JerseyGate 2022 – What Actually Happened
It happens just about every year. A little seed becomes an untamed forest. It’s been about navy pants, navy helmets, white jerseys at home, even orange pants in 2006. This time, it was orange jerseys.
The last week in Auburn – especially on Auburn Twitter – has been a wild one. With Saturday’s game being labeled as the “All Auburn, All Orange” game, it was the perfect breeding ground for speculation. And, boy, was there speculation. But how did we get here? How did it blow up like this? Let’s break it down from the top.
All Auburn, All Orange
It started during the Tommy Tuberville era. Tuberville thought that a full crowd donning orange shirts was a better spectacle for TV broadcasts than the mix match of colors throughout. The coach and the team started promoting the new initiative heavily – and it worked. Auburn fans responded and filled Jordan-Hare Stadium with orange jerseys for most games.
In the years following Tuberville’s tenure, the All Auburn, All Orange moniker was saved for a game or two here and there. The men’s basketball team started designating a game as the All Orange game. It spread. And it worked. Fans continued to be supportive of the campaign whenever it was used, donning their best orange apparel.
All Auburn, All Orange is a marketing campaign. Always has been, always will be. It has not influenced the football uniforms before. It wasn’t intended to do so. It was simply to encourage fans to wear orange – not the team.
Orange Facemasks
While the campaign isn’t meant to determine the uniforms, Auburn teams have leaned into it at times. The men’s basketball team would sometimes wear orange uniforms for the game. In fact, they did so in 2011 despite Ole Miss wearing red creating a horrendous matchup.
During player availability with the media on Monday, Derick Hall confirmed that the Tigers would sport the orange facemasks for Penn State. That was the first domino to fall. Auburn was starting to play along with the orange out. What else could be coming?
But you know what? Auburn wore the orange masks twice last year – against Ole Miss and Alabama. Only one of those was an All Auburn, All Orange game. The other was the Iron Bowl.
The Tease
The Auburn Football Twitter account changed its profile photo on Tuesday night to feature an orange AU logo with white outline on an orange background. That was the first tease.
Nevermind that they had done the same in the past to match the game theme. Wear white for the first game? The official accounts will too.
The next day, the account tried again. This time they shared four glamour shots of the orange-masked helmet. The Instagram account shared a few extra images. One, in particular, caught the eyes of Auburn Twitter. The orange mask on an orange background was resting on orange fabric. The fabric had an interesting texture.
Zoom in. Enhance. Enhance again. Compare to other photos.
The other team accounts joined in on the fun, sharing images of their own orange jerseys. It was an all out tease from every corner.
The Speculation
Orange out. Orange facemasks. Owen Pappoe teasing a “uniform surprise” coming at some point this season. The speculation and theorizing were well in motion at this point.
Auburn fans from across social media began trying to piece all the puzzles together. Every tweet, every quote, every story, every image – it was all on the table.
The photo of the helmet with some sort of jersey material was the biggest discussion point. It was indeed the same fabric used on the jerseys. That must mean orange jerseys!
Eh, not quite.
While many correctly concluded that it was the same texture, they failed to understand that the texture in question already covers the stripes on the existing jerseys. It’s tough to blame them – it’s not like everyone has access to a sample game jersey. It’s an understandable line of logic, at least.
The Answer
When the speculation and teasing had gone on long enough, it was time to pop the bubble. Time for the truth.
The basic premise of tracking uniforms (or anything similar, for that) is simply “pay attention.” Pay attention to how things work. Understand the logistics as best you can from the outside.
As NFL teams have mirrored the collegiate ranks with new alternate uniforms and refreshed designs, there’s one consistent line in each release. Each new overhaul takes about two full years to complete. From drawing board to approval to fulfillment and delivery – two calendar years. Now, there are many more hoops to jump through with the NFL and they must generate retail apparel to capitalize on the new look.
But still, two years. That’s not all that crazy when you think of it.
Equipment teams must always be thinking ahead.
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