2016 NCAA Uniform Recap

• Boston College
  • BC is one of those schools that hasn’t really figured out what they want to do with their look. They’ve tried to be classic, and crazy, and can’t seem to hit on anything. They’re trying something new this year, and I think it can work. Gone are the two-colored sleeve cuffs and stained-glass sublimated shoulders. Now the Eagles will be wearing striped shoulder caps and thigh stripes. The stripes include the stained-glass motif that BC has used over the last few years. I don’t think it’s a fantastic look, but it’s a big improvement over what they’re worn in the past.
• Clemson
  • Clemson has updated to the Mach Speed template this summer, and slightly tweaked the design. The paw logo has moved from the sleeves to the top of the shoulders and TV numbers will now don the sleeves. These changes were done to better represent teams of the past, specifically their 1981 National Championship team. Details on every change can be seen at Clemson’s fantastic breakdown.
• North Carolina
  • No changes to the uniforms have been announced, but the Tar Heels will be playing Georgia in Atlanta to start the season. Both teams will be wearing their colored tops, so it’ll be a wonderful looking game.
• North Carolina State
  • This season will mark 50 years for NC State’s football stadium, so the team will be wearing throwback uniforms for their October 8^th matchup against Notre Dame. The most obvious aspect of these is the helmet logo, the “diamond” logo that donned NC State’s helmets from 1986 to 1999.

Image via Piit Athletics

• Pittsburgh
  • It’s been a long time coming, but Pitt has finally returned to their script logo. The school held a big announcement party in April to announce the change. In May, the football program revealed their new uniforms. This new set was announced with mixed emotions. It was nice to see stripes added back to the uniforms. But not many people are fans of the number font. To have a square/boxy outer exterior and be rounded on the inside, it was an odd font and pretty off-putting. Turns out it’s based off a building on campus, but that’s just another example of Nike failing to push story on a uniform. August saw the team reveal their throwback uniforms that will be worn a few times this year. These constitute the color scheme of the 1980s. Again, mixed feelings were all over the internet. Many people enjoy the yellow and bluecolors, but some preferred the darker gold to the bright yellow. The lack of shoulder stripes was disappointing, but Pitt’s uniforms went through many changes of their own during the 1970s and 1980s. Overall, it’s an improvement. The script is truly exceptional – that change was long overdue. The biggest change I would make to the uniforms is fixing the number font. If that’s done, these would be a wonderful design.
• Virginia
  • This year will be Bronco Mendenhall’s first year as Virginia head coach. Mendenhall stated he wished to take the program back to a more traditional uniform look this season. The jerseys are simply recycled from previous years, with the blue tops being the old throwback jerseys. The helmets are the biggest change. They’re using the blue and orange shells from previous season, and adding a new white helmet. Each helmet has a really nice stripe over the top that does this uniform set wonders. The downside is the V-sword logo is only on one side, while the player number is on the other. It does go to show that even small changes can have a massive effect. Another cool change is that the football field will have diamond-painted end zones, a throwback to a classic era of the sport.
• Virginia Tech
  • Lots of news for the Hokies. First off, the entire athletic department went through a bit of a redesigning, with every sport now using a common typeface, wordmark, and number font. The football team updated to a new template – the same template that LSU used a few years ago. The new number font doesn’t look great, to me, on the football uniforms, but I seem to be in the minority online. With VT starting the season against Tennessee at Bristol, the Hokies revealed a new uniform for the big game. And it’s pretty awful. Remember those “Hokie Stone” helmets they wore a few years ago? They’ve taken that design idea and placed it everywhere. The stone design covers the entire jersey and the pant stripe, with the pants being a dark grey or black elsewhere. The helmet also features the stone pattern, but this time only within the VT logo and stripes. I personally think it might have looked better if they paired the original stone helmet with this look.

Michigan’s new white Jordan Brand uniforms (image via Michigan Athletics)

• Michigan
  • What was the most anticipated unveil of the summer, Michigan’s new Jordan Brand football uniforms were nothing drastic. The uniforms will be on Nike’s Mach Speed template, but just showcasing the Jordan Brand Jumpman logo, a first for any football program. There are a few changes, though, but nothing too much. The biggest change is the number font. The font choice is actually a throwback itself to the 1934 team when a man named Gerald Ford sporting the maize and blue for Michigan. Speaking of maize, that name used for the yellow color used has changed. It’s now being called “Amarillo” but Nike. If we want to get technical, the old color was Pantone 116 C, and the new Nike color is Pantone 7406 C.  The helmet has also received a tiny change – it’ll now be a satin finish. When the news came out early August, there was a ton of debate and confusion over the difference between matte and satin, but the Michigan equipment manager twitter account did confirm it to be satin. Probably the biggest change is that the Wolverines would be sticking with the white pants on the road. Coach Jim Harbaugh brought these back last year, but rotated the classic yellow pants in. I hope they do the same at some point this year. I like the white pants as much as anyone, but the white jerseys and yellow pants was just typical Michigan to me.
• Nebraska
  • Sad news for Nebraska, with the passing of punter Sam Foltz and former Michigan State punter Mike Sadler. Both men died in a car wreck in July. To honor Foltz, Nebraska will be wearing memorial “SF27” decals on the back of their helmets. The team also revealed new alternate “Husker Chrome” uniforms to be worn against Northwestern on September 24. These actually look good, to me. I can do with the chrome striping at this point, but I love that matte white helmet. Maybe adidas just set the bar so lowin the past that anything decent is now good?
• Northwestern
  • A few years ago, Northwestern debuted their new uniforms featuring Northwestern Stripes (yes, that’s what they’re called) across the chest. This year, they’ve since updated those uniforms to Under Armour’s new template. Design changes include matching the collar to the body of the uniform (rather than contrasting like last year), and having the Northwestern stripes placed on the sleeve cuffs and thigh strap on the pants.
• Ohio State
  • Ohio State and Nike signed a $252 million extension in January shortly after the college football season ended. Besides that, the team will wear 1916 throwbacks against Nebraska on November 5^th.
• Purdue
  • The Boilermakers are another program I think has a great logo and great potential, but just fails to use it well on the gridiron. After years of sporting extremely plain uniforms, Purdue has upgraded this summer. Now using the Mach Speed template from Nike, the Black and Gold has taken the train from their logo and used the “cow catcher” as a motif across the board. The shoulders now feature sublimated grill lines to represent the front end of an old locomotive engine. The team will have black, white, and anthracite jerseys and pants available to wear. Unfortunately, the anthracite jersey has a black shoulder yoke on it. There’s also three helmets available. The traditional gold lid, and black helmet with train track striping (which again, has potential but doesn’t execute very well), and a white helmet featuring their amazing train logo, sadly only on one side. This will be the best Purdue has looked in a while, but it still feels empty with the how much better they could’ve been.
• Rutgers
  • When Chris Ash took over as the new football coach, he was told by many fans that something had to be done with the uniforms. Ash stated that he wanted to return to “a traditional Rutgers look” with the new uniforms. Nike unveiled a new logo and new uniforms for each of Rutgers’ teams at the school’s annual “R Awards.” The football uniforms will each use Nike’s Mach Speed template and feature shoulder stripes and sublimated chainmail detailing on the shoulder caps. The helmet is back to the older design prior to the most recent redesign – plain one-colored shell with the simple block R logo. The helmets also feature a “#BELIEVE” decal on the back, to honor former player Eric LeGrand, who was paralyzed after a brutal hit in a 2010 game. The pants are rather plain, simply featuring two stripes in the mesh side panels. Simple or not, it’s nice to see *something* on the pants after most of Nike’s uniforms didn’t have anything on the pants this summer. The team also revealed an all-black alternate uniform in August, one that is simply a recoloring of the other designs. The helmet is the most intriguing part, with the shell being matte black and the new knight logo donning the sides. It looks like it’ll be a good uniform, but we’ll have to see how it looks on the field.
• Wisconsin
  • The Badgers left adidas this summer for a new deal with Under Armour. July saw the reveal of the new Wisconsin uniforms (alongside new Notre Dame and Yale uniforms) at the Under Armour 20^th birthday party in Baltimore. The new uniforms are nearly identical to the previous design. The biggest changes come with the new number font that better resembles the motion-W logo, and the stripes all across the uniform. The stripes feature arrows that “reflect the idea of being ‘Forever Forward’ (the team’s new motto) inspired by our state motto: Forward.”

• Iowa State
  • Iowa State revealed a new alternate helmet this June. The new white helmetsfeature chrome decals and a tapered stripe. These helmets look spectacular, and will look amazing with the all white road uniforms. They’re set to be worn “a couple of times” this season, and I can’t wait to see them.

Oklahoma State’s new orange uniforms (image via Oklahoma State Athletics)

• Oklahoma State
  • Oklahoma State was one of the early teams to hop on the new uniform train a few years ago. I, for one, always liked the old design, with the “barbed wire” stripe – it was simple and unique and I loved it. These new Mach Speed uniforms are pretty loud, in my opinion, but a fairly clean look overall. The first detail you’ll notice is the collar and sleeve details. The design is a custom-made collection of Oklahoma State details, including Barry Sanders’ famous #21, as a cowboy bandana. The thought behind this design is decent, but I’m not the biggest fan of it. The uniforms also feature a new custom font. The pants are extremely simple, just having “COWBOYS” in white or silver. My least favorite part of the design is the new sheriff’s badge on the chest. It’s a great looking design, but I adored this when team captains would wear one for the bowl game. The team showed off countless helmets in the promo photos, so fully expect the Cowboys to continue mix and matching lids this season.
• West Virginia
  • This year will mark the 125^thanniversary of West Virginia football, so the team will sport a special decal on the helmets this year. The Mountaineers were also spotted wearing merit decals in practice, but no word yet if those will translate over to the game helmets. The new 125^thanniversary logo will be worn on the helmet for the opening game, and it works wonderfully.

Conference USA

• Marshall
  • Marshall broke out new green jerseys last season. This year, they’ve added the M logo to the shoulder caps, and new green pants with matching black stripe. I still feel like these are a downgrade to the previous design, but whatchya gonna do. I still miss the peapods though.
• Old Dominion
  • Old Dominion has new white helmets this year, possibly replacing the previous Navy clones. These new lids will feature a unique helmet stripe and what seems to be chrome decals on the sides. The Monarchs also released a new all-black uniform, with a nice matte black helmet.

The Hilltoppers have a new set of uniforms (image via Western Kentucky Athletics)

• Western Kentucky
  • After a few seasons with a fairly unique uniform set, the Hilltoppers unveiled a new set this summer. Sticking with Russell Athletics’ latest template, these new uniforms feature a distinctive stripe on the shoulders that end at a point towards the chest. Much like the last set, the numbers will feature the school’s seal. The helmet stripes and base layer shirts will feature sublimated houndstooth patterns, which is to honor legendary head coach Jimmy Feix, who passed away in 2014.
• Louisiana Tech
  • Another school switching uniform suppliers, LaTech has left Nike to join adidas. The new football uniforms are not much different than the previous set. The biggest change throughout the uniforms is simply the matching of the stripes. The team has changed from Northwestern stripes, just dumping the middle white stripes and making everything more compact. The number font seems to be a bit smaller, and the team nickname has been added to the chest. Minor changes overall.

• Akron
  • Smaller schools have a difficult time funding changing their uniforms every now and then, let alone every season like many Power 5 schools. That holds true with Akron, who has slowly changed their look in previous season. This year, they’ve changed from a very outdated adidas look to a new Shockweb 2.0 blue uniform. No word yet if the whites were also changed. The Zips also have a new white helmet with gold Z logo and facemask, and boy I hope we don’t see this one often.
• Ball State
  • The Ball State Cardinals have unveiled a few new helmet designs. The first is the Red,White & Blue design, featuring an American Flag motif in the cardinal logo and stripes. The other, a matte black helmet, comes with a new black alternate uniform. Also, for the fist time since 1970, the Cardinals will red helmets available in the rotation.
• Bowling Green
  • Bowling Green revealed a whole slew of new uniforms last season. This year, they’ve unveiled a new Military Appreciation helmet. The BG in the logo feature the stars and stripes while the eagle head has digi-camo theme. The cool feature of this design is in the stripe, where the team has placed the names of Bowling Green State University students that have passed in the line of duty, all 111 of them. Apparently there will be 12 different helmet stripes spread out across the entire team to accomplish supporting each family. As much as I dislike teams wearing military appreciation uniforms (and other noble “causes” out there), I really like the idea behind this helmet. If BG finds that the different logo decals are necessary to help accomplish the goal of this, then fine. The stripe alone does a fantastic job of honoring previous students.

The Buffalo Bulls have new blue, white, and black uniforms this year. (image via Buffalo Athletics)

• Buffalo
  • The State University of New York – Buffalo University of Buffalo has finally dumped their awful uniforms for a very simple set. After having that hideous chest patch, anything is an upgrade. The new Mach Speed uniforms come in white, blue, and black. The Bulls showed off three helmets with the promos. Sadly, it looks as though they’ll be focusing on black and white shells and decals. It would be nice to see their nice shade of blue pushed a bit more. Overall the design is bland as ever, but it’s a massive upgrade, which doesn’t say much. They’ll also be playing on a new turf field.
• Eastern Michigan
  • After a few years of wearing uniforms with ClipArt wings, Eastern Michigan will be wearing a much better design this year. The team revealed a new green jersey on adidas’ Shockweb 2.0 template that featured some nice silver shoulder stripes and diamond plate numbers. The helmet also matches with the striping and diamond plate on the E logo decal. It’s loud, but that’s adidas, but I think it’s a good lookfor them.
• Kent State
  • Kent State will now be wearing Under Armour uniforms. The new uniforms, on the new template, are rather simple, simply having a contrasting colored set of shoulder caps and the now-typical thigh stripes. The interesting part is that the left leg stripe has the school’s name written across, which I believe is the first time this has happened with this new template.
• Miami OH
  • After wearing one of the more unique designs in recent years, Miami has shelved the “bowling ball” uniforms for a much simpler design. The new design is rather Mississippi State-like with the single shoulder yoke stripe. The more interesting aspect is the two helmets shown off, with the white helmet – the better of the two – having a small red stripe towards the bottom, almost reminiscent of the Navy helmets. The red helmet fades to white towards the bottom.
• Ohio
  • No design changes for Ohio, but they have updated to the new Russell template. Looks like the Bobcats will be wearing some really poorly striped pants as well this year.
• Toledo
  • Per the internet, I’m in the minority for really liking Toledo’s uniform design. This year, they’ve added a new blue-fade-to-yellow helmet, which I’m not a fan of. They also have a new turf design.
• Western Michigan
  • Western Michigan’s head coach has been pushing “row the boat” as the team montra for the last few years now. They’ve worn some crazy uniforms resembling the phrase, but they have yet another set of uniforms. The design is pretty bad, all black with oars lining the numbers and sides of the jerseys and pants. The cool part is that head coach P.J. Fleck modeled the uniforms at practice, and even took part in some drills! The university also announced a brand refresh, taking the chance to clean up their logos and wordmarks.

Mountain West Conference

Air Force has one of the coolest helmets this season (image via Air Force Athletics)

• Air Force
  • Some of the best alternate uniforms come from the military academies. One of the typical favorites is the Air Force Thunderbird uniforms worn in 2010. Those may now be #2 for many people after the Air Force Academy revealed new Sharktooth uniforms, which feature amazing helmets that match the bombers. The all grey look is a divergent from the typical blue and grey, but it’s easy to give the academies a free pass. Plus these just look freaking awesome.
• Colorado State
  • In a bit of a surprise, the Colorado State Rams revealed new uniforms. The team last received new uniforms for the 2014 season. These new uniforms are set on Under Armour’s newest template, and aren’t a massive change from the last. The biggest change is the removal of the contrasting colored shoulder caps for the ram horn logo. The shoulder logo is a bit odd, and looks a little ClipArt-ish, but it would look much better if it matched the helmet horns a little better. The pants no longer feature a solid stripe, but rather have “RAMS” written across the left thigh, where Under Armour has loved to place stripes in the last few years.
• Fresno State
  • Nothing yet
• Hawai`i
  • The Rainbow Warriors wore new green uniforms last year, and this year they’ve added a new white set. The uniforms are simply a recolored version of last year’s home design, and I personally think they look wonderful. Hopefully we’ll get to see the rainbow throwbacks once again this season.
• Nevada
  • The Wolfpack has been doing their best to keep up with the changing uniform trend. Sadly, budget constraints has hurt their chances to do so. This season, the team has gone back to a matte blue helmet with silver facemask, and two different logos – the wolf logo on the left, the script Pack on the right.
• UNLV
  • I love the new matte grey helmet with mascot logo that UNLV will be wearing this year. It has so much character and I can’t wait to see it hit the field.
• Wyoming
  • One of the worst looking teams over the last many years, Wyoming has FINALLY updated from their hideous FlyWire shoulder uniforms. The Cowboys have upgrade to the Mach Speed template this year (they basically skipped five or six templates with this change) and they look so much better. They did a wonderful job matching elements from the typeface to the numbers and bringing out the “Old Western” look into this design. It would’ve been nice to see matching stripes on the pants, however.

 

 

Pac 12

• California
  • Cal has signed a deal with Under Armour worth $86 million in April. The contract won’t take over until the 2017-18 season, so they’ll still be with Nike for the upcoming season.
• Oregon
  • Oregon decided to try out the new Vicis ZERO1 helmet, a reimagined helmet that helps better protect from concussions, for the entire season, but they’ve since shelved them after complaints from players. Uniform wise, an all-black uniform was used for some promo photos showcasing Nike’s newest template, the Vapor Untouchable. Shockingly, there’s reportedly even more in the works for the Ducks, something that will even “break the internet.” There was a new jersey with new shoulder wings posted on a retail site, and many think this will be the new base design.
• Oregon State
  • The Beavers have worn one of my favorite helmets for the last few years. Now photos have surfacedthat look as though they have changed out the fantastic striped facemask for a plain black one. I’m hoping they’re just placeholders, as I would be very sad if they did make this change.

USC will be wearing their new white jerseys week one against Alabama (image via USC Athletics)

• Southern Cal
  • USC has ultimately worn the same uniforms since 2002, only making small changes like updating templates. This season will see USC’s biggest design change since 2001. The new Mach Speed uniforms will feature a Trojan-style pattern around the collar and sleeve cuffs. The white jersey will feature crimson trims for the first time with this design. They’re minor changes throughout, but it’s a good look. The white jersey looks to be in need of a bit more yellow, but that’s a terribly minor gripe.
• UCLA
  • UCLA signed with Under Armour in May, to the tune of 15 years and $280 million. The record deal won’t take place until next July. Because of that, the football team has moved away from adidas’ ugly templates, settling for a very simple template. Thankfully, the shoulder stripes are in a much better application, actually looking more than a simple stamp like on previous templates. The number font has also changed, and sadly it still isn’t Clarendon. These still aren’t perfect, but it’s nice to see no more tiretreads.
• Utah
  • No change to the uniforms, but the Utes have tweaked their helmets a bit. They split the red center stripe to create what they’re calling a “Utah Stripe.”
• Washington
  • Much like Oregon, Washington players were planning to test out the new Vicis ZERO1 helmet, but they scrapped that after similar complaints from the players.

 

 

Southeastern Conference

• Arkansas
  • Really cool change from Arkansas, where graduated student-athletes will now wear special SEC patches detailing their accomplishment.
• Auburn
  • No design changes, but it appears Auburn will be the latest team to join in on the treDCALS 3D logo thigh pads this season.
• Georgia
  • With a new head coach, there’s been rumors of returning to the black jerseys. The black jerseys debuted against Auburn in 2007, and haven’t been worn since 2008. A new set of black jerseys, with red collars and sleeve cuffs, is apparently going to be worn at some point this season.

Kentucky players model their new Nike uniforms (image via Kentucky.com)

• Kentucky
  • Kentucky updated their UK logo last season, but it took a while for it to be pushed out everywhere in the athletic department. This season, the football program has rolled out new Nike Mach Speed uniforms. The biggest change is that the checkerboard shoulder caps are much more defined now, which is sadly a downgrade for me. I thought the sublimated look was a much nicer look. The pants also have lost their double stripes, now featuring a colored mesh panel, which looks awfully cheap. Oddly enough, I think the new anthracite jersey looks better than the previous grey and black sets as the checkerboards actually blend better, rather than just being copy and pasted from the other sets. The helmets also look to have lost the single stripe, which seems as a downgrade right now. In addition to the new uniforms, Nike also revealed a new wildcat head logo, which can be seen on the pants’ hip. No official word if this will be worn on the helmets anytime soon, but rumors began to swirl shortly after the reveal. Overall, I think these uniforms would’ve looked a lot better if they didn’t proceed a pretty good design. They’re a solid look, but I still prefer the previous uniforms.
• Missouri
  • Nothing concrete yet, but a recruit tweeted out a photo of a brand new matte gold (it’s yellow though) helmet. Match the helmet to the right gold and it might work out.
• South Carolina
  • Last year, the Gamecocks decided to jump on the alternate uniform train, and broke out a few new helmets, including their throwback red lids. This year, the team will have three different helmets available – the usual white, throwback red, and new black. The team also has a new set of uniforms on Under Armour’s new template. The new template fits the shoulder stripes so much better this time around. Team seniors will reportedly vote on each week’s uniform combinations.
• Tennessee
  • To honor legendary Tennessee basketball coach Pat Summitt, who passed away earlier this season, the football team will wear special decals on the back of their helmets.

Sun Belt Conference

• Appalachian State
  • App State has a new set of jerseys, updating their looks to the new Mach Speed template. The white jersey was designed to match the black tops, simply copying the shoulder caps, which is an improvement over the last design. The white helmet looks to be new, as well.
• Georgia State
  • According to one of Georgia State’s assistant coaches, the Panthers will have two new helmets available for this season. The matte blue helmet shown is particularly bad. That shade of blue just doesn’t work well in that finish. The chrome helmet is in the same color and features the same panther head logo, but looks a lot better.

Idaho will wear new matte grey helmets and matching uniforms this year (image via Idaho Athletics)

• Idaho
  • Idaho has been stuck in time with their uniforms, struggling to fund new uniforms each year. After a generous donation last season, the Vandals will be sporting new silver alternates this year. The new uniforms will be on the Nike Mach Speed template and be completely silver. The helmets will be a matching silver with silver facemasks. According to the article on Idaho’s athletic site, the helmets with have “Vandals” on the side at home, and “Idaho” on the road. (The article wasn’t exceptionally written, so it’s possible the new silver helmets will only be worn on the road. It was difficult to tell by the article.)
• Louisiana-Lafayette
  • ULL hands-down had the greatest April Fools’ “prank” this year, when head coach Mark Hudspeth tweeted an image of a new helmet featuring lobster decals. Unfortunately is was proven to be a joke, but the internet fell in love with the design so there’s a (small) possibility of it becoming reality one day. Besides that, the team does have some new uniforms. A few years ago, the team wore fleur de lis on the shoulders, then replaced them with TV numbers. Now, the TV numbers have moved to the top of the shoulders and stripes now don the shoulders. They’ll also be sporting new helmets, both of which feature double striping and Ragin’ Cajuns on the side. It was mentioned online that they look an awful lot like Wisconsin from a few years ago. That’s not a bad thing, but I do wish they would use the fleur de lis a lot more.
• New Mexico State
  • Another team leaving their previous uniform maker, New Mexico State has changed from adidas to Under Armour. Thus far, we’ve only see an image of their new colored tops, which is already a big improvement. The new tops are on Under Armour’s new template, and feature black and white shoulder caps. I feel like this is one of the first times we’ve seen Under Armour provide uniforms with multiple colors in the shoulder cap area, and it’s a decent look. Hopefully the rest of the uniforms look good when they hit the field this season. The Aggies also quietly tweaked their logo this summer.
• Troy
  • According to the team’s equipment Twitter account, Troy will have new matte red and white helmets available. The Trojans will be sporting their chrome lids for the season opener.

 

Division I FBS Independents

Notre Dame will wear their new “Shamrock Series” uniforms in Texas against Army. (image via Notre Dame Athletics)

• Notre Dame
  • One of the smaller changes of the summer, Notre Dame slightly tweaked their logo. The outline was extremely large on the older version, and it’s been toned down a good bit. The football jerseys also experienced a minor tweak, as the player numbers were slimmed down a little. The big news come from the Under Armour birthday bash, where a new Shamrock Series uniform was unveiled. Since the Irish are playing Army for this year’s edition of the game, Notre Dame decided to “honor the military” by wearing dark green, reminiscent of some military uniforms. The connection with the school comes with from a special memorial on one of the school’s campus buildings. The entrance way features an amazing engraving with “God, Country, Notre Dame in Glory Everlasting” above the door. The memorial is meant as a way to honor the Notre Dame men that passed in World War I. The artwork is placed on the uniforms on the side of the hand painted helmets and on the shoulder caps. The unique Gothic-style font from the engraving translate over to the wordmark on the chest and the player numbers. I love using aspects of campus on a uniform like this – Northwestern did it perfectly a few years ago. But the drab green and gold really hurt this uniform for ND. I feel like this uniform has great potential, but the coloring does it zero favors in my book.

 

NCAA Division I – Football Championship Subdivision

Big Sky Conference

• Montana
  • The Griz have new chrome red helmets that feature an obnoxious claw scratch decal on the top

North Dakora has a new nickname, logo, and matte green helmets (image via North Dakota Athletics)

• North Dakota
  • Previously the Fighting Sioux, North Dakota has finally rebranded themselves as the Fighting Hawks. The NCAA forced North Dakota to abandon their previous moniker back in 2012 due to the possible insensitivity to American Natives. The team revealed new matte green helmets to reflect the new logo, sadly only placing it on one side. They’ll also be wearing new grey uniforms this season.
• Portland State
  • The Vikings went through a school-wide redesign, revealing a new PS shield and Viking head logo. The new Mach Speed uniforms are pretty simple, but an improvement over the previous look. The PS shield looks a bit odd on the helmets, and I would love to see the Viking make an appearance.

 

Big Sky Conference

• Charleston Southern
  • The Navy alternate helmet from 2012 has been a very popular choice for numerous schools. The Buccaneers will be the latest to jump on the ship. The coloring isn’t bad, but the execution is. What is supposed to be a gold chrome stripe looks more like masking tape. We can only hope, if this helmets sees playing time, that they do the stripe justice.
• Monmouth (NJ)
  • The Monmouth Hawks will be sporting new white, purple, and grey uniformsthis season. Yea, they’re plain, but anything is better than piping.
• Presbyterian
  • The Blue Hose have new “Tartan Up” helmets that feature a shortened version of the school name, and a unique plaid patterned stripe.

 

Colonial Athletic Association

• Stony Brook
  • The Seawolves will be sporting new red Nike Mach Speed uniforms. The addition of the blue stripe looks better than the grey stripes.

 

 

Ivy League 

• Brown

• • The 4-time Ivy League champions will have a new alternate uniform this season. The black Nike uniforms feature brown shoulder caps with brown and white collarbone stripes. These feel like a big downgrade, especially with what their normal uniforms will look like.

Cornell’s new white Nike uniforms and matte red helmets (image via Cornell Football Equipment)

• Cornell
  • Cornell has a new white Mach Speed uniform, which looks pretty good. My favorite part of this set is that gorgeous matte red helmet. They’ll also be playing on new turf this season.
• Princeton
  • The Princeton Tigers will be wearing new Nike uniforms this season. The black and white uniforms are very similar to the historic look they’ve always worn. But the big news comes with the new all orange uniforms.
• Yale
  • After years of wearing Nike, Yale became the first Ivy League program to sign with Under Armour. The biggest design changes for the Bulldogs is a two-toned collar and normal pants striping.

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference

 

• • Big news for the MEAC Conference, where the majority of the schools associated have signed individual apparel deals, ten of which signed with Nike, after the conference-wide deal with Russell Athletic expired last season.

Delaware State has new Nike uniforms this year (image via Delaware State Athletics)

• Delaware State
  • The Hornets moved away from Russell to Nike, and they’ll be sporting new collarbone striped uniforms. The design is pretty similar to the previous set, albeit the gradient numbers are pretty bad.
• Florida A&M
  • After years of wearing notoriously bad uniforms, the Rattlers have changed from Russell to Nike, and of course have new uniforms. The two sets revealed are extremely plain, with just the player numbers on the jerseys, and “STRIKE” on the pant legs. I’m pretty sure the white numbers on the white jerseys aren’t legal according the NCAA’s new uniform rules.
• Hampton
  • The Pirates were one of the few teams to sign with Under Armour. Their new uniformsaren’t a big change from their old set. The new striping pattern looks really good.
• Howard
  • After years of poaching the Buffalo Bills’ logo, Howard finally has their own set of logos. And they look good! The Bison signed with Under Armour, and their uniforms are extremely plain, a big change from the Russell uniforms.
• Morgan State
  • New orange adidas Shockweb 2.0 uniforms were shown off at MEAC Media Days. Their old uniforms were a doozy.
• Norfolk St
  • New Nike uniforms that are a blend between the Miami Hurricane collarbone stripes and Arizona gradient stripe were shown off a Media Days. They last wore Russell’s standard uniforms. The program also showed off what appears to be a new chrome helmet before switching from Russell.

Missouri Valley Football Conference

• South Dakota
  • The Coyotes will be wearing new “ghost” matte white helmets with chrome decals this season.
• Southern Illinois
  • The Salukis will be wearing new matte red helmets this season. They had previously worn matte black lids.
• Western Illinois
  • The Leathernecks’ have new adidas Shockweb 2.0 uniforms this season.       

Northeast Conference

• Sacred Heart
  • The Connecticut-based Pioneers will have new chrome/metallic helmet decals for the season.

Ohio Valley Conference

• Austin Peay
  • The Governors will be wearing white helmets for the first time in their program’s history. They normally wear red lids.
• Murray State
  • The Racers have a nice new uniform set this year. Last year, Murray State revealed a new set of logos, and this new set reflects that. The helmet features a tapering stripe with the blue and yellow checkerboard. The new M-Racer logo will be on the left side, while the player number will sadly be on the right. The uniforms are rather plain, with the blues having a white shoulder cap and the white tops being completely white.
• Tennessee Tech
  • Another Russell Athletic casualty, the Golden Eagles have signed with adidas. The new uniforms will resemble the striped design LSU has donned for decades. Thankfully we will never have to see these again.

UT-Martin will look a little less like Auburn this season (image via UT-Martin Athletics)

• Tennessee-Martin
  • Everyone’s favorite Auburn clone, UT-Martin has changed over to Under Armour from Russell. The biggest change for their uniforms is the basic jersey tops, now without any striping whatsoever. The pants striping now matches the helmet, something that many people would like to see Auburn change to.

Patriot League

• Colgate
  • New mattered and grey helmets for the Raiders.
• Fordham
  • Fordham revealed some nice new uniformsto the team. They’re a good upgrade from the previous look.

Georgetown will have two new helmets for this season (image via Georgetown Athletics)

• Georgetown
  • One of my favorite designs of the summer, Georgetown revealed new white Mach Speed uniforms. The jerseys, much like their blue set from last year, feature their infamous Kent Cloth pattern on the shoulder caps. The best part comes with the helmets, where the Bulldogs tweaked their grey lids to have some more detail, and they added an amazing matte blue helmet with the alternate bulldog logo.

Pioneer Football League

 

• Jacksonville (FL)
  • The Dolphins have a new set of green tops, gold pants, and white helmets.

 

Southern Conference

• The Citadel
  • Minor tweak for the Citadel, as the white jerseys now have the block C logorather the full school name.
• VMI
  • VMI has new Under Armour uniforms, and they look great. Both the white and red sets have gold shoulder caps with sleeve cuff stripes and a tapering stripe over the shoulder. The previous set was very plain, so these are a great upgrade.

Southland Conference

 

• Abilene Christian
  • Previously with adidas, the Wildcats have changed to Nike and revealed new uniforms this summer. The purple tops are the new catalog template resembling Nike’s newest Vapor Untouchable template, complete with the collarbone stripes. The whites, my personal favorite of the set, is on the Mach Speed template and includes purple shoulder caps with the ACU logo.
• Incarnate Word
  • The Cardinals will be wearing new matte red helmets with logo on one side, player number on the other.
• Sam Houston State
  • Sam Houston will be sporting new white uniforms this season, complete with brand new blue and orange pants. The orange tops were worn last year.
• SE Louisiana
  • The Lions have debuted a nice new white helmet. They previously wore yellow helmets.

 

Southwestern Athletic Conference

 

• Prairie View A&M
  • Prairie View has a “new” logo, in which they simply adjusted the coloring in the letters. The football team also has new Russell uniforms, a slight tweak from last year.

 

Division I FCS Independent

 

• Coastal Carolina
  • In their first year in FCS, Coastal Carolina has changed from Russell over to Under Armour. The new uniforms are on the new template, and feature contrasting colored shoulder caps with an interesting dotted-line stripe. The same stripe is placed on the thigh straps. It’s a good, clean look for Coastal, much better than the previous Russell uniforms.
• Wichita State
  • The Shockers last fielded a football in 1986. There’s been growing interest in bringing the team back in the short future. The school’s president shared a photo of a prototype helmet when the news began to circulate. The matte black helmet looks pretty interesting with the unique swooshes around the logo.

Division II

• Assumption College
  • The Massachusetts based Greyhounds will be sporting new Nike Mach Speed uniforms, a really nice look and massive improvement over the previous uniforms. Stripes make all the difference!
• Charleston
  • After breaking out new red uniforms last season, the Golden Eagles have revealed a new white jersey.
• Colorado Mesa
  • The Mavericks have received new white uniforms from Under Armour, featuring some interesting red, white, and gold stripes on the jerseys and pants.

I love Blaster the Burro, especially on this new helmet. (image via Colorado School of Mines Athletics)

• Colorado School of Mines
  • The Orediggers have new matte black helmets this season, with one of my favorite mascot logos, Blaster, in chrome on the sides.
• Kentucky Wesleyan
  • The Panthers have released a new set of logos for the future. The new logos, designed by KWC alums, will be soft-launched, and look amazing. They’ll no longer have to copy the old Jacksonville Jaguars logo.
• Malone
  • The Canton, Ohio, Malone University Pioneers will be wearing new helmets that resemble the ever-popular Navy helmet. They’ll also be wearing new adidas uniforms, which are a very different approach from the old UnderArmour design they previously wore.
• Saint Anslem
  • The Hawks from New Hampshire have a new white helmet with oversized logos on the sides and the UCONN-style front stripewith the hawk logo and some motivational words. The Hawks are no stranger to odd-concept helmets.

 

Division III

• Alfred State
  • The Pioneers’ Twitter account tweeted out in March two prototype helmets they were testing out. No word yet on which they chose.
• East Texas Baptist
  • The Tigers have revealed new black uniforms, with a rather unique helmet logo. Both are a pretty big divergence from the previous set.
• Mount Union
  • The defending DIII champions will be wearing new matte black helmets with chrome decals at some point during the season.
• Trinity College (CT)
  • The Bantams have a new gold jersey for this season
• Trinity University (TX)
  • The Tigers have revealed a new matte red helmet that features the same logo from their other helmets.

 

 

That does it for this season’s uniform changes. There’s no doubt going to be plenty more uniforms throughout the year. Stick with the Auburn Uniform Database for everything Auburn uniforms, and follow me on Twitter for even more uniform news!