Auburn Through the Years – Football: 2010
The Auburn Uniform Database is dedicated to documenting all Auburn athletic uniforms. This is the finale of a nine-part series detailing the history of Auburn’s football uniforms. Be sure to check the previous entries, starting from the beginning or checking last week’s article.
2010
Auburn began the new decade with a bang, finishing 13-0 and claiming the BCS National Championship with a win over Oregon. For the game, Auburn wore the newer BCS logo on the helmets.
Prior to the game, Under Armour set up a display in Phoenix and ran a commercial in which new Auburn pants were shown. The stripes were made to mimic the sleeve and helmet stripes. These would not be worn in the game or since.
2011
Following the national championship victory, Auburn adopted the latest Under Armour template, ultimately leading to some major changes.
The new cut featured truncated shoulder and pant stripes and smaller numbers and nameplates. These changes were a product of the template, not Auburn making any design changes. “War Eagle” was embroidered on the back of the pants, along the belt tunnel. Many referred to this as the “tramp stamp.”
As Auburn earn a Chick-fil-a Bowl bid, the bowl game logo would replace the SEC logo on the helmets. Virginia would wear orange jerseys, resulting in a rare color-on-color matchup for Auburn.
2012
The 2012 season probably saw the most minor changes to the Auburn uniforms.
The SEC changed their patch logo from the pennant design to the circle logo. All the SEC teams adjusted their jersey patches accordingly.
Most, if not all, of the teams reflected the SEC logo change on their helmets as well. Not Auburn. The Tigers wanted to stick with their pennant design, so they went with an NCAA pennant logo, reminiscent of 2004.
Auburn would celebrate their first Military Appreciation Game against new conference foe Texas A&M. In addition to the new apparel, Auburn wore special decals on the helmets. This would be the first and only time the logo appeared on the helmets.
2013
2013 was a magical season for Auburn.
The unfortunate “War Eagle” “tramp stamp” was thankfully removed from the pants.
As Auburn hosted Florida Atlantic, the Tigers sported pink breast cancer awareness ribbons on the helmets for the first time. The BCS logo replaced the NCAA decal for the national championship game in Pasadena. The bowl patch was placed in an odd spot, below the Under Armour logo, rather than above on the shoulder.
2014
Following the SEC Championship title, Auburn wore special helmet decals for A-Day, the annual spring game. The logo was also placed on the field for the April scrimmage.
Auburn’s Outback Bowl appearance was a somber one for the Tigers. Freshman Jakell Mitchell was murdered just two weeks prior to the game. In his honor, Auburn added #31 decals to the helmets. The bowl patch once again was placed under the Under Armour logo.
2015
Auburn upgraded to the newest Under Armour template. The Baltimore-based apparel company claimed the new uniforms to be “ungrabbable” and that they wouldn’t stretch as much.
The new tailoring set fixed a lot of problems that had plagued Auburn’s uniforms for a few years now. The shoulder and pant stripes were returned to full size. Numbers were also a bit bigger.
Auburn took the opportunity to make a few changes to the helmet as well, adding “titanium” finished facemasks and making the orange stripe metallic. Belts were changed from blue to white, mimicking the 1990 uniforms.
The team also sported new accessories in blue, orange, and white colorways, attempting to create a more uniformed look. The orange sleeves, socks, and shoes were considered unnecessarily loud by many, and Auburn ultimately shelved the look mid-season.
The new uniforms saw their debut in the Chick-fil-a Kickoff Game in Atlanta. The jerseys donned Kickoff Game patches and the logo was worn on the back of the helmet as well.
All 14 SEC teams held Prostate Cancer Awareness games in honor of former conference commissioner Mike Slive, who was originally diagnosed with the disease in the 1990s. All the teams wore special decals on their helmets for the games. Auburn wore the decal for two games, in fact – at LSU and at home against Mississippi State.
2016
The “titanium” facemasks didn’t last long, as they were removed for the 2016 season for a more traditional finish.
The SEC makes a wonderful decision and adds a special SEC Graduate patch midway through the season for all conference student-athletes that had earned their degree. The patch was first tested by Arkansas, and the majority of teams joined in halfway through the season. Auburn’s graduate patches first appeared on the road at Mississippi State.
Auburn’s Sugar Bowl appearance against Oklahoma saw the bowl game logo worn as a patch on the jersey and helmet decal. The large Sugar Bowl helmet decal was worn in place of the NCAA pennant decal.
2017
Auburn added 3D Bumpers to the front of the helmet at the beginning of the season. The original plan was to test out the new bumpers on the front for 2017 and added rear bumpers in 2018. With Auburn’s run to end the regular season and Peach Bowl berth, the Tigers went ahead and wore the 3D rear bumpers for the bowl game.
The NCAA pennant decal on the back of the helmet was replaced with the circle SEC logo. This marked the conference logo’s return to that location for the first time since 2011. The Peach Bowl logo was also worn on the helmet for the season finale.
2018
Pink Breast Cancer Awareness ribbon decals were worn for the Tennessee game in conjunction with Bruce Pearl’s AUTLIVE Cancer campaign.
Over the last few years, Auburn has continued to make smaller changes and additions to the uniforms. The 2011-14 template from Under Armour resulted in incredibly unfortunate changes to Auburn’s uniforms, but the new and current tailoring decisions fixed the majority of them. The Tigers hands down look the best on the gridiron now.
Thank you so much for checking out this series of Auburn football uniforms since 1933. I realize nine entries is rather long, but it felt like the best way to present all this information. I have hopes to do a similar feature for other Auburn uniforms, specifically men’s basketball, but will plan to keep it shorter for sure.
The Auburn Uniform Database is celebrating five years! Take time to check out the brand new website and consider purchasing an anniversary t-shirt. Do you 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. 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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