Sunday Morning Uni Watch

By Phil Hecken, with the SMUW Crew
Follow @PhilHecken

In all my years of doing the Sunday Morning Uni Watch, I don’t think I’ve ever “featured” Rutgers (although that will likely change in a couple weeks when the team breaks out their sleeved(!) 1869 “Throwback” uniform. And I wasn’t planning on featuring them today, but for one bizarre play — actually, post-play “celebration” that took place yesterday between Rutgers and Boston College.

Here’s the play as it happened…

wait for it

W. T. F.

The play unfolds simply enough: Rutgers quarterback Artur Sitowski connected with wide open running back Raheem Blackshear, who took off for a 74-yard touchdown. All good right? But then we cut to Rutgers center Michael Maietti, probably unaware what an offensive touchdown actually is (I KID I KID…sorta), who comes in the picture and cold cocks Sitowski! Fortunately, I think he was OK, but I’ve never seen anything like this. It was just so bizarre. I mean, we’ve seen fights on the field before, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one player punch his teammate (and pretty hard) in the face. Helmet/mask or not, that had to hurt.

Anyhoo, there were some good looking games this weekend and a few treats, so I’ll let TJ take you through the rest of the…

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Sunday Morning Uni Watch
By Terry Duroncelet, Jr.

Yesterday was a big one, as it was the day after people ACTUALLY FOLLOWED THROUGH ON A MEME, the one day in the year that you can spam this song 2,456 quillion times and not get any weird/rude looks (mostly), Batman Day (let’s not get into the discourse on the date, please, it changes more times than the helmets for half of the college landscape), a very special girl’s birthday, the 5-year anniversary of Drew Brees getting suplexed, and now we can add Central Florida taking their first regular season loss since 2016. It was also “technically” (thanks global warming) the last Summer fleet of games, as Autumn starts tomorrow, and there were a fair bit of uni happenings over the weekend, so let’s jump right into it.

From Thursday:

• Tulane… Tulane… TULANE… YES. YES. YES. YES. Anywho, one thing that I noticed was that the blue tops that they wore were from an older Nike template (note the funnel-shaped air channel at the collar going into the chest, compared to their current unis. Must be a carryover from last season). Thank you Tulane, for embracing your true colors. And Houston –who I smoked for their attempt at a “smoky” uniform last week– redeemed themselves by going with the classics. And how ’bout that finish?!

From Friday:

• On the subject of BFBS, I mentioned last week that Houston could’ve at least coordinated the helmet with everything else. Boise State seems to have followed through on that out-loud thought. Don’t get me wrong: they look like HOT GARBAGE in BFBS, and by no means am I condoning it, especially when you have so many more fun looks (that actually use school colors) to choose from, but at least the Broncos went all the way, so the “screw school colors” treatment comes full-circle. It’s satisfying, in a grotesque sort of way. At least Air Force looked good.

• S&S decals for LA Tech, who — much like Tulane from Thursday — also wore a carryover alternate uniform from last year.

From Saturday:

• What college football season would be complete without an upset? Pitt came from behind and beat UCF 35-34, but both teams won in the uniform department for their good designs, and is another shining reason why — say it with me now — CONTRAST. MATTERS. Also, from that game, Robb Zurek writes: “Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi wearing golf cleats. This pic is him running off the field at halftime”.

• SMU wore their sweet Dallas tribute/pride uniforms again against TCU, who didn’t look too bad themselves, but those numbers… it’s impossible to illustrate through stills, but watching the game, it felt like I was looking at one of those rainbow mirror/iridescent tote bags.

• BYU looked incredible against Washington… aesthetically. Gameplay-wise, it was a different story. That said, there’s something about this uniform that just screams “true college football”.

• As some of us know, LSU’s purple jersey rule is that they wear them for any non-conference home game, with the exception of the opening game, in which they wear white no matter what. Last week they wore white/purple/white against Northwestern State, and they played on the road yesterday against SEC-aligned Vanderbilt, so surely they’ll be wearing wh— wait, WHAT?! So here’s the deal: Vandy wore grey, and actually requested LSU to wear purple (they could’ve easily refused, and given us a similar sight for sore eyes that Ole Miss/Memphis did in Week 1, so thank hell that they didn’t). Interesting that LSU stuck with the white lids and pants, though. Not a bad look by any means, just interesting.

• It’s hard to see in certain lighting, but much like Air Force, Cal uses a color-coordinated 150 patch.

• I only just now noticed that Coastal Carolina uses an inverted treatment for their shoulder stripes.

• Mizzou can keep those diamond helmet stripes (inspired by their endzones) and I would not be mad in the slightest. Too bad they don’t show up all that well on the field.

• Rice wore new decals with the outline of Texas against Baylor.

• Oklahoma State wore orange helmets against Texas in the past, so why not make them MORE INTENSE? Yes, they were indeed that orange.

• San José State wore all-white against Arkansas.

• Throwbacks/retros for North Texas.

• When ordering wings, do you prefer boneless… or wingless? (h/t @therealbfranch, as well as a pic of what the side of the helmet is supposed to look like)

And that’ll do it for Week 4! Next week begins this year’s “true” Autumn games, and as always, a huge thank you to everyone who tags me on Twitter, and of course, for all of your helmet needs, you know who to call. See you all next week!

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Thanks, TJ! OK, now on to the rest of your SMUW…

Memal’s 5 & 1

Following in the footsteps of the original “5 & 1,” Jim Vilk, Catherine Ryan after him, and finally Joe Ringham, for 2019 we have a new “5 & 1” (five good looking and one stinker) uni-vs-uni matchups — Michael “Memal” Malinowski. Like Joe, Catherine & Jim, Memal will pick HIS 5 best looking/1 awful matchup, and occasionally have some honorable mentions (both good and bad). 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 Memal

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What a great weekend for uniform matchups! I picked out nearly a dozen games I thought were worthy to be featured in the top 5 before narrowing it down to the following selections.

Just landing outside the top 5 into the honorable selection spot: Georgia State @ Texas State

+++++++++++++++

5. Houston @ Tulane

Tulane broke out a brand new solid sky blue set Thursday night, which against Houston’s standard red/white/white away look . I put this at #5 due to Tulane being the Green Wave, not the sky blue wave!

+++++++++++++++

4. SMU @ TCU

The Mustangs brought out a new uniform set in the Battle for the Iron Skillet that featured a new, old school looking helmet logo and “Dallas” as a chest script. TCU came up short on the scoreboard, but looked as good as their competition in what I think is their best look, purple/purple/black.

+++++++++++++++

3. Notre Dame @ Georgia

One of the biggest games of the day delivered on the field in terms of competition and from an athletic aesthetic. Notre Dame’s gold/white/gold set shined under the lights against Georgia’s red/red/gray [Them’s SILVER Britches — PH] and against all the record crowd of red clad Georgia fans packed into Sanford Stadium.

+++++++++++++++

2. Utah @ USC

The lights of the Coliseum shone down upon a game with a strong uniform contrast; USC’s simple striped home red jerseys and gold pants against the busy stripe patterns on Utah’s white/white/black set. I’m glad the Utes sported the white lids to heighten the contrast between these PAC 12 foes.

+++++++++++++++

1. Cal @ Ole Miss

This game came down to the wire, but as soon as I saw it, I knew it was going near the top of the list this week. The Golden Bears looked sharp in their blue/white/blue against the Rebels, who pulled out all their uni tricks with the powder blue lids and red jerseys. It was the highlight of the best looking weekend of college football so far this year!

+++++++++++++++

And because someone has to be the sacrificial lamb…

@1 Air Force @ Boise State

These two earned this dubious distinction this week for their choice to include gray. It’s one thing to go BGBS like the Broncos did, but what’s the logic in making the letters gray instead of white like the numbers, or even blue? And the Falcon’s gray pants look dirty when combined with their white lids and jerseys. I’m not saying those pants look bad, but on this night, against that opponent wearing those unis, it all adds up to the worst looking game of an otherwise great looking weekend.

++++++++++++++++++

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

NCAA Uni Tracking

Uni Watch will again track the uniform combinations worn by the “Power 5” conferences. All of the 2018 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 a couple seasons ago. Ethan continues his dual role of tracking 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.
And (new for 2019!) — check out Rex’ Weekly Update.

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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

*Note the above is from last weekend. New Image Coming Soon!

Follow Kyle on Twitter here.

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And here’s Ethan with the B1G:

B1G

Welcome to the 2019 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!

Click to enlarge

Gumball reminder: Paul here. In case you missed it on Thursday, I DIY’d a bunch of Uni Watch gumball helmets! Full details on how I made them are available here.

I have a limited supply of these that I’m offering for purchase (each with its own vintage plastic capsule!). Ordering details here.

While we’re at it: The Uni Watch 20th-Anniversary Patch is now available at a final closeout price of only $3.99. Full details here.

Also, we have a few new Naming Wrongs shirts. Get the full scoop here.

We now return you to your regular weekend Phil-fest.

Uni Watch News Ticker
By Phil

NFL/CFL News: Reader (and my pal) Bill Hetrick took this photo of the Miami Dolphins in Dan Marino’s rookie season — Bill wants us to check out Marino’s “wristband game.” … Legendary groundskeeper George Toma returned to Arrowhead this week to help the #Chiefs’ crew paint the end zones gold. Cool stuff here (from Alex Manners). … The Edmonton Eskimos put former QB Ricky Ray on their Wall of Honour on Friday night. Submitter Wade Heidt adds, “He wore number 15 for the Eskimos. To commemorate Ricky, the 15-yard lines at Commonwealth Stadium were specially marked for the game.” … Here’s da Bears’ Eddie Goldman in the special black and orange stripe practice jersey he gets to wear for winning the weekly “Sweep the Sheds” award (from Ilko Skevüld). … I’m pretty sure we’ve seen this photo before, with Joe Namath wearing a NNOB jersey with no green on the sleeves — Rich Paloma asks, “Anyone know the story with Joe Namath’s jersey from this game in 1972 vs the Oilers? NNOB and different sleeve design.” Anyone? … Check out the great old time uniforms in this color AFL matchup (from Old Time Football). … Shaun Meulemans observes, “Packers going throwback this weekend, again with green accents. They really struggle with throwbacks.”

College Football News: Whoa — check out 1949 Rose Bowl winner Ed Tunnicliff (93 years old!) wearing the jersey he wore in the 1949 game at Northwestern yesterday (from Dylan Bercu). … James Gilbert notes this member of the Syracuse band is in and out of uniform at the same time. (Her name is Erin, and she’s a member of Syracuse’s Air Force ROTC.) … Speaking of marching bands, did you know that College bands have different game day unis? (from Jason Hendrix). Also, did you know they wear “Bibbers” (pants) and “Dinkles” (shoes)? … The great Blaise D’Sylva continues his fantastic helmet countdown, yesterday revealing the helmet history of Iowa. … Spidey Stowell was at the “BYU tailgate and they have a official historical helmets on display. I’ve never seen this decal on a BYU helmet before. Anybody have an explanation? It’s like a mix between KState and WasSt.” … Branding 101? Even the cups at Wisconsin have the Under Armour striping on them (from Josh Claywell).

Hockey News: Orange you glad? The Anaheim Ducks third jersey has leaked again — this time with more photos and more details (from Joe Nocella). … Earlier this week during training camp, the Regina Pats traded G Dean McNabb to the Winnipeg Ice. Submitter Wade Heidt adds, Dean played his regular season opener for the Ice while still wearing the navy blue and red pads he had with the Pats. He did switch out the mask to a plain white one. … Also from Wade Heidt, “Major junior hockey has dropped the puck. Friday night was the Western Hockey League’s opening night. The Spokane Chiefs are celebrating their 35th Anniversary this season. They are wearing their 35th Anniversary logo in their shoulders. Here are some photos showing the patch on the shoulder from their opening game in Kamloops.” … Steven Woj notes the New Jersey Devils continue to use different numbers (specifically the 7) on players gear versus on-ice. Other numbers are wider on jersey than those used on player workout apparel.

NBA News: It’s been anything but a “slow” off-season for the National Basketball Association, at least uniform-wise. So far, twelve different teams have unveiled Classic alternate uniforms for the 2019-20 season (from Conrad Burry). … Yesterday was Artis Gilmore’s birthday. Dude wore some great unis AND had outstanding fashion sense (from Tailgate Throwback Sports).

Soccer News: Don’t forget — for all your soccer needs, please check out the twitter account of Josh Hinton, who covers all the footy stuff. Like, all of it.
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Grab Bag: Here’s a really good article from Paul: “What Makes Someone a Fan? (NYT link). It’s more than just ticket sales. Rich Luker, a social psychologist, studies fandom and why, for example, someone might get a tattoo of their favorite team.” … Here are some jersey features for the inaugural PLL Championship. Championship logo on the chest and game date and location on the jock tag (from Zeke Perez, Jr.). … Check out the plaid jerseys on this Ultimate Frisbee team (from Ray Barrington). If you’re interested, that’s the Wisconsin Timber, a merger of two older teams, the Wisconsin Hops (Stevens Point) and the Green Bay Quackers.