,” says Wade Heidt. “This year, Trois-Rivieres changed their name to the Draveurs [who were] wearing a copy of a Dallas Stars’ logo on their chest versus the Jonquiere Marquis, who wear the Dallas Stars’ uniform template and colours.” … Nice article in the New York Times about Tony Harris, the man the NHL commissioned to paint portraits of the 100 greatest players from the 100 years of the NHL (thanks, Paul). According to Dier Straights, Brian Leetch never wore C in this Uni. … Here’s an interesting (educated?) “guess of what the Sabres winter classic jersey may generally look like, based off of the leaked hat” (from @KP8Design). … The 2019 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic will highlight an Original Six showdown between the Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins at Notre Dame Stadium (thanks Paul). This will be Chicago’s fourth NHL Winter Classic appearance and Boston’s third. … Last evening saw a nice ECHL color vs color match up, Toledo vs Cincinnati (from @StevePasz).

NBA/G-League News: Although only two are visible in this photo, Zachary Loesl points out the Wisconsin Herd have Shannon, Vitto, and Sterling Brown, who each have different nameplates (SH. BROWN, V. BROWN, and ST. BROWN). … The Akron Aviators shorts with TNOC (Team Name On Crotch) have finally arrived. Jimmer Vilk noted they were mysteriously missing last week (an unusually good uni-screw up). … Some color on color games look ok, even good. This Hawks/Celtics tilt wasn’t one of them (from Timothy Finnegan).

College Hoops News: Stanford’s men’s basketball team added captain patches some time in between their first game – against Cal Poly and their third game – against Eastern Washington. “You can see the difference in the pictures of Reid Travis (#22) in both links,” says Max Zelin. “There is a lot going on on those thin shoulders between the Nike logo, the captain patch, the Stanford logo, the American flag, and the Pac12 logo.” … Liberty and Houston played a color vs. color game yesterday (from Jacob Johnston). … The Southern Illinois Salukis have a new court design (from Nick Yelverton).

Soccer News: In yesterday’s Premier League matchup, Manchester City vs Leicester City went light blue vs. dark blue (from Erik Spoonmore). … The Harrisburg City Islanders of the USL rebranded as Penn FC (from Brian Henke).

Grab Bag: So, um…yeah: Wayne Gretzky, Connor McDavid, Jonathan Toews release custom toasters (from Ted Arnold, who adds, “Not uni specific per se but pretty funny and corny at the same time”). … Interesting multi-sport observation from Travis Holland: “Strings or laces in sports in order of importance 1. Football-affects the way you throw 2. Baseball-ditto 3. Lacrosse-used to affect the level of safety 4. Hockey-jersey laces just look cool”

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Comments (29)

    Ethan’s NCAA tracker is inaccurate in at least one instance. Purdue wore helmets that were black with gold trim.

    Some more university football uni tracking, Canadian rules style! The road to the Vanier Cup continues.

    -Well, the Loney Bowl for the Atlantic championship did end up happening this past Tuesday. A legal challenge occurred about the forfeit and a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge ordered the game to be played. Thanks to mike 2 for breaking the news of the developments last Sunday in the comments.

    Saint Mary’s Huskies wore their maroon helmets and went white over white. Host team Acadia Axemen went red over red:

    link

    On to the National Semifinals this past Saturday.

    -Uteck Bowl in Wolfville, NS.

    Western Ontario Mustangs wore their purple helmets and went grey over grey on the road. Acadia Axemen stuck with the red over red:

    link

    -Mitchell Bowl in Calgary.

    Laval Rouge et Or wore their regular gold helmets and went white over red. Calgary Dinos wore their most usual combo of mono-red:

    link

    Congrats to Western and Laval for advancing to the next week’s Vanier Cup in Hamilton, ON!

    The Uteck Bowl was a competitive match, with Western winning by a paltry 78 points 81 – 3. Both games were complete messes from an uniform perspective as per usual in Canadian University Football

    Let me be a voice of disent in regard to the reverance paid by this site to the USC/UCLA match up. The jerseys are nice, but the pants look too similar IMO to warrant the praise this game gets each year.

    Uteck Bowl result illustrates that the AUS (Atlantic conference) is just not on the same level as the rest of the country. Last time Atlantic team was in the Vanier Cup was 2007 (Saint Mary’s). Last time an Atlantic team won it was 2002 (Saint Mary’s again).

    It is to be somewhat expected. The AUS schools are small with regards to student enrollment.

    However, Western is an offensive machine. Acadia had 3 days rest due to having to play on Tuesday because of the Loney Bowl debacle.

    Thanks for the shoutout.

    I wouldn’t draw too many conclusions about the last few years. Laval has won 9 of the last 18 Vanier Cups, and lost a couple more. Its a pretty uncompetitive period in CIS football.

    (plus the 3 days rest thing)

    Western Final today. I’m not going to the game but I’m working a charity parking lot next to the stadium. Supposed to be a perfect 4 degrees.

    Normally, I would consider it to be a football fashion mistake for a team to wear white helmets with yellow pants when wearing a dark jersey. However, it does work well for Wyoming. It is their signature look and no other team should try it. I am a fan of the Wyoming uniform.

    As I watched Nebraska/Penn State yesterday I thought, it just doesn’t get better looking than this, this’ll be the top look tomorrow on uniwatch…. not even a peep mentioned anywhere. I’m so far out of touch with what people think looks good on a football field anymore…. and I’m fine with it :)

    I don’t like dark jersey vs. dark jersey, so the USC-UCLA matchup does nothing for me. I’d agree Nebraska-Penn State was a better looking game.

    I agree totally. It is too much of a good thing. Like chocolate syrup on chocolate ice cream. Both good, but give me some vanilla or in this case a white jersey to make this an even better matchup. I also like the old UCLA lite blues better. So I would also give the nod to Nebraska-Penn St. yesterday.

    I agree that Penn State vs. Nebraska should have been, at worst, an honorable mention. Beautifully clean and classic match-up. But you couldn’t be more wrong on USC vs. UCLA – the best color v color match-up ever. Vibrant, contrasting colors and clean uni designs.

    “Strings or laces in sports in order of importance”
    For lacrosse – nobody wears those helmets anymore. However laces are a critical component of the lacrosse stick. The strings in the pocket affect the way you shoot/pass/cradle.

    After looking At Pitt, UCLA and San Jose State, I’ve decided that blue and yellow/ gold is my favorite color combo.

    There was lots of talk about ND’s Knockne look but in my opinion, Navy looked even better.

    Have to disagree with Joe’s take on Harvard. Those pants look dingy.

    I agree that UCLA’s jersey *tops* look better with UA (no Adidas tread marks, better font, better shade of blue), but…

    The switch to white socks/cleats are a severe downgrade this season. Players looked they had footie pajamas under the gold pants; the uniform looked unfinished from the knee down. It ruined this game for me this year.

    The USC UCLA game is just so good to look at or watch. USC has my 2nd favorite uniform. The dark jersey one. UCLA looks good in the blue too. I watched most of the game partly due to how great it looked.

    Sure wish Michigan/Ohio State would go color vs. color. Those unis contrast so well, would look great together!

    I for one am looking forward to THE going full stormtrooper mono-white in the Big House next weekend.

    Wait. No I’m not.

    I would love to see Ohio State Michigan wear home unis. I dont know how hard it would be to fo so. Ohio States been wearing alternates.

    West Virginia apparently wore the white logo and facemask in honor of two seniors whose last name is White (also brothers of former Mountaineer Kevin White).

    I think because the Rams current blue uniform combo is a bit of an oddity, that the comparison was obvious for anyone uniform centric, so literally minutes into tuning into the West Virginia game, but yes, I see you also came to the same conclusion, so my apologies.

    Thanks for clarifying UCLA’s blue as something other than powder blue. Maybe now people will quit referring to the current incarnation as powder blue. Nah, not a chance.

    Can we talk about ND’s brown cleats for a minute? Wowza!!!! They need to switch to those things full-time ASAP. By far, my favorite part of that uni.

Comments are closed.