tahj shamsid-deen auburn basketball 2013

Dissecting Auburn Uniforms: Basketball

/0 Comments/by
     Now that football season is (unfortunately) over, it’s now time to turn all of our athletic attention to the basketball programs. With conference season having only started just last week, I think that it’s a great time to take a detailed look into the uniforms in which the team will be wearing throughout the rest of the season. So let’s dive in.
Todd Van Emst

     The original intentions for this site was obviously to document every uniform ever worn by the men’s basketball program in the 100+ years of playing the sport here at Auburn. Because of that, I don’t feel the need to go into a very detailed description of what the uniforms were like design-wise in the past. But because this is intended to educate about the current uniforms, a small description of the most recent set of uniforms will be needed.
     Starting in 2009 and ending at the conclusion of the 2012 season, Auburn wore these uniforms. If you search for images of these uniforms, you can see that these uniforms were pretty basic, cut wise, and had very few, if any, ventilation areas. The only thing of note is that the jerseys had a stitching line across the shoulder, which is pretty evident in this picture. These more or less look like any other basketball uniform, for Under Armour did not design a special template for this set. Now, fast forward to the current set and you’ll see how things have changed a bit.
     Back in October of 2012, as the team was filming their new intro video, multiple players tweeted out pictures of them “back” in their uniforms, only, this time, they were brand new. The first picture I personally saw was from my good friend Josh Wallace, and needless to say I was pretty pumped about the new uniforms. A few days later Under Armour officially released the new Auburn uniforms, this time in orange, along with a few other teams that would have new sets. As you can see here, not only were the designs new, but the cut of the jersey was different as well. Gone were the rounded V-neck collars, and in were the blocked-off collars. Also you can tell that the waist band has a new design, complete with a belt buckle looking square, and a reverse color back half of the waist band.
Todd Van Emst
     The minor details are a little more difficult to see, so I highlighted them so that they are easier to spot. First, you can see that there are shoulder stitches, similar to those of the previous set, but are not as horizontal as those in the past, and a little more prominent. Also, there is a stitch down each side of the torso (there is an additional stitch on the back side, but I couldn’t find a detailed picture to show it). Probably the most notable detail with this cut of jersey is the stitching pattern that goes right above the stomach. The shorts also have some pretty detailed stitch lines, but again, I couldn’t find a good photograph. I asked Chris Denson if there were any other details that someone not wearing the jerseys would know about, and he said that the current set are a lot tighter than the previous ones.
     Design wise, these uniforms have already been covered here on the site. But quickly, the jerseys have football uniform inspired Northwestern stripes on the left shoulder, and the shorts incorporate them down the right leg. Each set of stripes has some odd negative stripes that cut through the design. I still have no clue why UA did that, probably just because they could. One of the cool, yet too subtle to notice most of the time, features of the jerseys is that the numbers have a Tiger stripe design. The previous set also had this design. Good luck spotting that unless you are right up in front of them. Another really small detail is that on the back of the neck, there is a little rubber-looking button-like AU square. During the first SEC game of the year last Thursday, Chris Denson actually lost his, and you can also spot the one on Tahj Shamsid-Deen’s jersey in this picture.
     Now on to the fun stuff, the accessories. I’ve never been into the shoes and sneaker head thing, so I don’t know much about the current shoes. A few years ago, one of the players (I can’t remember who) posted this picture on twitter. So, you can see that the guys have a lot of options for when they hit the court. But hey, these are pretty nice. Obviously in previous years players wore socks and shooting sleeves. Well, up until this year, they were nothing but plain and boring. And thanks to the good people at Under Armour, we get to see some great looking socks and sleeves. The new socks (which I owned a few hours before the basketball team ever did! [little gloating time]) are amazing, and are reminiscent of old days on the court and the football field. Famed Auburn basketball player John Mengelt and other teams during the 70s wore very similar socks.  Look at this great photo of an old Barfield-era team. How can you not love those socks (and Barfield’s get up)?! I want to personally thank Under Armour for bringing those back!
     The padded shooting sleeves have to be the most popular part of the uniforms. Not only do the basketball players wear them, but a lot of football players wore them during the second half of the season. The basketball team debuted the white sleeve, and, because of a long home schedule for them, the football team got to debut the blue and orange versions of the sleeve. Under Armour has truly fallen in love with the football team’s Northwestern stripes, and I really like that they are incorporating them into other sports and unique aspects of the uniforms.
     There’s always more information and details than what you think meets the eyes. I personally really love these uniforms. But, just the way Under Armour works, and the trend with recent Auburn uniforms, I would expect them to be around probably another two more years tops. And, if the team happens to make a tournament appearance before then, I wouldn’t rule out an alternate. Auburn obviously isn’t a big basketball school, and manufacturers aren’t too big in doing something different with a team like Auburn. I wouldn’t mind seeing something different (odd coming from me right?), as long as it’s done well (always a catch).
     That does is it for the second edition of Dissecting Auburn Uniforms. I’m planning to have a baseball edition up around the time of the start of the season. They have some crazy stuff over there on the diamond.
     Anyways, hope you enjoyed this post. Thank you all that read this site through the first season. I’m excited to continue to see it grow.
     One last thing, please support the basketball team! People love to use the “win and I’ll come” excuse, and they fail to realize just how much the crowd helps this team out. Don’t just come out for the Kentucky and Alabama games, show up to all that you can! You can bet your butt that I’ll be there as often as I can!!
War Eagle!

2013 BCS National Championship Game Uniform Preview

/0 Comments/by

On January 6, history will be made. Auburn and Florida State meet in one of the most historic facilities in all of sports. These two teams used to have a pretty feisty rivalry during the 1980s and early ’90s. It’s been a few years since these two have met, and what better way to meet back up than in the national championship at the Rose Bowl? This is going to be such a great game. And a wonderful looking game to boot. Two of the most traditional uniforms in all of college football. Let’s take a look at what we should expect and a little bit of Rose Bowl history.


Because Auburn is ranked #2 in the BCS standings, that designates the Tigers as the away team, and therefore is required to wear white or a “light colored” uniform. Well, since Auburn only has two uniform colors, white it is! We already have gotten a look at what the jersey looks like with the patch sewn on.

WarBlogle.com

I think that this is an awful placement for this patch. Why not put it above the Under Armour logo like in 2010? Who knows, but it just bugs me. Hopefully it looks better on the field than it does in that picture. In the first bowl game of the season, Colorado State, another Under Armour team, wore their patch in basically the same spot, just on the other side. But their stitching pattern is slightly different. I’m seriously wondering if this was a mandate from Under Armour. Or maybe their odd stitching patterns dictate the change.

Florida State is the designated home team, so we’ll be seeing their garnet and gold uniforms with the tomahawk spear logo plastered on the helmet. There’s not been a picture of their jersey patched up yet, but when it is released, I’ll upload it here.
*UPDATE* Finally got a picture of the FSU jersey’s with the patch. It only took til media day two days before the game…

.@FSU_Football posing for #selfies in front of The Coaches’ Trophy pic.twitter.com/2L0y83Jzj0

— Rose Bowl Game (@rosebowlgame) January 4, 2014

Also, expect to see the typical BCS Championship Series logo on the helmets like in years past. Here’s a few different placements of the decal for teams in the past. For Auburn, I would expect it to be placed in the same place as last time, or if anything, on the other side like where the military appreciation logo was placed. I’d place money on same place as last time. As far as Florida State goes, the Seminoles played in last year’s Orange Bowl, and placed the decal in the middle of their helmet. I would easily expect that to hold true for this year as well.

Quick Trivia– did you know that Florida State wore a Nike ProCombat uniform before? It was completely red with a nice black helmet and some odd feather design on the pants. And those awful FlyWire shoulders…Thankfully Nike did away with those. Don’t expect FSU to try breaking these out. I’m not even sure if they still have any of this.

Anyways, here’s what this game looked like in 1984 when Auburn and Florida State wore white and red respectively. (I couldn’t find any good pictures, sorry)

What would it look like if Auburn somehow jumped FSU and was wearing blue? Well, thanks to the 1983 game, we know what it would look like.

Oh boy. Bo in blue with the awesome orange facemasks! Would love to see those back Auburn.

Curious to know what the field might look like? @NateDawgAU on twitter mocked up a beautiful looking field based solely on these games played in the past.

 

This is my expectation for what the Rose Bowl field will look like for Auburn vs. Florida State. pic.twitter.com/6HPDBcTeZa
— Deal The Halls (@NateDawgAU) December 17, 2013

History Lesson -So, as has been tradition for Rose Bowl games, teams have historically added a rose to their helmets. Purdue did this years ago, and more recently, TCU went traditional with sticking the rose in the frog’s mouth, and Wisconsin went with a subtle motif throughout their uniforms few years back. Now, what if Auburn does this? They won’t, don’t worry, but someone did mock it up and it looks pretty cool.

One thing for sure is that this will be a wonderful game. Number one and two facing off in the beautiful Rose Bowl! Probably one of the best ways to send the BCS out with a bang. So ready for this game to get here!

War Eagle!
+Auburn Athletics

Merry Christmas from AUD

/0 Comments/by
Have a Merry Christmas Auburn style!
 


What a beautiful site that is. Auburn and snow, two of the most beautiful things in the world. As beautiful as it may be, let’s remember the reason for this wonderful holiday. Our Lord and Savior was born on this day many years ago. As my preacher said this past Sunday at church, this event is so humbling. A GOD that could have just come to our awful world, clapped his hands, and said “Everyone is free of your wrong doings, and can join me in the best place imaginable without doing another thing in your life”. But He didn’t. He was humbled by being born in the lowest of the low areas in the world with “dirty” animals surrounding Him. His birth was announced to shepards, the lowest of the low and “dirty” people. This GOD took the hard way. He brought himself down to our level, like an adult speaking to a child on their level, to save us from ourselves. And then DIED for us. Was murdered, for our sake.

Now, I am in no position to preach, because I have such a long way to go. But I’m at least trying.

Now, let’s enjoy some Auburn Christmas lights!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and holiday weekend!!

My Christmas gift to all of you will be dropping tomorrow, with my BCS National Championship Uniform Preview!

War Eagle, God Bless, Merry Christmas!

Auburn Football Uniform Concepts

/0 Comments/by
With three more weeks until the National Championship Game, I think it’s a bit early to post a uniform preview for that game yet. I’ll post that with about a week or so until the game. This week I want to showcase many of the concepts out there that people want Auburn to adopt. As you can assume, there are a lot of people that want to do something different with Auburn’s uniforms, whether it be for a single game or to completely overhaul the uniforms. Some of these that will shown aren’t the worst thing that could happen. Others, well, you’ll see.
*NOTE* I am not here saying I want Auburn to change. I am not endorsing any of these ideas. This is just to showcase people’s ideas. Their opinions and ideas are theirs alone, not mine.

This post will consist of many pictures in-line and then a few will be hyperlinked. I will credit those designers that I have info about and will do my best to link to their sites.
The first set of concepts will be from a Chris Creamer’s SportsLogos.Net (a very interesting site if you want to waste a few hours) commenter that goes by the name “bigmike”. Mike, what I’m going to call him since I think it’s safe to assume that is his real name, is apparently an Alabama fan. But that’s ok, since he has created concepts for his own team. And his artwork and ideas are amazing. Go check him out and look at his work. It’s exceptional.
Mike actually has two sets here. He created the first one in 2010, and posted them on the site not long before the National Championship Game. This first set is a lot more radical than his second. With this set, Mike decided to add piping, a number outline that contrast the uniform color, a contrasting collar with more piping coming off the collar creating some odd mini-triangle effect, and adding the classic “eye of the tiger” logo on the collar. Mike also made the pants striping match up with the rest of the uniform (more on that here).
As far as these go, they aren’t bad. But just not for Auburn (which you’ll hear that a lot from me). When it comes to someone trying to mock up new uniforms, I appreciate good art work with good reasoning. On the forum where Mike posted these, he does explain his reasoning, and I respect that. He also created a mock up of the All-Blue look that was rumored about in 2010.
For Mike’s second set, he went a little more classic and just “updating”. These don’t consist of anything more than shoulder piping, which I think highlights that second stitching line (read about that here) and would help the casual fan understand why the shoulder stripes are truncated.
Again, Mike makes the striping pattern consistent throughout the uniforms. I do like that he is using the “eye of the tiger” logo (which I think was retired by Auburn?). IF Auburn were do something different, out of all the concepts I’ve gathered in preparation for this post, this is the one I would like to see. But just check out Mike’s orange “Tiger Theme” uniform based off of that logo. Very Cincinnati Bengals like…
Umm…Wow…No thanks…
This next set was posted on the same site by a user named “fnz”, and these are…well…busy. That’s all I say about these…
The next set comes from Bowen Hobbs, and he has apparently been spending time completely renovating a lot of teams. I really enjoy the attention to detail Bowen used, in that he not only has uniform mock ups, but has “in action” views of them, and has a cover sheet per-say with the logo(s) and typography/wordmarks on them. Makes it more of a complete project. For his Auburn set, he adjusted the AU logo slightly, which looks a little like the early AU logos, and also created a secondary “tiger stripe” logo. Both of these are unique, but don’t touch the AU. Just sayin…
As you can see, Bowen added the “tiger stripe” motif into the stripes, which I think is a unique concept. One of my favorite things about his set is that he added in a “fauxback” (fake throwback) uniform complete with the leathery colored helmet and pants.
I don’t think these are as faux as he thinks. Auburn wore a very similar uniform in 1913.
One of the most famous conceptors is Charles Sollars. He was even featured in two posts done by WarBlogle. He has created so many different sets, nearly concepting every single team from the NFL, NBA, MLB, and a ton of college teams. He has so many Auburn concepts that I won’t be able to show but a few here. Just remember, Charles creates very few uniforms that would be considered to really hit the field. He creates more of what I call “the hell with it” concepts that are very out there. You’ll see if you check out his site. My favorite of his are similar to this one. He has a good dozen based of this look, and I like the ones with the socks consisting of the same striping as the shoulders and base layer
 Just look at how crazy some of his uniforms can be.
And some of his helmet designs.
In 2009, a website called AuburnTron designed some very high school-ish uniforms using EA Sports’ Team Builder website. Talk about busy. More of these are on the site, but I’ll only post one.

These next pictures are what I see as the most plausible for Auburn to change to if they were ever to change. These come from SportsLogo.com user “Brave-Bird 08”. He seems to be into concepting uniforms that would be likely to hit the field. I’m not a fan of the collar design, but everything else isn’t too terrible. Other than the collar, the only thing different is the pant stripe matching, which is common as you can see. Also, the orange uniforms are pretty much what we would see if the old ones were made for a current uniform.

We all know that in 2010, when Auburn hosted Clemson, the game was the first “True Blue” game. Now, a TON of people were claiming that Auburn would come out in a full blue uniforms. The talks got extremely hot after this picture surfaced (I’m not aloud to say anything about that). Ever since then, people have been Photoshopping and designing “true blue” uniforms. One of the most popular Photoshop jobs is this picture.

And that about does it. I know this was a longer post than usual for me, but there were a lot of people I wanted to showcase and these pictures take up a lot of room. I hope you guys enjoyed this post. As much as I hate the idea of Auburn changing their uniforms, I do enjoy seeing what people mock up. Some are obviously much better than others. Like I said earlier, I appreciate the guys that actually explain their reasoning for designing the new sets. Good art work goes a long way as well.
What would you like to see Auburn do IF they were to do something different? Drop a comment below and let me know your opinions.

I’m going to leave you all with this final picture. I have no idea who made it, but it is based off of one of my favorite helmet designs of all time. I love this picture, and would absolutely love to have a prototype set up on my shelf.

 

Stay tuned for more posts coming up, especially the BCS National Championship Uniform Preview coming in two weeks!
War Eagle!

The Auburn Football Uniform Argument

/0 Comments/by

For as long as I can remember, there have been people out there that have argued that Auburn’s stripes should all match. Personally, I don’t think so. But I’m here to document the argument and show what people are truly wanting.


As we all know, our Auburn Tigers have worn “Northwestern Stripes” since around the 1950s on every aspect of the uniform (being helmet, jersey, and pants). These stripes have been the same in all three areas for the entire time, with just the sizes changing; the ratios stayed the same the entire time. Take a closer look at the stripes to see what people are talking about:

Look at how the stripe goes blue-white-orange-white-blue on both the helmet and shoulders.

Now look at the pants. The stripe goes blue-orange-blue. There are no white “negative space” stripes here, and that really bugs a lot of people. These people will argue that since the helmet and sleeves have the white stripes, so should the pants.

Let’s take a look at LSU for a minute. If you look closely at their uniforms, you’ll notice that they basically have the inverse of Auburn’s stripes. The helmet and shoulder UCLA stripes go purple-white-purple and purple-yellow-purple (on the white uniforms) respectively. But look at the pants. Those stripes, on the yellow pants, go purple-yellow-white-yellow-purple, yet no one complains about these.

So why does Auburn get all the attention on this topic? Personally, I think it is because LSU wears yellow pants while Auburn wears the white pants, and yellow can cover up that “negative space” stripe a bit better. Also, I never really noticed LSU’s striping patterns until I was planning this post…

Back in 2010, when Auburn was preparing to head to Glendale for the National Championship Game, Under Armour was putting together some crazy promotions. UA put out a new commercial starring an Auburn Football player lacing up his new Under Armour cleats for the game. Well, look very closely at the video. You’ll notice that the stripes on the pants had been changed. Here’s a screenshot from the video:

They were now blue-white-orange-white-blue. Many people were up in arms about them changing the uniforms even the slightest for the biggest game in Auburn history. Well, it didn’t stop there. Once everyone got to Glendale and everything was set up for the game weekend, Under Armour had a trailer with their merchandise set up downtown. Outside of the trailer, they had two mannequins set up. This is one picture from then:

If you look closely at the picture above, you’ll notice that the pants match those in the commercial. Oddly enough, the two jerseys are completely different. The #85 jersey matches what was worn on the field for that game, with the SEC logo and then the BCS Championship logo above the Under Armour UA. The #2 jersey matches the retail version, with no SEC logo and the BCS logo in its usual spot.

Why make these two jerseys so different? Why make a game cut version of the wrongly designed retail version? Why make a commercial with something that would never be worn? Same goes for the trailer set up. Why? We may never know. I personally think that Under Armour also believes that the pant stripes should match up. Also, UA has been basically begging on their hands and knees for Auburn to do something different that usual. I think that UA was planning to break out these pants for this game and were determined to do so, and were trying to get them on the field until it came time for the game and Auburn denied them once again. I do know that Auburn higher ups have turned them down every time. I do have some information on a specific instance, but I am not allowed to share that.

The fact that Under Armour is so persistent in their goal of having Auburn do something special, something new, do not be surprised if more things like this come out. Remember that Auburn was Under Armour first marquee university that they signed. Auburn was first in a lot of things, and being a big named team to wear the Maryland-based UA logo was another big, and both parties are very proud of that.

If you like the uniforms just the way they are, and wish Under Armour would quit trying, just be glad that the Board of Trustees and Equipment Manager Dana Marquez have continually turned them down. If you would like to see Auburn try something new, then you know who to blame.

I hope you have enjoyed this feature. Hopefully I can add more off-the-wall type posts like this in the future. Be sure to vote in the poll below after reading all of this!

Which would you prefer?
pollcode.com free polls 

War Eagle!

+Auburn Athletics

 

2013 SEC Championship Game Uniform Preview

/0 Comments/by

Let me just start by saying I LOVE AUBURN! Man, Saturday night was such a blast. Storming the field like we did will forever be a wonderful memory. On to Atlanta!

I could go on and on about the miracles in Jordan-Hare this year, the pageantry of this team, and the turnaround from last year to this. But that’s not what I’m here for. I’m here to inform you about uniforms. So let’s get to it.

Hello Atlanta! Even before I thought about typing this, the Georgia Dome was prepping the turf for this weekend’s game. Paint is going down in the endzones and on the 25 yardlines. Helmets are being packed up for the weekend as well.

For a game like this, the home and away teams alternate every other year. In 2010, Auburn was the visiting team. This year, Auburn will be the home team, so that means they’ll be wearing the traditional blue tops. There was an addition to the uniforms this past week at the Iron Bowl. If you remember, at the Texas A&M game, Auburn was given new arm sleeves to wear. Well, not long after, the basketball team received new shooting sleeves. Chris Denson told me that they were given the same design for all three uniform colors. Well, the football team broke out the orange sleeves before the basketball team (they’ve only worn the white ones).

Since Auburn will be considered the home team, then that leaves Missouri as the away team. Coming into their first year in the SEC last year, Nike completely renovated their uniforms from top to bottom. This year, they even received a new matte and chrome helmet. So picking a uniform for this team to wear this weekend will be a little tricky. I believe the away team is forced to wear a white jersey, so that helps out. Unfortunate too, cause I’d love to see a blue on yellow game! Anyways, Mizzou has three helmets and four pants to chose from. We know that we’ll more than likely see these white uniforms, which are annoying by themselves with those shoulders.

So if you’re Missouri, and you are playing in your first SEC Championship game (only two years in the league as well), what do you chose to wear? Ultimately, it comes down to a few things. Which helmet designs are in condition to be worn? Same for the pants. And a lot of teams that wear so many uniforms like this allow the team, usually the seniors, to chose what they would like to wear.

If I were to guess what Missouri will wear, I would place money (just a little bit) on these.

I wouldn’t be surprised whatsoever if they change it up a little. Maybe use one of the other two helmets, or break out the yellow or white pants. This is as much of a toss up as there can be in the SEC. I guess we’ll just have to wait til later in the week when they announce what they’ll be wearing. Hopefully I’ll win a bit of money…(I promise I’m not a betting person!)

*UPDATE* Well, I was kinda right. We knew they would vote for the uniform combo, but according to the following tweet, we know that the fans will be able to vote on Coach Gary Pinkel’s website.

 

Breaking news: Fans will be able to vote on Pinkel’s web site which uniform to wear for bowl. Pinkel:”Because I’m such a fun-loving guy”
— Dave Matter (@Dave_Matter) December 3, 2013

*UPDATE AGAIN* Well, now we know exactly what Missouri will be wearing. Thanks to the video below…

 

@PhilHecken The @mizzoufootball uniforms for #SECATL– http://t.co/iZ323HmVKX #Mizzou http://t.co/YdCl321WnN tiger logo on matte black helmet
— Jeremy Jones (@jljm94) December 6, 2013

As you can see, they will be wearing the gold pants with the white tops for the first time. AND a new lid! I actually like this helmet.

No more updates! (Hopefully…)

Well, it’s been one heck of a year. Two wonderful games in a row. Let’s hope this week is a great game, but not as good, my heart can’t handle it. I’ll see you there in Atlanta!!

War Eagle!

…Just can’t get enough of this…I love you Rod…

 

2013 Iron Bowl Uniform Preview

/0 Comments/by

It’s time. Time for everything this team has been working for to show why they have been working so hard for it. Time for standing in the student section for every home game last year and staying all game every game to be even more worth it. The game to decide the SEC West. The game that could very well decide the National Champion participants. The Game. That simple.

The Game

Since Auburn was on a bye last week, there was no uniform preview obviously, but I did run an Auburn uniform special post, which can be seen here. Now that it’s game week, it’s time for another uni preview! Let’s get to it.
We all know how this game will look. We’ve seen it all too often. Old videos, old pictures, awful reminders and wonderful ones. We know this game. And it always looks good. Auburn in blue on white, Alabama in white on white. It’s such a classy and traditional look, and you can never go wrong with that. But let’s get to some specifics.
In regards to Auburn, you can click on the link provided above to last week’s post to learn all you want there. Alabama is pretty much on the same storyline. Last year for the National Crampship Game, Nike brought Alabama into the 21st Century, giving them the new template, complete with huge over-sized collar (look at some NFL teams) and the patented sweatbox, just missing the Flywire collar. People went nuts last year when Nike announced they were unveiling something new for them. This was it. Very much like when Alabama went with the Nike ProCombat a few years back, that only had an American flag patch on a shoulder and extremely subtle houndstooth patterns (which is a complete farce. More on that another day) in the white areas.
Well, that’s about it…As much as I would love a color-on-color red-on-blue game, I know that won’t happen, sadly. (This is the only picture of a color-on-color game I could find…) We can only hope right?
Quick tidbits- this will be the first time that the game has been played where Auburn will wear blue with the circle SEC logo, and Alabama will wear white with the same logo. First time Alabama has worn their new Nike template also.
Here’s what to look for:
Just remember that GameDay will be here, so get up early and get your signs finished! (I have no ideas for signs…) If you’re a student like me, we may have to line up at the conclusion of GameDay…Everyone have a great Thanksgiving, stay safe and be smart, and I’ll see you and my 87,000+ favorite people in the world come Saturday!
War Damn Eagle!!

Dissecting Auburn’s Uniforms: Football

/0 Comments/by

For the bye week, instead of doing some uniform preview post, I have a special treat. Today, I will be dissecting the football uniforms worn by the Auburn Tigers. There’s a lot more than you think that goes in to these, and a lot has changed over the last few years. Let’s get to it.

For the past 50+ years, Auburn has always worn the same style of uniforms. Northwestern Stripes (is what they are called in the uniform world. You can read about them here, but you may have to scroll down) don the entire uniform, from the helmet, shoulders, and to pants (I’ll save the “all stripes should match” argument for another day. By the way, no they shouldn’t…). If you look at pictures from as late as the early 90s, you will notice that these stripes, along with the numbers, are screen printed. Around the late 90s and early 2000s, the numbers were permanently upgraded to the tackle twill numbers that don nearly every uniform nowadays. The stripes are still screen sprinted to this day, but are a much better quality than the old days.

Today’s uniforms are even different from what Auburn wore in 2010. Auburn and Under Armour signed their new contract in December of 2005, and the first set of uniforms were pretty bulky. Ever since then, around 2007 or so, Auburn has worn the same cut style. Look at any picture of Cam Newton when he wore the orange and blue. Look closely at the details. Take this picture, the white jersey makes it very easy to see. The entire shoulder area are closed and fully cloth. The side panels are exactly the same. From the chest all the way down to the hem are an open mesh design. The shoulder stripes are screen printed on, but to a much better quality than what you’ll find on the retail versions you see any little kid (or old man for that) wearing around campus on gameday.

The pants from the 2007-10 era were the very basic model from Under Armour. Nothing more than the typical stitching patterns and pad places. That’s about all to say on those.

One of the most notable changes have been the SEC patch. Up until the 2012 season, all SEC teams wore a pennant logo. Ever since, all teams have worn the current circular logo. It seems as though the SEC unofficially retired the pennant logo. I have no confirmed information on that, but you wont see the older logos nowadays.

Look at what Auburn has worn ever since the National Championship game. We’ve all seen the complaints about it. The numbers were basically un-bolded, and were a lot skinnier than normal. The nameplateswere also made skinnier, which people blamed on Lutzenkirchen. The stitching patterns have also changed, for there is no more mesh area. Everything is basically the same as the shoulder area on the old uniforms. There are now two lines of stitching on the shoulder area on the front and back. The top of these two lines has resulted in the shoulder stripes becoming truncated and being somewhat squished. The bottom line makes the SEC logo and Under Armour logo very close together. Currently, the numbers are a bit bigger than before, yet still smaller than the pre-2010 uniforms. The nameplates have also been enlarged slightly.

Then the pants were the biggest gripe. “WAR EAGLE” was added on the back of the pants, right below the belt, what a lot of people called “tramp stamps”. The tramp stamp has since been removedfor the 2013 season. The stitching of the pants (which you can see perfectly with Maryland) were completely changed for the 2011 season. The stitching pattern messed up the pant stripe, adding a very odd tapering effect. If you look at any of Under Armour’s other teams that they outfit, and look at their pants, you’ll notice that they all wear the same pant style. So don’t expect these to be changed for at least another year or two.

What has driven a lot of people crazy have been the truncated pant stripes. Listen to me, this is NOT an Under Armour/Auburn design change. This is an Under Armour stitching change. Look at any other UA team, and you’ll notice that they wear the same pants. Maryland (what is to Under Armour as Oregon is to Nike) has worn new pants a few times throughout the year already, and they all look the same as these. Colorado State switched to UA this offseason, and they have these pants as well. They even have a truncated pant stripe! Why would a company like Under Armour give teams like Maryland, their experimenting program (the owner of UA was a Maryland football player and ultimately hated how workout clothes fit and didn’t work), and Colorado State, a new team under their banner, a style of pants that would eventually be outdated? They wouldn’t. So expect another year or two at least with these pants. After UA designs a new pair, then we will more than likely see the pants stripe back to normal.

As far as accessories go, they’ve always been pretty toned down until recently. When Auburn made it to the National Championship game, Under Armour whipped up some new design shoesand gloves. And they were pretty proud of them. Until the 2012 Chik-fil-A Bowl, Auburn had always used the very simple, templatic glove designs that anyone could pick up at their local sporting goods store. For the 2012 CFA Bowl Game, Under Armour broke out some new gloves and the guys (and me) loved them. Now, for the 2013 season, Auburn has another design of gloves. These are actually mine!

When Cam played here, he wore an Under Armour visor, with two orange and blue UA logos on the visor flaps. For the 2012 season, someone decided to change it up for whatever reason and go with on UA logo and one AU logo. In 2013, for the game at Texas A&M, Auburn broke out new arm sleeves. Similar to a basketball player’s shooting sleeve, but these have no padding on the elbow. These new sleeves carry the Northwestern stripes that are throughout the rest of the uniform (by the way, Under Armour LOVES these stripes. Just look at the basketball teams.).

So that does it for the football uniforms. I hope you learned something new regarding all this information. I plan on doing a “Dissecting Auburn Uniforms” feature for the men’s basketball team at least. I would love to do baseball and women’s basketball, along with as many other teams as I possibly can.

Be sure to insert your email address in the box on the right sidebar to subscribe to my posts. You can also follow me on twitter and see when I have new information to post.

Check back next week as we finish up the regular season for football with the Auburn-Alabama Uniform Preview!

War Eagle!

+Auburn Athletics

Auburn – Tennessee Uniform Matchup

/0 Comments/by
Oh boy, that was an ugly win. But I’ll take that W and am loving being 8-1 in November! And I predicted Arkansas’s uniform combo, so there’s that too!! Anyways, on to this week.

Auburn makes their second straight road trip this week as the Tigers head to Knoxville to face Tennessee. The last time Auburn made this trip was in 2009, where they got the win 26-22. In that game, Tennessee wore orange pants along with their orange tops, which is a lot rarer of a combination than you would think. Here’s a picture from that game:
So, this year adidas decided to give UT an odd alternate uniform, what they called “Smokey” grey. Honestly, I think it was an odd look, especially with the usual helmet. If you’re going to do something so different like that for a program like Tennessee, go all out. A grey helmet, or even an orange one with a white “T” would have gone great with those. But they don’t ask me…
For the prediction on what to expect, I would expect the traditional white-orange-white look, which is a beautiful one. I wouldn’t put it past the Vols to throw in the orange pants in their for good measure. Can’t have too much orange, right? I would like to suggest that they may break out the greys again, or God forbid them mix and match an orange top with grey pants (I just threw up a little imagining it…), but I just don’t see that happening. The grey set were only worn for Georgia. They would never have worn them for Florida or Alabama. But Auburn is their homecoming game, so who knows what they will decide.
White-Orange-White. Book it.
War Eagle!

Auburn – Florida Atlantic Uniform Preview

/0 Comments/by

   For as good as last week looked on the field, it was that much better of a game! Way to go Tigers!

But (Coach speak warning), it’s time to stop celebrating last week and look ahead to this week’s game. As the players study film and the upcoming opponent, I shall go a less serious and demanding route. Let’s look at the uniform matchup we can look forward to this weekend!

 


Florida Atlantic used to have some of the best looking uniforms in the entire NCAA. I loved them so much. Here’s what they looked like last time they came to Auburn in 2011-

 Just look how beautiful those are! Matching stripes throughout the uniform (don’t even bring it up about Auburn’s not matching; get over it!), and gorgeous UCLA stripes on the shoulder. I LOVE these uniforms. Well, in 2012 (thankfully after we played them) adidas decided to change it up. Gone were the stripes, and in were the super ugly templatic wing design and stupid mini pant stripes. Man, those are awful.

Sadly, that isn’t all…This year, adidas and FAU decided to change it up even more, and added a new helmet and new pant stripes. Every thing I loved about FAU is no more. And it is such a shame. The Owls went from top 20 (at least) uniforms to the bottom 10. Way to go adidas…Amazing how much has changed since the great Schnellenburger leaves the program…

Sadly, this game won’t be visually pleasing like it was two years ago. I was in attendance then, and I will be again this year. I wish we could see the good uniforms from FAU, but we get stuck with the bad ones.

Hope you guys enjoyed this post. I will update next week for the Auburn-Arkansas game!

War Eagle!

Documenting the rich history of Auburn University Athletics through its iconic uniforms.
© Copyright - Auburn Uniform Database | Not affiliated with Auburn University