The 2017-2018 athletic season was probably one of the best in Auburn’s history. Even with the roller coaster of ups and downs, the highs made history. New Year’s Six bowl game for football after beating two #1 teams; men’s basketball winning the SEC title and making the NCAA Tournament; equestrian taking home the national title; men’s golf winning the SEC Title and finishing in the top 4 in nationals; baseball winning a Regional and bringing home the first Super Regional game win.

As has been the case the last two years, let’s take a look at each sport’s season aesthetically. Teams listed are those in which the Auburn Uniform Database tracks uniform records throughout the season.

 

Baseball

Auburn Baseball wasn’t expected to do a lot of good this season. Sports “experts” picked the Tigers to finish 11th in the conference during the pre-season.

Auburn didn’t pay too much attention to these predictions, as they put together one of the best seasons in the last two decades. The Tigers won 40 games, swept their Regional, and won the first Super Regional game in the program’s history. Casey Mize also made history as he was selected first overall in the MLB Draft, the first Tiger to be the top player drafted.

As the Auburn Tigers made history on the diamond, they did so wearing a brand new set of uniforms. In January, the team showcased their new Under Armour designs. Four new jerseys and two new pairs of pants were revealed, with two sets entirely recycled. Auburn also replaced the orange-billed cap with an all blue hat.

Auburn thankfully kept the throwback uniforms in the rotation. Since the starting pitcher typically chooses the game’s uniform, Casey Mize broke out the creme throwbacks the majority of his home starts. The new blue-billed hats also created a new combination for the throwbacks, which have now been paired with five different hats.

The new hat wasn’t the only headwear change on the season. Auburn tweaked the batting helmet design from last season, removing the orange-bill decal, as it was no longer needed to match the caps. The Tigers also added player numbers to the bill of the helmets.

Plainsman Park also received a minor addition around midseason as new graphics were installed on the backstop. The foul-territory turf installed in the offseason looked a lot better throughout the season than I originally imagined.

 

Basketball (Men’s)

The best season for the men’s basketball program in twenty years was fun for all. The Tigers grabbed the regular season SEC Championship and returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2004. Even with the championship, the end of the season featured more than its fair share of ups and downs.

Throughout the season, Auburn was rather intentional on what uniforms they wore. Having three colorways of the throwback uniforms and the alternate Tigers set, Auburn had options for each game. For the majority of the season, the Tigers alternated their two home whites and two road color sets. Rarely did Auburn wear the same uniform in consecutive games. The Tigers wore their orange jerseys for all three games during the Charleston Classic, and wore blue for their January 27th game at home versus LSU as well as the following game at Ole Miss.

Auburn began the season with a program first – wearing blue at home. As the Tigers hosted Norfolk State, a team known for wearing white on the road, Auburn began the 2017-18 season in the Auburn Arena wearing a uniform color for the first time. Auburn has worn orange and white for every game in the Arena’s short lifespan. Most Under Armour teams, Auburn included, wore special red, white, and blue shoes for Veteran’s Day. Auburn wore them in the season opening game.

Auburn Basketball will be wearing special Under Armour shoes for Veterans Day tonight vs Norfolk State (📷 via @AuburnMBB) pic.twitter.com/luCOfbNihv

— Clint Richardson – Auburn Uniform Database (@Clintau24) November 10, 2017

Head Coach Bruce Pearl’s AUTlive Cancer initiative marked its third year in 2018. Auburn has sold special t-shirts each season, with the proceeds going to help families pay for daily expenses while fighting cancer. Each year has seen different colored t-shirts, with the team wearing matching uniforms. Auburn wore blue uniforms this season to match the blue t-shirts. Auburn is 3-0 in AUTlive Cancer games since the initiative began at Auburn.

.@AuburnMBB is now 3-0 in #AUTlive games.

In each of the three years of @coachbrucepearl ‘s cancer fighting campaign, Auburn has matched the uniforms to the #AUTlive shirt color. The 2018 edition saw the Tigers wear blue at home for only the second time in school history. pic.twitter.com/iWuGrgVage

— Clint Richardson – Auburn Uniform Database (@Clintau24) January 28, 2018

Another first for this season was the NCAA patch being placed on the jerseys. Auburn wore both their two white uniforms for the Tournament, and each of them donned the light blue patch.

Auburn also revealed the first statue of a basketball player and the first one to be placed at the Auburn Arena. The Charles Barkley statue sits just outside the scholarship entrance on the east side of the Arena.

 

Basketball (Women’s)

The 2017-18 season won’t be remembered for being the greatest Women’s Basketball season. Auburn finished 14-15 overall and 5-11 in SEC play.

In an odd twist, Auburn failed to wear their orange uniforms this season. Looking back at previous seasons under Head Coach Terri Williams-Flourney, the Tigers have worn orange only a handful of times. Even more odd is that the orange uniforms are used entirely in the marketing materials for each of the two seasons.

While Auburn shelved one of their uniforms, they did add a new one. Like in previous years, Auburn hosted a breast cancer awareness game and wore pink uniforms. The Tigers had worn the same uniforms for the last five seasons, with the design and template not matching the other sets. When viewed in comparison to the modern fit, it’s a drastic difference. Under Armour provided Auburn and multiple other teams under their banner with new pink and grey uniforms. The jerseys and shorts featured a gradient set of stripes on the sides. The numbers and wordmarks were also single-tone, so they didn’t match very well with the blue and white styles.

Today on @AuburnUniforms:@AuburnWBB debuted new pink #Play4Kay uniforms last week.https://t.co/nY9ht8AT9n pic.twitter.com/D8tnaAUCb7

— Clint Richardson – Auburn Uniform Database (@Clintau24) February 19, 2018

 

Football

It was an up and down year for most of Auburn Athletics, but probably none more so than Football. Once again, expectations were high going in to the season. The Tigers struggled at Clemson and LSU, but knocked off two #1 teams in the same year – Georgia and Alabama. A loss to UCF in the Peach Bowl left a bad taste in many fans’ mouths.

Even though the action of the field was wild, it was a rather uneventful season aesthetic-wise. Auburn has now worn the latest Under Armour template for three years. We are now two years removed from the rotation of matching orange, blue, and white gloves, sleeves, socks, and cleats. The metallic/chrome stripes are no longer a shocking revelation.

But there were a few changes. First, the addition of 3D Bumpers to the nose of the helmet. Auburn sported these all season long, and added a rear bumper for the bowl game. I love these additions, as they create some depth in an often-overlooked area of the helmets, and they aren’t outrageous enough to stir up the fanbase.

2017 also saw the return of the SEC logo to the helmets. When the SEC went to the circle logo full time in 2012, the majority of teams wore that logo on the back of their helmets. Auburn did not adapt the change immediately. In fact, Auburn tweaked the decals they had been wearing in order to not conform with the rest of the league. While the Tigers had worn SEC pennant decals since 2006, an NCAA pennant was worn from 2012 on. Only in 2017 did the SEC logo return, but sans pennant. All 14 SEC teams now wear the same helmet decals.

And speaking of decals, the 2017 SEC Championship Game saw the first appearance of the game logo on a uniform. The SEC is one of the rare holdouts on placing Championship Game patches on their teams. But they did add decals to the back of the helmets for this edition.

Most teams like to show off for the bowl games with new uniforms or whatever. Auburn decided to join the party, but, of course, keep it subdued. Nothing new with the uniforms, but there was a new cleat design to be worn. The Cam Newton-design C1N MC featured a really nice set of Northwestern stripes across the high top portion. Cam actually sported these during warmups prior to Carolina’s game versus the New York Jets the day after Auburn knocked off Alabama.

While the cleats looked fantastic, they didn’t perform very well. In Auburn’s second trip to the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, the Tigers struggled with their footing. Slipping and sliding across the field, in turn, helped UCF shut down Auburn’s offense for a while. Naturally, the vocal fans blamed the entire performance on the special cleats.

 

Soccer

It’s always tough to follow record-breaking seasons, especially when a lot of talented players graduate. That’s what happened with the Auburn Soccer program in 2017. The 2015 and 2016 campaigns were two of the best years on record, and 2017 was a bit of a transition season.

The Tigers finished 8-6-5 overall, and was bounced in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to the eventual champions, Stanford.

No changes were made this season to the soccer kits, but Auburn did somewhat add a new set. A powder blue goalkeeper kit was showcased at picture day in early August and eventually worn just once for the regular season finale against Vanderbilt. The long sleeve tops aren’t new as they were worn two season prior, but they weren’t worn with matching shorts. It was also the only time all season Sarah Le Beau and the goalkeepers would sport anything besides their orange uniforms.

 

Softball

While Auburn Softball had recently experienced historic heights for the program, the last year or so was a difficult time for the Tigers. With one coach leaving on poor terms and a short off-season for the incoming coach, the 2018 season was a challenge. Auburn had a lot of hardships and distractions and featured a rather young team. Auburn would fall in the first game of the SEC Tournament and be bounced from the NCAA Tournament in the first round to in-state rival Jacksonville State.

The Tigers would enter the 2018 season with an entirely new set of uniforms, all of which were a great look for the program. Auburn’s first Women’s College World Series appearance in 2015 featured uniforms with a simple design. The following season saw a bit more adventurous design with some bolder color blocks. This new set hearkens more to that 2015 set with a classic look for a diamond team.

Auburn wasn’t done with just the main set of uniforms, as they would soon unveil the program’s first ever pinstripe design. Auburn was relatively lax on wearing the full pinstripe set, only breaking them out for five games, but enjoyed mixing the pants with different jerseys for an additional four games. Just a few short years ago, an image leaked of one of the Softball players trying on what turned out to be Auburn Baseball’s pinstripe uniform. That turned out to be a successful test, and the Softball Tigers now have their own version.

Auburn has also enjoyed playing around with batting helmet designs. The 2017 season was kicked off with the Tigers wearing a new matte blue and orange helmet with orange facemask. That facemask was changed to blue around mid-season. Once post season came around, a new white and blue helmet was thrown in the mix. Auburn alternated between those two helmets for most of the 2018 season.

Much like last year, Auburn added another helmet into the mix for post season play. The first game in the NCAA Tournament Tallahassee Regional against Kennesaw State saw a second white helmet (almost grey, actually), this time matte in finish with a special feature. The AU logo on the front of the shell was from 3D Bumpers, a company that has gained a lot of traction recently for providing three-dimensional logos and lettering for many football teams, including Auburn. The blue-on-white AU logo was a poor choice here, in my opinion, but I love the look of a 3D logo.

Regarding smaller additions, Auburn wore a #JSUStrong decal on the back of their helmets during the Kentucky series in response to Jacksonville State University being heavily damaged by tornadoes in late March.

Auburn also sported purple ribbons for the Arkansas series in support for infielder Tannon Snow, who was diagnosed with epilepsy last season. The team surprised Snow with the ribbons along with her family being in town from California to throw out the first pitch.

The Tigers had a little fun on their road trip to Ole Miss, pulling an April Fool’s prank and wearing mismatched socks. Ole Miss would win the game and series, so don’t expect a follow up to this next year.

The annual Breast Cancer Awareness game was set for the series finale against Kentucky. Each season’s pink t-shirts are slightly different. This year’s added front numbers for the first time since 2010. Auburn also paired the shirts with their new pinstripe pants.

 

Volleyball

The Auburn Volleyball team was the newest addition to the AUD Uniform Tracker for the 2017-18 season. The Tigers debuted new uniforms last year and continued to wear them throughout the 2017 campaign.

Volleyball requires the libero to wear a different colored jersey from the rest of the team, much like soccer and the goalkeeper. The majority of the team would wear the Northwestern striped tops worn last year. The libero would wear an older style without the sleeve stripes. The libero would have an alternate jersey available in an attractive powder blue colorway.

Auburn would also sport special pink jerseys for breast cancer awareness. The Tigers wore them at home in early October, then again in Tennessee for the following match.

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Action and drama on the field and court were at all time highs this season, across the board. In addition to uniform records, I also kept track of the overall records for these seven sports. The win percentage for Auburn Athletics had hung around 75% early on in the season, but was ultimately stuck in the 60% range.

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It was an interesting season here on the Auburn Uniform Database. The summer was interesting, with some exclusive materials and the University adopting a logo change. Even with three programs debuting new uniforms, views were considerably lower than normal. The site did hit 500,000 views in August and is now nearing 600K.

Thank you, as always, for continuing to support this site. Next month is a big milestone for the AUD, and there are a few changes planned to coincide. Stay tuned for that!

Enjoy uniforms and want to see more like this? Be sure to follow the Auburn Uniform Database, like the AUD Facebook page, Instagram page, and follow me on Twitter for even more uniform news. Also, you can support this site by purchasing AUD t-shirts and other merchandise. You can also purchase your favorite team’s merchandise through Fanatics, with a portion of your sale going to support this website.

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Enjoy uniforms and want to see more like this? Be sure to follow the Auburn Uniform Database, like the AUD Facebook page, Instagram page, and follow me on Twitter for even more uniform news. Also, you can support this site by purchasing AUD t-shirts and other merchandise. You can also purchase your favorite team’s merchandise through Fanatics, with a portion of your sale going to support this website.