2014 NCAA Football Uniform Changes

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As we get prepared for the clock to strike on yet another wonderful season of collegiate football, teams of equipment managers have been working around the clock to get all the uniforms and such ready for the beginning of the year. New trends have hit athletic uniforms like never before. And with that, many different teams have adjusted to keep with the times. Many organizations claim they help with recruiting, but we know many release new jerseys just for the retail money. Regardless of the reason, there’s so many changes from year to year. I started doing this rundown three years ago now, and back then it was just documenting small changes and whatever (single) alternate helmets a team may have added. Now teams are adding 15 new uniforms, a dozen helmet designs, and are able to mix and match for a total of 125 different combinations. Sadly, my exaggerations aren’t that crazy. There’s already a ton of teams and uniforms to go through, so let’s get started.
SEC
 
  1. Alabama – Alabama was updated to Nike’s most recent template prior to the 2012 National Championship game, and they’ve been updated again to the template that Oregon debuted in their 2013 bowl game. Also, check out this fan made chrome helmet for the Tide, that I think looks great. Don’t worry, it won’t see the field anytime soon. But it’s still fun to see things like this and the guy that made it did a wonderful job on it.

     

  2. Arkansas – Arkansas has truly had some identity crises the past few years. Thankfully Arkansas dropped their awful “anthracite” uniforms last season, and this year they have another new set (they just recently received their new uniforms in 2012 I believe). When these new uniforms were revealed, I wasn’t sold on them. But the more I look at them the more I like them. They aren’t the greatest uniforms, but they are pretty decent. They just seem a bit unfinished with the tusks or whatever on the shoulders and down the pants leg. Also, Nike designed a new Lion King-looking front facing pig head, which was the butt (no pun intended) of many jokes when it was released.
  3. Auburn – No changes uniform wise for Auburn, sadly. Auburn is still stuck with UnderArmour’s older template, which means the shoulder and pant stripes are still messed up. Oddly enough though, during the annual picture day, there were a few players that wore pants with the full stripes. Also, there is a new 75thseason logo for Jordan-Hare Stadium. It’s already been printed on some shirts. I wouldn’t expect to see it much beyond that.
  4. Kentucky – Kentucky just recently added black to their uniforms, which looked pretty bad. I’d saw awful, but I’m saving that adjective for these new grey alternates. Hopefully the prototype grey lid won’t see the light of day. Why do this if you’re Kentucky? Anyone for that?! I can understand black for many teams, but grey? It makes no sense! What’s Nike’s reasoning for them? They resemble the famous Kentucky horse racing tracks? That’s laughable. Congrats Kentucky, you have an alternate road uniform that you may not get to wear. Also, there have been a few chrome lids floating around. I have to think the chrome silver and blue lids are real. These are hopefully not. I actually think the blue chrome helmet is nice. It could easily look pretty good paired with the blue shirts and white pants. Be smart Kentucky. Please.
  5. LSU – LSU has updated their Tiger head logo and the helmets now reflect that change. They originally tested this during their Spring Game, but have apparently decided to go to it full time, which is smart. Wouldn’t make sense to have two different renditions of the same logo like that just to keep the helmet slightly unchanged. And thankfully LSU has fixed their skinny uniform number issue.
  6. Mississippi State – The Bulldogs from Starkville will be wearing new uniforms in the season opener for the 100thanniversary of Davis Wade Stadium. It would be nice if they went to these full time versus the “too similar to Texas A&M” uniforms. Hopefully these will be worn more than just once. Sadly, they have the adidas “tire tread” template, but whatchya gonna do? The worst part about these are the pants with the giant MSU logo on the left hip only. That could’ve been done much better.
  7. Ole Miss – Ole Miss will be wearing #38 decals on one side of their helmets versus Memphis to honor Chucky Mullins, a player from the 1980s that was injured in a football incident that left him as a quadriplegic and passed away not long after due to a blood clot.
  8. Tennessee – UT will be switching to Nike following this season. Unfortunately that still means another year with adidas. There’s a rumor going around that the Vols will be getting a grey helmet to match their awful Smokey greys.
  9. Vanderbilt – Vandy will be revealing a new helmet on August 28th. There’s been no information regarding what it is, so I’m very interested to see it.

 

 
Pac 12
 
  1. Arizona – With the new uniforms rules dropped last season, Arizona had to drop the gradient numbers. Even though last year’s uniforms were new, the NCAA gave them a free pass since the ruling came down after Nike had designed these. So it was a year later and those uniforms still don’t look any better.
  2. Arizona State – In 2011, ASU and Nike revealed one of my favorite rebrands. This year, they’ve added a new copper uniform, to represent the rich mining history that Arizona is known for. I really like these, mainly because they did copper SO much better than their rivals.
  3. Colorado – New 125thseason logo for the Buffalos. Nothing real special here. Pretty basic design.

     

  4. Oregon – It’s always hard to plan and document changes for Oregon pre-season. There’s two things we know for certain though – they will be changing uniforms every week, and they’ll be wearing Nike’s newest template. Oregon debuted this template in their bowl game last year, and many teams have already switched over to it. They will be wearing base layer shirts with a blue collar to emphasize the team’s blue collar work ethic.
  5. UCLA – What’s wrong with adidas you may ask? This. And this.Actually everything about this UCLA “LA Steel” uniform that will be worn this year. They’re pretty similar to last year’s “Midnight LA” uniforms, except the UCLA stripes on the shoulder and the pant striping have been chopped into razor blade shapes, which doesn’t make much sense at all. The best thing going for this set is the helmet. But that’s not saying much. The good news? The normal UCLA blue jerseys will see the return of the traditional Clarendon font.
  6. Utah – UnderArmour released somenew uniforms for Utah this season, and they’re pretty underwhelming. Despite the fact that the Utes are using UA’s new template, the only thing worth noting is the mountain top motif that is used on the shoulders, as well as the base layer and socks. The shoulder mountains are a lot more detailed than the other two designs. It just feels kinda high schoolish. Not something I’d prefer to see on a college team. But hopefully they look better on the field. A new white helmet was revealed well before the new uniforms, so who knows if we’ll see these. The Utes will be wearing the Utah Tribal seal on their helmets for their game versus Arizona on November 22nd in a campaign to raise awareness for the Ute tribe.
  7. Washington – “Hello, Nike? Yes, we’d like some new uniforms. Oh! You have a new template?! GREAT! Let’s see what you can do!” That’s pretty much how it worked for many teams. And Washington is another team that got new Nike uniforms. And by that, I mean pretty much paint-by-numbers designs. The triangle inserts are meant to resemble the overhang of the Huskies’ stadium. But don’t those also represent a razorback’s tusk? Is Arkansas wearing a design that is meant for Washington? You’re confusing me Nike. Anyway, back to the design. The first number in every double-digit number (and every single digit for that) will have a gold arrow in the northwest corner to represent the Pacific Northwest, which “assert(s) the school’s ownership of the territory” (Nike). Yea, ok then. The color matchups aren’t awful. Some will always be better than others though. But I’m saddened that they removed the striping on the white helmet. I always thought that was a great helmet design.

 

Big 10
 
  1. Illinois – Another team with a full Nike rebrand, Illinois will be wearing three new sets of uniforms, complete with matching helmets. Sublimated vertical stripes throw back to the designs of the early 1900s. Word is that the blue uniforms won’t be ready this season for whatever reason, so expect to see more of the orange. The bookstore was selling grey retail jerseys, so we can just hope those won’t be ready ever. A mannequin in the athletic department weeks after the reveal shows that the number outline on the blue uniforms has been changed from blue to orange. Interesting to see which the real design is.

     

  2. Indiana – Last year Indiana attempted to jump on the “we have multiple uniform combinations and awesome looking helmets and such” bandwagon, and failed miserably. The helmets they broke out were absolutely comical, and they’re keeping them, and adding more, this year, which is pretty sad.
  3. Maryland – The Terps have changed conferences, and will now be competing in the Big 10. We haven’t seen much from Maryland as of yet, other than the new B1G patches on the jerseys. Two helmets have basically been confirmed through photo shoots and ads, but expect to see some other ones. The specifics of those helmets are unknown, so we’ll have to wait and see. Rumors are that they will reveal a brand new uniform later in the season.
  4. Michigan – Put Michigan in the group that adidas has no business ruining. They did so well before too. These are just hideous and embarrassing. Black stripes on a blue uniform? No maize pants? Awful. Way to go adidas, making yourselves look like even more of a joke. In a better change, the nose bumper now has a 3-D M logo, versus the Michigan wordmark last year.
  5. Michigan State – The Spartans have updated their look this year, removing the green shoulder yokes from the white tops. Also, a few mannequins were spotted with last year’s chrome helmet and the ProCombat uniform from a few years ago. MSU will be wearing all white on September 9th at Oregon, complete with new white helmet. That prompted this very nice fan-made concept.
  6. Minnesota – The Golden Gophers redesigned their uniforms last year, and they looked wonderful. This year they will be adding a new gold helmet, with their battle cry “Ski-U-Mah” on the helmet stripe twice – once on top and then again at the bottom. Odd that this helmet is the traditional glossy finish, while the other helmets are all matte.
  7. Nebraska – Nebraska will be playing their 125th season of football this year, so of course a logo was created to commemorate the occasion…Oh, and adidas went complete stupid once again in creating some absolutely crazy alternates for the Huskers. I wish I could say the worst part of these were the tire tread template, but there’s just so much wrong. Nebraska wearing anything but a white helmet is odd to me, so the matte red (that transitions abruptly to black in the back) is an eye sore. The chrome black and silver stripes and stencil font are annoying. The pant striping even has an “N” in the stripes! Ugh…adidas, please, just quit.
  8. Ohio State – Ohio State will be playing their 125thseason of football also and have a logo, as well. Nice to see the throwback uniform number font used as well as the helmet striping. As for the uniforms, the Buckeyes have updated to Nike’s most recent template. Also, there’s been some talk about the rivalry helmet making a return for a few games this season.
  9. Penn State – Penn State added names to the back of their jerseys last season. This year, with another new coach, more changes aren’t farfetched. The collar and arm sleeves were white when seen on a player during an outing, and there are rumors that numbers may be added to the helmets.
  10. Wisconsin – With the red lids from an alternate uniform a few years back, Wisconsin has now added a second red helmet to the arsenal.The first one just had the two white stripes, with the new one having a single white stripe with two black stripes on the outside of it. I wouldn’t be surprised if adidas releases new alternates for the Badgers later in the season.

 

 
ACC
 
  1. Duke – Duke revealed new uniforms this summer as a tribute to the 1989 ACC Championship team, making these 25 year anniversary uniforms. Chrome decal on the matte black helmet. Seems wrong to commemorate a team by designing new uniforms based on the old ones without doing it completely right. The helmets worn by the 1989 squad has a script “Duke” on them, yet these new ones have the present day “D” logo. And a BFBS uniform that was never worn back then. Just doesn’t seem like it should be that way.
  2. Florida State – I thought FSU had a really nice uniform before the change. I think the sleeve cuff and collar designs could look like cheap duct-tape at times, but it wasn’t truly that bad. When Nike and FSU announced that the changes on the new uniforms would be “subtle,” I had my concerns. Then the reveal. And these things are anything but subtle. Nike designed a new tribal pattern (that sounds wrong by itself doesn’t it?) and it’s repeated on the shoulder caps and the huge Nike collar. Thenumbers look ridiculously huge, but I can get used to that. The updated spear logo, which looks alright, now crosses on the back of the helmet, which feels pretty gimmicky. And speaking of gimmicky, the black/maroon/whatever jerseys and helmet are unnecessary. Actually, this whole update feels unnecessary.
  3. Louisville – Louisville will be wearing brand new all black uniforms against Miami on opening weekend. A new black helmet with a dark red logo is included, which is pretty tough to see. They aren’t wonderful. They could be much worse though. But good ole Bobby Petrino sure loves awful uniforms…

     

  4. Miami – Nike unveiled some new uniforms for Miami this summer. Reactions were all across the board, but I for one like them. I’m not a fan of the connecting stripe between the collar and shoulder caps. I really like how the Ibis logo was incorporated into the shoulder caps and new alternate helmets. Three new helmets were revealed, with the traditional helmet still in the arsenal. The orange helmets won’t be available this year though. The worst part of these are the grey uniforms, which are completely unnecessary. Anything is better than the eye-brow uniforms that were worn way too long.
  5. Pitt – Pittsburgh will be playing their 125thseason of football this year. A recruit posted this picture during the summer, which shows a possible new gold jersey and helmet. We can only hope the helmet dons the script wordmark of years past.
  6. Syracuse – Nike had their hands full this offseason with so many teams undergoing uniform changes, but they completely dropped the ball with Syracuse. These are easily the worst uniforms of the offseason. The super tall numbers are meant to represent the skyline of New York City, a city that is over FOUR HOURS away and on the opposite side of the state. The stripes in the numbers and shoulder caps are all at 44* angles, because Nike felt Ernie Davis’s #44 was such an important factor in Syracuse football history that it needed to be used like this. (I loved The Express: The Ernie Davis Movie, but all this is just absurd.)

 

Big 12
 
  1. Iowa State – I’ve liked Iowa State’s look for a while now. The Colts-inspired shoulder striping looks really good in red and yellow. For whatever reason I think their helmets have always been an issue. A block I (just like Illinois) just doesn’t work well on a helmet in my opinion. This year the Cyclones have added a matte red helmet. And it’s…alright. I still hate glossy decals on a matte helmet, but what are ya gonna do about it? It’s certainly inferior to the original glossy-finished helmet as you can see in this picture. Here’s what it looks like with the uniform, with an Instagram filter that makes it difficult to see well.
  2. Kansas – What happens when your basketball team makes the tournament every year and looks great doing so, and your football team is a laughingstock? You do this. That was actually last year. This year, adidas presents “Crimson Chrome” uniforms, which are just…disgusting. An oversized Jayhawk logo with a red body gets lost in a red helmet, complete with a chrome facemask and number on the other side (another bad trend recently). The full body Jayhawk, in only chrome, is placed on both shoulders. How many Jayhawk logos do you need?! I’m not even going to try to defend adidas, Kansas, or these uniforms. There isn’t one good thing about these. I feel bad for the Jayhawk for having to be plastered all of these…

     

  3. Oklahoma – There’s a few programs that have yet to wear alternates or change completely (well, at least not wear crazy alternates), and this list continues to decrease. And the saddest team to be removed from that list is Oklahoma. For whatever reason, the Sooners have a new set of alternates complete with new helmets. The helmets (and shouldersand collars) feature a wood grain pattern, supposedly to represent the Schooner. Yea, whatever. These are simply awful, even more so for a team that just did NOT need a new set of uniforms. Thankfully these are only alternates (which still doesn’t make sense to me), so hopefully we won’t see much of them. I do like the black base layer shirts though. Kinda odd that those were a point of emphasis during the reveal though…
  4. TCU – A white helmet for TCU has been floating around the web, and it’s been confirmed by a “source close to the program”. We’ll wait and see. I actually like the use of the chrome facemask and decals on it.
  5. West Virginia – The WVU Mountaineers received a rebranding of their uniforms last season, so no big changes this year. There has been a rumor going around that they will receive an all-black alternate.

 

Mountain West
  1. Air Force – The Falcons of the Air Force Academy have revealed a really nice alternate uniform. I’ve always been a fan of their color scheme, and feel these utilize that very well. The helmet is chrome, which is okay here, because it somewhat resembles the sky – you know, what a pilot would see. These are easily up towards the top of the best uniforms of the year.
  2. Boise State – The team that started the “oversized logo on one side, number on the other” trend is back at, this time with their first orange helmet. I actually like these, but think it would look better without the chrome.
  3. Fresno State – The Bulldogs have another set of new uniforms this year. New white and red uniforms and helmets this year, as well as a slightly new black alternate. Each uniform features a new number font. There’s also a new chrome bulldog head logo helmet. There’s also apparently a new blue jersey in the works. Fresno wore this last year.
  4. San Jose State – SJSU released a new helmet design, alongside some new uniforms. First off, the new yellow helmet consists of an SJ logo on one side and a possibly chrome Spartan logo on the other, with the spear stripe. The blue helmet is the same as last year. The team also appears to be wearing two new uniforms – a white top and a blue one. The yellow jersey is the same as last year.
  5. Wyoming – Wyoming is apparently going back to their old school look. Good, cause the recent attempts to look good failed miserably. The school posted pictures of their helmet history, and that look was included. So we’ll just have to see exactly what they do at this point.

 

American Athletic
  1. East Carolina – ECU was updated to Nike’s ProCombat template this season, so new uniforms came with that. A new, updated Pirate head logo was revealed late last season. Naturally the helmets reflected that change. Here’s a few prototypes a long with the black uniform that will return.
  2. Houston – The Houston Cougars will be playing in a new stadium this year, complete with new uniforms. The stadium and turf look pretty good. Sadly, the uniforms are simply a paint-by-numbers design straight from the Nike catalog. Thankfully they are better than last year’s uniforms. I do like the white helmet though. Just think it could’ve been much better.
  3. South Florida – South Florida revealed two new helmets – a matte green with a giant, oversized logo and a chrome lid (of course). I actually like the green lid. The chrome lid is just mainstream nowadays. USF had planned to wear “The Team” in place of player names on the back of their uniforms, but a new NCAA rule forbid that, citing only military schools are allowed to place anything similar to Honor, Integrity, etc.

     

  4. Southern Methodist – SMU has revealed some new uniforms, including the traditional blue jerseys. Sadly, all three jerseys are lacking any striping or anything, but these are pretty clean.
  5. Tulane – Tulane recently joined the uniform arms race and added many new different helmets last year. This year, the team has new home and road uniforms, which oddly enough, are different from each other. The home green uniforms feature the Arizona/Fresno State gradient stripes, while the white uniforms have a solid set of stripes. Tulane also changed their logo a bit, adding an awful shade of lime green. A new helmet was revealed that reflected the addition of lime green.

 

Conference USA
  1. Florida Atlantic – FAU used to have one of the best uniforms ever. And if you read this post last year you know just how hurt I was when they changed it. And they continue to make it even worse. Early in the offseason this picture was circulating of an all chrome red helmet including chrome red facemask. What was over looked by the uniform media was the nicely done chrome blue helmet with chrome silver facemask in the background. I certainly want to see that blue one. Burn the red one.
  2. Louisiana Tech – LaTech changed their helmet design last year from a white T to a red T that I think was a major downgrade. This year, they’ve made another small change. They’ve added the state of Louisiana flag crossed with the American flag on the back, which I think is pretty cool. Also, an alternate helmet was announced. This new helmet is basically the same, except with a bulldog logo. These will be worn versus UTEP on October 4th. It just seems a bit odd to have the dog facing the wrong way…
  3. Marshall – I recently ranked my top 25 college uniforms, and included Marshall in that list. They’ve dropped out since changing their home uniforms to this garbage. The helmets and away uniforms stay the same, thankfully. So, look good on the road, and awful at home. I just can’t believe they messed with perfection.
  4. Middle Tennessee State – MTSU will be playing in the C-USA for the first season this year. And, well of course, new uniforms! Each uniformis nothing but a cookie cutter design from Nike, which is the ugly trend of the year (except adidas. All of adidas). The new design also features a new, funky (pretty poor) number font. Sadly it doesn’t seem these early prototypes will see any playing time.
  5. Old Dominion – ODU will be wearing new uniforms and helmets this year, which are nothing but rip offs of other teams. The helmet is straight from Navy, the jerseys are Arizona/Fresno State gradient stripes, and the pants are from Miami’s old eyebrow uniforms. We saw these helmets last year, so expect to see these more.
  6. Southern Miss – The Golden Eagles of USM revealed many prototype helmets over the season. Some are pretty nice (#4and #5) and some are just awful (#2 and #6). It’s a mystery as to if any of these will see the field or not. A few others didn’t make it into the collage, including this nice chrome helmet.
  7. UAB – U of Alabama at Birmingham released some new uniforms this year, along with a radical new helmet design. The helmet consists of two oversized dragon heads with dragon scales at the bottom of the lid. Thankfully they didn’t add a number to one side like the recent trend has been. The uniforms on the other hand are pretty bland. Shoulder caps consist of the dragon scale design from the helmet. Here’s what they looked like previously.
  8. UTSA – A new helmet for the UTSA Roadrunners is on taps for this season. The helmet has a matte finish with what appears to be a chrome logo on one side, and (sadly) the player numbers on the other.
  9. Western Kentucky – With their (awful) new redesign last year, Western Kentucky has added a new red chrome helmet. I can’t really decide if I like it better or worse than the original lid.

 

MAC
  1. Akron – What do you do when you’re a small school like Akron and haven’t had a winning season since 2005? You do whatever you can to help with recruiting. And in today’s world, that means new uniforms. And adidas was fully obliged to give them some new uniforms. Except they’re very loud. A new gold chrome lid was floating around the internet for a long time. Akron finally confirmed it, and then Coach Terry Bowden confirmed that a white chrome lid would be coming soon. Also included are a new set of uniforms. Thus far we’ve only seen the black uniform. This jersey was on display, but it looks like everything was just pinned in place. The kangaroo head on the shoulders would be interesting to see, yet probably laughable. Another helmet was seen online, this time a matte blue lid with a poorly photoshoped decal. There’s a tank patch on the back of the uniforms to honor a former assistant coach that passed away in a car accident in December.
  2. Ball State – Nike has awarded Ball State with a new all black uniform, including a matte black helmet. They also received new red jerseys. This is what they used to look like.
  3. Buffalo – After an embarrassing rebranding as “The State University of New York in Buffalo” last year, they are adding that awful name/moniker/whatever to their playing surface. Buffalo (as I will always refer to them) will also be breaking out an all black uniform, complete with matte black helmet, when they host Baylor on September 12th, a nationally televised game.
  4. Central Michigan – Here’s a team that revealed some pretty decent new uniforms two years ago that has another set of new uniforms. These are a great upgrade over an already good looking set. Unfortunately, they consist of adidas’ pitiful tire track template. I do like the yellow alternate with maroon shoulder yokes. Can’t wait to see what they wear the rest of the year.
  5. Eastern Michigan – EMU revealed a ton of new uniform combinations a year or two ago. Here’s all the helmets after returning from the manufacturer. This year, they’ve added a grey turf field. I honestly don’t even want to know why.
  6. Northern Illinois – The Huskies of NIU have new uniforms and helmets. They’ll also be wearing some corn uniforms on opening weekend to coincide with the annual DeKalb Corn Festival. The jerseys will be auctioned off at the festival to benefit local charities. Northern Illinois wore these the past few years.
  7. Toledo – I’ll save you the “Holy Toledo” joke today. But thankfully Toledo has new uniforms, and boy do they look good! Thankfully the rocket logo has returned to the helmet…on one side. The other has the TU logo, which is better than a player number. I really like these. They’rebetter than anythingthey’ve wornrecently.

 

SunBelt
  1. Appalachian State – App State will be playing their first year in the SunBelt Conference, so new uniforms are on tap. The helmet consists of a gold chrome facemask and the old Yoself logo. The jerseys feature what seems to be a custom font, which lacks a lot. The design isn’t the worst, but it’s kinda sad being they revealed some pretty nice new uniforms last season.
  2. Arkansas State – A photo of ASU’s recruiting table circulated around the webs over the summer and it revealed many new uniform aspects for the RedWolves. The matte red and black matte with oversized RedWolf head logo helmets are two brand new lids. The white helmet is an older lid, but the red stripe is a new addition. All the jerseys are the same as the past season, even the red numbers on grey jersey that they wore at Auburn that caused a lot of mis-information. We won’t get into that today. Since then they revealed their new black uniforms, complete with adidas’ tire tread template. Ugh. A new 100th season of football logo was also revealed.
  3. Georgia Southern – Georgia Southern has new jerseys to reflect their switch to the SunBelt Conference. Thankfully that’s all that changed.
  4. Louisiana-Monroe – UL-Monroe has added some chrome detailed decals to their helmets. They also now have three different facemask combinations – white, maroon, and chrome gold – which is a nice change of pace from the different helmets many teams have.

     

 

Independents
  1. Army – This picture was posted extremely early in the summer. Ever since then there have been some rumors about new helmets on tap for Army.
  2. BYU – BYU announced once again that they will be having a few color-outs – a white-out versus Virginia, a black-out versus UNLV, and they’ll also be wearing their gorgeous throwbacks versus Utah State. I know I’m not alone in wishing they would go back to the royal full time.
  3. Navy – The Naval Academy switched from Nike to UnderArmour over the off-season, and received a new uniform design. The jerseys consist of six stripes across the back and front, representing the six Naval fleets. The stripes certainly look bigger on the retail jersey than the on-field version. Will be interesting to see how they look on field. Another thing to watch will be if the Army-Navy game helmet will make a return with UnderArmour. Although the helmet was used with a Nike uniform, the helmet itself was made by HydroGraphics Inc, the company that makes all of Oregon’s helmets and many other teams. I for one would like to see it again, if not full time.

     

  4. Notre Dame – The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are another team that switched to UnderArmour over the off-season, this time changing from adidas. UnderArmour revealed the new uniforms and they look great! UA didn’t change much at all with the basic uniforms. Some new accessories, but that’s always part of the deal. Notre Dame also has a new uniform for their Shamrock Series game, which thankfully isn’t as wild as in year’s past. The helmets feature the pattern from the Gold Dome that the normal helmets are based off, as well as the ND logo for the very first time in school history. The shoulders and base layer feature a design that is visible inside one of the buildings on campus. The pants feature a bandaid stripe, with the left leg reading NOTRE DAME. Also, Notre Dame changed from a traditional grass field to a new turf field, complete with the mid-field logo, which I believe is the first time ever for that.

 

That’s all the Division 1 – FBS teams that changed their uniforms this season. Crazy, right? Well, just wait. Rather than breaking up the smaller schools by conference, or even division, they’ll all just be below in alphabetical order. Here we go!
 
  1. Campbell – The Campbell Fighting Camels (Yes, seriously) an FCS team out of North Carolina, has a new set of helmets as well as UnderArmour uniforms.
  2. Central Arkansas – The team with the crazy purple and grey field has added a new matte grey helmet.
  3. Charleston – The University of Charleston Golden Eagles have a new UConn-inspired helmet.
  4. Citadel – The Citadel has added a few new helmets. Two differentcamo helmetsand a chrome lid. No word if these will actually be used on field or not. They will be wearing nameplates with Honor, Duty, and Respect though.
  5. Colgate – Possibly the smallest change of the year, Colgate went from a solid maroon helmet to one that now transitions to black at the bottom of the helmet. Always have loved the  ‘gate helmet decals.
  6. Dartmouth – Dartmouth, an Ivy League team, has released an alternate set of their uniforms. They typically wear these.
  7. Davidson – Another FCS team with new uniforms, that unfortunately follow the trend of logo on one side of the helmet and player numbers on the other.
  8. Florida A&M – FAMU, a school famous for their awful orange and green uniforms, showcased three prototype helmets. Two consist of a nice Rattler head logo, one on a white lid, the other on some odd snake skin helmet. Unfortunately, the Rattler head decal is mostly transparent. It would be nice to see it given some color rather than just having an outline on a helmet. The third helmet is a green chrome lid, with a white stripe that features that odd snake skin design. The lack of any decals makes it seem like this was a work-in-progress prototype at the time of the photos. Call me crazy, but I’d like to see those hit the field sometime. A team like FAMU could always use a little spark(le) like that.
  9. Georgetown – The Hoyas have a new uniform that looks like Miami’s old eye brow uniforms.
  10. Liberty – An FCS team, Liberty University has some new uniforms that add up for 27 different combinations. Three sets of jerseys, pants, and helmets are now available to mix and match. The red and white helmets seem to be matte, with the blue being glossy. The Flames wore these last year.
  11. Mercer – Mercer seems to have new uniforms from adidas, tire tread and all. The helmet seems to be matte. These are their uniforms from last year.
  12. Morehead State – Remember UConn’s radical husky head helmets? Yea, Morehead stole that idea, but placed an eagle in the stripe. The eagle head bulging out at the front of the helmet, and the stripe being chrome, certainly don’t help their cause. They did one-up UConn by adding adecal to the side of the helmets though.
  13. Murray State – A new set of logos was revealed for Murray State over the summer, so the football helmets naturally reflected that change. I like the checkerboard stripe, but just wish it fit the stripe better. Feels incomplete.
  14. Nicholls State – Nicholls State has a new matte grey helmet. Gotta say, it looks pretty good.
  15. North Arizona – New uniforms for the Lumberjacks.
  16. North Dakota State – The three-in-a-row FCS Champions NDSU Bison have new uniforms. The yellow uniforms will be revealed later on.
  17. Sam Houston State – New uniforms on tap for the Bearkats this season. Seems to include a matte helmet. They wore these uniforms last season.
  18. Steven F. Austin – SFA has new South Carolina inspired UnderArmour uniforms this season. A new custom number font dons the jerseys, as well as a new shoulder design. Also they have a new matte helmet design. They wore these last year.
  19. Tennessee Tech – TTU showed off a great prototype helmet at the earliest parts of the offseason. It appears to be chrome purple, but tough to tell for sure. I hope this does see some playing time.
  20. Western Carolina – The Catamounts have some new adidas uniforms on tap for this season.
  21. Westminster College – a D3 school has a new helmet. They wore these uniforms last year. It’ll be a rough looking combination if worn with the home navys.

 

Yea, that’s a lot of uniform news. Some schools look good, some look others. Some changes were for the better, many more were just awful. These will certainly not be the only new uniforms for the year. Many teams will reveal new uniforms a few days, if not immediately before, the game they wear the uniforms in. Lots of new uniforms to come, so let’s just wait and see what comes! Here’s to a great year of college football. Hopefully the action is better than what many of the teams look like on the field.

2013 NCAA Football Uniform Tracker

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I know this isn’t Auburn basketball, but it is still uniforms, and it is what I’ve been working on for so long. I had to post this in two parts on AUFamily.com, but I’m just going to post it all right here. It’s just that long. There were about 70 teams or so that are listed, and I could still add some more. I hope you enjoy this post, I may do more on something like this in the future.

War Eagle!

 I’m going to start this off with a few of the new NCAA rules that affect uniforms, then start going down the list, starting with the SEC.

NCAA rule changes– Two new changes for the NCAA relate directly to uniforms. The first, what I call the USC rule, bans players from changing uniform numbers during the game unless the alert the referee, for the use of a player playing two different positions (numbers are assigned to certain positions; example, 50-79 is for lineman).

The second rule dictates that the uniform numerals must contrast completely with the color of the jersey. The number must be clearly in contrast, regardless of any border around the number. This rule will basically ban gradient numbers, much like what Nike liked to use with their ProCombats, and even these from Oregon, which I thought was always a good look for them.

 SEC

  • Arkansas- Nike and the Hogs released new uniforms last year (yuck). Well, with the NCAA’s new uniform number rules, they had to change them. And boy do they look a lot better. Finally, the NCAA did something right! Arkansas also updated some other aspects of the uniform, with the removal of the second shoulder stripe, and a new decal on the white helmets. Not huge changes, but upgrades. Grade- B+
  • Auburn- The past few years for Auburn’s uniforms haven’t been the greatest. Following a national championship (which was the last year the uniforms looked their best), UnderArmour makes the numbers and nameplates smaller and skinnier. Last year was an upgrade, as they both were enlarged, but still a bit skinnier than in the past. Also, a “WAR EAGLE” ‘tramp stamp’ was added just below the belt. Thankfully, that seems to be removed. I can confirm that the biggest difference is the cut of the jerseys. They have more room for the players’ arms to move around better. Hopefully next year the numbers, nameplates, and pant stripes will be back to normal. Also, and this is just me being picky, does the SEC patch not look a bit cramped? Could it not be scooted over about a quarter inch to the outside? It was with the pennant logo patch…Grade- A-
  • Florida- Florida has not changed their uniforms in so many years (other than a ProCombat every now and then). But 2013 comes a change for the gators. The striping and number fonts are slightly different than the past. The gator head patch on the jerseys had been cloth patches, but now seem to be a plastic chip, similar to the new NFL logo on the Nike uniforms. Also, a recruit posted this picture online which has a grey pair of pants. No confirmation on these, so we’ll wait and see. Grade- B-
  • Georgia- According to the news release, Georgia and Nike spent 15 months working on this new “rebranding” of the athletic department. FIFTEEN MONTHS! For what?! A new word mark, alternate logo, and number font? Really?! C’mon now. That shouldn’t take more than fifteen weeks. Tops. Football wise, they really didn’t do much (here are the old ones). They just transitioned UGA to the new Nike template (much like they did with Alabama for the NC game), and changed the number font, which isn’t very good to begin with…Personally, I’m just more of a fan of boxier fonts for a football uniform than rounded. Looks a bit childish. Grade- C+
  • Kentucky- Now, Kentucky went nuts last year with their new uniforms. This year, this grey jersey and lid were posted online. Head Coach Mark Stoops has said that these will not be used until 2014, but you saw it first here!
  • LSU- No uniform changes as of now, but LSU did trademark this new logo for use on merchandising. Keep an eye out and we’ll see if it is transitioned into the athletic department in the future. Grade- N/A
  • Mississippi State- Oh boy did this stir up some ruckus. A pink breast cancer jersey, with grey Zubaz pants. I seriously get shivers every time I see this thing… Thankfully, this has been claimed as just a creative mock-up. You may now rejoice (I sure am!)!

*UPDATE*- Turns out adidas really did have something new for MSU. New egg bowl unis (woo…). Now these are decent. Not wonderful, not pitiful. Looks an awful like the same set they wore for the same game a few years ago…

  • Ole Miss- Ole Miss has updated their uniforms for the new season. And it’s very unfortunate. Ole Miss had some really nice uniforms the past couple of years. Now, they’ve added blue and white pants to go along with their greys. No more are the red-blue pants stripes, as “REBELS” has replaced them on the pants leg, similar to what Arkansas used to have. The new tops are nothing more than removal of color. One color to “compliment” the base color. The old jerseys at least had some outline color, even if it was just the word mark under the collar. These, these are just plain bland. I’m really disappointed in these. Pants are awful. Jerseys are boring. Nicely done Ole Miss and Nike, you ruined a typically nice looking set. And I miss the grey tops… Grade- C-
  • South Carolina- UnderArmour has new uniforms the Gamecocks from South Carolina. Not terribly bad, not much better than last year’s. Still a bit of an identity crises with just random stripes and such. But, it would be difficult to make a Gamecock look good on the field…I do like the socks though…Grade- B-
  • Tennessee- Tennessee has added some small changes to their uniforms. First, adidas moved them to the awful “tread marks” template (keep reading for more on that). Secondly, the state of Tennessee has been added as a patch above the nameplate. Look for some small changes to continue over the next few years. Grade- B+

*UPDATE* Tennessee has now released a new “Smokey” grey alternate, with grey tops and bottoms. These aren’t too awful, to me. I like the pants striping; looks real good. The “tread marks” are back, of course…I would’ve liked to have seen an alternate helmet. If they’re going to do something like this at Tennessee, why not go all out? Here’s a picture of all their “base” combos. Grade- B

  • Texas A&M- Not much of a change uniform wise for the Aggies, but more of an adidas template change. All the adidas teams are appearing to wear these new uniforms, which have been referred to as ‘tire tread marks’ by UniWatch. Just wish we knew the reasoning behind this from adidas…just doesn’t make much sense…Anyways, back to the Aggies. “Gig ‘Em” has been added to the inside of the back collar. Thankfully, unlike many other adidas teams, the adidas logo is on the chest, and not below the collar. I’m personally interested to see how this new template looks on the field, and if you can even see the “treads”. Also expect a black alternate or a new helmet or two. If I remember correctly, A&M plans to “blackout” Alabama at home this year.  Grade- B
  • Vanderbilt- Last year Nike and Vandy unveiled a new set, with new helmets (still love the white lid). So, we haven’t heard from them at all this offseason. But, look at their coach. Wouldn’t put anything past him.

PAC 12

  • Arizona- Few years ago Nike spent all their time working with Arizona State. And boy did Sparky look good. This time around, the Swoosh spent their time with the Wildcats of Arizona. And boy did they miss the ball here. Bleh. I thought the rainbow trend died with the ‘80s Astros? (BTW, love the “Tequila Sunrise” jerseys, and they’re somewhat making a comeback) Like mentioned, the NCAA released new rules not allowing these gradient numbers, but since Nike and Zona were already producing these, they got a waiver. And that’s a shame. Ugly, underwhelming, and the helmets are awful. The copper helmet was released last year, as a nod to the state flag, and it’s alright, just doesn’t look like it matches nor belongs. Now, the red helmet was released last year as well, and it belongs back in the dumpster. Red lid AND red facemask??? No. Just, no. Bad Bear. Although, these do look cool, even though they will never see the field…Grade- C-
  • Arizona State- In 2011, ASU redesigned their entire athletic department. What they and Nike did back then was really amazing. Now, according to this picture, they have introduced a new set of helmets with oversized pitchfork logos. I, for one, think these look amazing. I’ve been a fan of whatever ASU has done since this redesign. They just keep surprising and looking good! No word just yet if these helmets will be a replacement for the original or just an alternate.  Grade- A
  • California- Like many programs, California has decided to rebrand their athletic department with the help of Nike. They even tried to use a new logo for the school itself, but that didn’t go over so well. Cal has had a true identity crises over the past few seasons. They never could get their look down. It was always a mess. Nike stepped in to help with that this year. They now have new blue, yellow, and white uniforms, and will obviously mix and match to their pleasing. At first look, I really like these. Simple, yet bold. The bear on the shoulder and hip (which so happens to be a brand spanking new logo, mind you) is a little distracting, but will take some getting used to. The matte blue helmet looks good, but like always with matte helmets, execution is key (see rant below, at Middle Tennessee State). These new uniforms also have a necktie thing, just like (my) Jacksonville Jaguars with their new uniforms. We’ll see how this looks in the fall on the field. The bear details inside the numbers will more than likely be a detail overseen unless up close and personal with the uniforms. Grade- A-/B+
  • Colorado- This photo was one of the first prototypes revealed over the offseason. I really hope this prototype is real. We haven’t heard from Colorado since this, so who knows what’s going on over there.
  • Oregon State- Oregon State and Nike spent so much time the past year or so working on this. I must say, these are the most beautiful uniforms of the offseason. I LOVE everything about this uniform set! The new logo is slowly growing on me, but I like it. The three different jerseys are amazing! I LOVE the three helmets, especially the matte black one! The stripes extending to the facemask are supposedly to resemble a badger’s front teeth, and it looks great. One matte helmet, two metallic, each with completely different styles- blank for the black one, TV numbers on the orange one, and the badger logo on the white one. Nike really did a wonderful job rebranding every aspect of OSU’s athletic departments. This is by-far the best uniforms in a long time! Kudos to everyone involved! #ReBeaved  (Here’s what they wore before) Grade- A++
  • Oregon- Oregon could, and probably should, have their own section just for them on here. We honestly haven’t heard much from the Ducks this offseason, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t working on a lot. We seriously only have a few pictures. Here is the newest retail version of their jerseys; nothing much different. We then get a few pictures of all yellow look. Not bad, I like. Just wait and see what Uncle Phil and Nike can put together for Oregon.
  • UCLA- adidas, again, goes with something completely useless and just plain odd. UCLA has recently used the same “super-stretchy” material like what Reebok had a lot of NFL teams in, the NY Giants mainly (adidas and Reebok are owned by the same company, in case you didn’t know). Now this jersey is just weird. What’s the point? What was their inspiration? (Usually designers have a reason- school history, campus architecture, etc…- but this just seems like a “heck, it looks cool [kinda], let’s do it!” kinda thing) Jim Mora was actually quoted at some point saying how he wanted the UCLA stripes (what they are technically called) to go all the way around, like they used to be, but that obviously hasn’t happened yet.
  • Washington- The Washington Huskies also have a brand new chrome gold helmet prototype! Who knows if this is real or not. We’ll see soon enough.

Big Ten

  • Illinois- A picture of this nice orange lid with a blue block “I” leaked a while ago. Illinois helmet prototypes have leaked before, but (if I remember the story correctly) I believe this picture was tweeted by a coach. And weeks after speculating if it was real or not, they officially revealed this one. This new “I” lid replaces the old orange “ILLINOIS” helmet, although their matte blue helmet will remain in the rotation. Grade- B
  • Indiana- The Hoosier’s now have the worse arsenal of helmets ever. I guess Indiana has a few guys somewhere in the program that wanted to do something for the sake of doing it. These are awful. Flat awful. The weird design on some of the helmets is supposedly from the state flag. Doesn’t look right when it is not in its original colors…”17 year olds love shiny things…” Oh, and let’s just add “tread marks” to top it off… Grade- C-
  • Michigan-Funny story out of Michigan during spring practice. Apparently they wanted to change the color of their none-contact practice jerseys to orange. Well, why pay for new jerseys when you can get some for free? Ask and you shall receive! Oregon State (that just went under a full redesign of their own) sent Michigan a few old Orange jerseys, in which Michigan repurposed. Oddly, OSU is a Nike school. Michigan is an adidas school. Not very often do you see mingling like this between two schools with completely different apparel company contracts. But no need to let good jerseys go to waste! Turns out adidas did not like this one bit, and as soon as word got out, they sent Michigan orange practice jerseys from their own shop. Seems like a lot of work to make sure your product is on the [practice] field, right? Grow up adidas…
  • Nebraska- Well, adidas is going after Nebraska…again…as you can see, they went for something really unique last year. This year is no exception. I like that the Black Shirts tradition is being involved for once, not like in the past where they added black pants because of the same tradition. The stencil number font is just a novelty. You probably won’t even notice on TV. I LOVE the matte white helmet though. I think a lot of Nebraska’s uniforms seems a little underwhelming because their logo is nothing more than a block “N”. So, you do what you can with what you’ve got. Unfortunately, these have the same “tread marks” as every other new adidas uniforms…shame… You’ll get to these on TV when Nebraska plays UCLA, which I’m sure will probably have their own special uniforms as well, so schedule the DVR if you like, or avoid it if you want to avoid these…
  • Northwestern- Last year UnderArmour went and completely overhauled Northwestern’s uniforms, and I loved them. This year, we got a shot of a helmet with a USA style decal, which a lot of teams have been doing lately. As with most, these are a nice gesture, but look so out of place…Grade- B-

*UPDATE* Northwestern has released a great matte white helmet, to go with their white pants and tops. I LOVE this. NU has always had that purple helmet, and last year broke out some black ones, but this one, this one POPS! I love it. I want it on my shelf. Grade- A

  • Ohio State- Though we haven’t seen a game cut version of these changes, we have seen the retail versions. And these have new buckeye leaves around the back of the collar. As well as some minor number font changes. We just need to wait for more. Grade- B-
  • Penn State- As Penn State has tried very hard to separate itself from the Paterno era, they have changed up their traditional simple uniforms. Last year, they added player names on the back. This year, the cat head logo has been added to the bottom of the collar. Other than that, these aren’t much different. But I still wouldn’t rule out more changes, as they really want to get away from JoePa as much as possible… Grade- B

Big 12

  • Baylor- Another team that has had a bit of an identity crises when it comes to their football uniforms is Baylor. With RG3, they had bear stripes. Now, they have these. And don’t worry, the Bears of Baylor would never be outdone in the helmets race. Try (so far), three new helmets, plus the traditional gold one. A nice pretty white one, a well done matte black one, and get this, a gold one! The chinstrap is even gold!! Yea, I’m not so sure how that’s going to go over on the field either. I’m really hoping it never sees the field, and is used for special occasions, similar to what the (my) Jaguars gave the Weaver family after they sold the team. But that won’t be the case, and these, I think, will see a lot of action. Going to need your shades to watch these on TV. And one last look at them all. Baylor will be wearing 1950 throwbacks at some point this year. Curious to see what they look like, and when they wear them. With all the new uniform combos they have, I don’t know when they’ll be able to wear them… Grade- B-
  • Iowa State- One of the greatest eras in football was when nearly every single football team wore vertical stripes, like these. The Pittsburg Steelers threw back to something similar to those about a decade or two ago. Now, Iowa State is going to do the same. I love these! I wish it was required for every team that wore this design in their past had to wear their own version of these for at least one game. Keep the history in the game people! Grade- A
  • Kansas- Think to yourself- What do the Kansas Jayhawks need? If you answered five different helmets in five different colors, you’d be right! And Kansas would be wrong! I don’t think anyone needs five different colored helmets, except Oregon, cause, ya know, they work it. Kansas doesn’t need anything other than their original helmet, and a throwback baby blue every now and then. But here, even the original blue helmet looks bad. As well do the white and red ones. Especially the red lid. Yuck. Oddly, I really like the matte black lid. That just looks sick to me. But there’s that beautiful baby/powder blue lid that looks awesome! No logo, just TV numbers. This picture makes it look matte, which I think would be pretty cool. And now that we have this picture of the helmets with correlating color jerseys, we can get a better picture of these. Really don’t know what to think about these now. Somewhat disappointing they don’t have a red top in this picture. No need for the red lid right?? (Turns out they had a black top last year?) Wonder if they’ll have just as many pants. If so, then they really need to mix and match well. I can imagine some of these combos looking good, and some, well, not so well…Also, “treadmarks”… Grade B-/C+
  • TCU- One of the latest reveals in the summer is from TCU. Nike has had so much fun with TCU over the past few years. It a bit ridiculous with what they have come up with. Now, they have gone completely off the wall. New plain black uniforms, with red accents (I didn’t know TCU had red as a color…). And a new… unique… helmet. I am not a fan of the solid uniforms. The shoulders do invoke a similar pattern to what my Jaguars wear, but it’s just not enough. The helmet is odd, but I kinda like it. Another HGI concept. I like the horned frog skin pattern on the lid, but I honestly am not sure what the red stripe is…Well, according to Nike “The uniform also features red accents that harken back to the horned frog’s defense mechanism – a shot of blood from the eyes that repels encroaching foes.” Alright then…Grade- B-
  • Texas Tech- Texas Tech’s helmet table may consist of the most prototypes seen this year. Some of these look flat out awesome. Others, not so much. The red helmet with the Red Raider looks awesome! The black one just below that looks pretty good as well. The two white helmets with the red stripe down the middle, which seem to be the same helmet, just different sides, looks really cool, with logo on one side, TV number on the other, and “GUNS UP” on the stripe. I like that one. Unfortunately, when TT revealed their new uniforms from UnderArmour, they only had one helmet. And the only difference with that one, is the red stripe with “Guns Up” at the base of it. Now, these uniforms aren’t great. Random stripes, yay…The good news is they can mix and match and still look decent. Rumor is there is a grey alternate, but we’ll have to see. Wish some of those prototypes had turned out real… Grade- B-
  • Texas- Texas is another team to update their uniforms and transition them to Nike’s new template. This picture is just a prototype, but the new on field versions will be the same, except for no Flywire. The Longhorn logo is new. And it looks like a plastic chip, similar to Florida’s Gatorhead and the NFL shield. The whites are the exact same; no Flywire, plastic chip, everything else. Grade- Improvement
  • West Virginia- The Mountaineers of WVU have released some…bold…uniforms this year. West Virginia kept the original blue helmet, but added a white and yellow helmet to the rotation (first time since for the white one since 1979 and the gold one since 1978).The helmets look nice. I like them. Especially the all white one. The jerseys are so plain, they border on the line of being uninspired. Nike threw in the color-stained arm pit thingys, like what LSU wore a while ago. Those are just a poor design element. Nike also created a brand new number font, which is supposed to resemble a miner’s ax. Eh, ok…Some cool elements though, Nike put the state motto of Montani Semper Liberi, which is Latin for Mountaineers are Always Free, into the collar, as well as a unique yellow canary, which were sent into caves by miners to detect deadly gases. Grade- B-

ACC

  • Clemson- The new ACC patch looks like a billboard. What’s with the background not matching up? Looks very disjunct and out of place. Just doesn’t blend well. Should’ve stuck with the ole pennant logo. But that’s an ACC issue, not Clemson.
  • Florida State- What do the Seminoles look like with their new ACC patch? Glad you asked! Here ya go! Nothing special…too billboard like…
  • Georgia Tech- I would never post a fan’s tweaks or complete overhauls on this list. I want to do only legit news and uniforms you will see on the field this season. But there is an exception here. This is just too good to pass up. Apparently, news broke out that Georgia Tech was to have a brand new uniform set for this year (we haven’t seen anything yet). A few people started tweeting out this picture. Unfortunately, it’s all fake. I LOVE this uniform, give or take the bee helmet stripe. This looks like someone took Michigan’s throwback uniforms and put it on steroids.  I love the humorous smiling bee face on the shoulders. I love this uniform so much it hurts that it isn’t real. The biggest shame, GT has had the biggest identity crises over the past decade(s) and really could have used a bold uniform like this! No grade since its fake, unfortunately But we do actually have some things from GT. We have new retail versions arriving at stores. What’s different? Nothing much, just that the “TECH” under the collar now reads “GT”. Here’s the “honeycomb” style they broke out mid-season last year. Please, Russell, I’m begging you. Do something good!

*Did you know that GT has now played 100 years at Grant Field at Bobby Dodd Stadium? I didn’t either. Not until they released this logo for the occasion.

  • Miami- Here are their uniforms with the new ACC logo patch. Blends in much better here. Hopefully Nike will take Miami through a full rebranding like they have so many this offseason real soon.
  • North Carolina- UNC unveiled their new unis before their spring game. And they should’ve waited longer and spent more time at the drawing board. I’m not sure what the designer(s) of these was thinking. So very basic that it’s bad. Black numbers across the board, which isn’t even a team color. The Nike Flywire color just sticks out contrasting like that. The single stripe on the shoulder creates what seems like an empty spot on the jerseys. Very underwhelming and nothing special. They have brought back the HGI chrome tarheel helmet from last year. Just not a fan of the use of black at all. UNC announced before these were revealed that they would have a blackout game. The black uniforms are sadly the best set, only because of the solid color Flywire and use of Carolina blue on the numbers. And a nice lid. And just fyi…These are just…bad. Grade- D
  • Virginia Tech- New military appreciation helmets for VT for the Sept. 21 game vs. Marshall. I am not a fan of these whatsoever. These are horrendous. Really hoping they don’t have matching uniforms, but I highly doubt that. Grade- D+
  • Wake Forest- The Demon Deacons have joined the armed race with new helmets of their own. Why anyone would place a matte black logo on a matte black helmet to the point where no one can see it is beyond me. The white, double-sided helmet, with the Deacon logo on one side, is definitely going to take some getting used to.  Right now, I’m not a fan. Just hope they look better on the field. Grade- D-

SCATCH THAT!!
Turns out all this pictures above were just fakes. Possible prototypes by the athletic department. THANKFULLY! Here are the real lids they revealed. Like the new matte black and white lids. Now just to redo the jerseys… New Grade- B+

1.       Cincinnati- After a season or two of Cincy adding new additions to their uniform collection, we only getthese two picturesof the new uniforms. As you can see, new AA conference logo, and “tread marks” make another return…Wish we could see more, but I would expect to see some different, and new, aspects in the future. Grade- B

2.       Houston- Last season Houston rolled out a redesigned UH logo with the new Cougar Head logo. Now, they seem to have gone a bit equipment happy. The white UH helmet is flat out gorgeous. Sadly, that’s about it. I wasn’t a fan of the new cougar head logo at all last year, so needless to say I’m not a fan of the helmets with that logo. The red one with the traditional placement isn’t too terribly bad. The red helmet with the oversized cut-out cougar head, yea, that doesn’t work for me at all. And then the diamond plate UH helmet? Looks like Houston, Nike, and Hydro Graphics, Inc. (who created the likes of Oregon’s chrome winged helmets and such) just went “Ya know what? We can do whatever we want. Let’s try something completely different!” Sorry fellas, but you shouldn’t have… Houston also got new jerseys, now with number outlining, and some sort of striping. Have I mentioned that I hate armpits and silly shoulder things? Here is the prime example of what I’m talking about. With the reveal of the uniforms, only the matte white and glossy red helmets were shown, so, will we see the other crazy designs, or were they just mock ups? Grade- C+

3.       Louisville- The Louisville Cardinals have now updated their uniforms, complete with AAC patch and adidas “treadmarks”.  Also, a new pair of black alternate pants, which look good paired with that white top. Hopefully we won’t see all red this year. And how can you not like this gorgeous matte white helmet?! No word just yet if this is real or not, which I really hope it is. Grade- B+

4.       Memphis- Memphis has had some unique looks over the years. Early this year, the alumni association had these mock ups for their members to vote on. Unfortunately, it seemsthat the grey pants (and possibly white, hard to tell) made it through, and, if you can look very closely, the blue and white jerseys have faint black stripes as well. But the biggest news is with their three new helmets. Who likes chrome?! 17 year olds, that’s right! I love the traditional blue lid with the M and tiger logo going chrome. I also really like the chrome blue with TV number lid. But I really love the new silver chrome helmet, if it weren’t for the decal and striping having those tiger stripes inside of them. Other than that, I like these helmets. Will be very interesting to see how they look onfield. Chrome is the new black, if you haven’t noticed yet. Grade- B

5.       UCF- UCF has been releasing their new uniforms very un-traditionally. They released the uniform design on an ESPN TeamDesigner-like template(Bush league UCF, C’mon!). Then they show off the uniforms, along with the new helmet design, at a season ticket holder dinner (with no models I may add). And to top things off, they show off one helmet with the design they want, and another with the colors they are supposedly going to use. The look is very bleh, but the presentation receives a failing grade. And what seemed like forever after we got the first look at everything, we finally see what I think is the final product, and actually on a real person! I like. I really like the unique lid. I like the metallic gold portion, but I wonder how it will look on the helmet models that don’t have that raised portion of the crown. Grade- B for uniforms, F for reveal (It’s called showmanship man!)

6.       UConn- Nike has been working overtime this offseason, rebranding and redesigning many teams already. Now, they show off their work for Connecticut. They rebranded everything, straight down to the husky head logo (Here’s a nice timelineof all the previous husky logos used). The uniforms themselves are actually pretty nice- nice, clean, bold. Random “piping” or striping or whatever it is would be better if it actually connected somewhere. The pants stripe is simple and new and exciting. The helmet- oh lord, the helmet…oh boy, where to start…how about back at the drawing board. These never should have left there. No. Just no. Tiger/Husky/Dog/Cat/Snake eyes should NEVER be used solely on the helmet. I miss the traditional block C to be honest… (The helmet was actually upgraded a few weeks after the reveal, adding a contrasting outline around the stripe) Grade- C+

Conference USA

1.       FAU- Oh Florida-Atlantic, what happened to your wonderful uniforms? They’re gone, sadly. Last year they went downhill fast. Now, they’ve added a new helmet. They were contemplating one of these, and apparently they went with a design a little off from the prototypes. And unfortunately, they are still using their awful uniforms from last year…Just make the pant stripe full length and I won’t complain as much…Grade- C-

2.       Louisiana Tech- The Bulldogs of LaTech will have minor changes to their helmets. Instead of the “T” being white like in the past, it will now be red, which seems to be more difficult to read to me. I always thought LaTech had amazing helmets, and always loved that logo, but this is a downgrade. LaTech will also wear this pretty cool decal for their game versus Army on September 28. Grade- B for the decal change

3.       Middle Tennessee- Middle Tennessee State has just about as many uniform combos as you can ask for. Now they’ve added a new matte black helmet, and a nice white lid to go along with their traditional silver. They also have new Stars and Stripes decals to go along with this. Overall, nicely done. But this is the perfect example of what I hate about the matte helmet craze. Just look at it. The extra “negative” space on the logo decal adds a very odd effect. The decal itself would do this if the lighting was different. Many companies, teams, and designers think you can just add a matte colored helmet and do everything else the same (logo, stripes, etc…) as before, when in all actuality, it just looks awkward. I wonder if someone could come up with a matte decal to make it match? Grade- B

4.       Southern Miss- Southern Miss went from Nike to Russell (don’t hear that very often, again) over the summer. And it’s a shame. Nike made Southern Miss look good (which was apparently harder than you’d think). Russell’s new Golden Eagle uniforms look…bleh…so similar to Georgia Tech. Just…I don’t know what it is about Russell, but their uniforms just seem so bulky, the complete opposite of Nike and adidas and UnderArmour. This is really sad. Only plus I can see is the cracking, I guess, inside of the numbers. Subtle touch that you won’t see unless you’re right by the jersey itself. Russell just threw in random stripes and lines and quit. They also added a new helmet, which the fans voted on, which I’m not a fan of. Even more unfortunate, we more than likely won’t be seeing these gorgeous throwbacks… Grade- C

5.       Tulane- Last year Tulane began their own sector of the equipment “armed race,” adding many different styles of helmets over the year. They obviously are continuing that into this year’s season. I honestly like all the styles that are visible right here. I love the baby blue colored lid. I wish we could see the other’s in the back, but we may see them soon enough. A recruit tweeted out this picture of him wearing what seems to be a new grey alternate. Grade- incomplete

6.       Tulsa- The Golden Hurricanes of Tulsa (Oklahoma, doesn’t make sense to me either. Another mystery of the world I suppose) have updated their uniforms and switched them to Nike’s newesttemplate, with Flywire, sweat box, and all. Much cleaner. Although, a little simple for my tastes. I liked that the old white uniform had the blue shoulders to break up too much white, but that is now gone. Also, as many other teams have done, a golden plated helmet (prototype more than likely) has been released. I really like this one though…How cool would that look with this custom (from BadAss Masks) facemask?! Grade- B+

Mountain West

1.       Colorado State- Colorado State has had so many issues with their uniforms lately. Mainly because of their providers. A year or two ago, the Rams switched from Nike to Russell (don’t hear that much), and Russell did them no favors. This year, they switched to UnderArmour. And UA helped out tremendously! I’m usually not a fan of odd shoulder designs like this, but I dig it. I like that they only have a green and white top, and white and gold bottoms, for now at least. The iconic helmet hasn’t been touched; good. And a good, thick stripe down the pants to break up a boring plain colored pair of pants (and notice the bottom of the stripe. That’s the same stitching design as Auburn. So UnderArmour is still a year or two away from fixing those…) Grade- A-

2.       Fresno State- After revealing new uniforms two years ago, Fresno State is adding a new set and three new helmets. First, the new white helmet. This helmet was actually revealed months ago by a recruit, which is nothing more than the original red lid switched to white. Secondly, the Bulldogs will wear a new 1996 throwback helmet, with “Bulldogs” written in script on the side. Thirdly, and what happened to be a big surprise to most, Fresno State revealed full out black uniforms, of course for a “Black Out” of the stadium. And I for one am a big fan of these. The helmet is matte black, with TV numbers on one side, and a fierce bulldog head on the other. The white arm pits and pant stripes do a good job breaking up the all black, even though they look awful on their usual uniforms. Thankfully, the black unis don’t have the ugly shoulder striping that the red and white tops do, very similar to what Arizona used to have. I used to think Fresno State had one of the best looking uniforms, and then they slowly ruined it. They ruined their helmet by adding the truncating stripe. Just go back to the simple WAC era uniforms…please… Grade- B+ for black, C overall

3.       Nevada- Another team that had their new uniform ideas leaked by recruits is the Nevada Wolfpack. Now, when Colin Kaepernick played here, they didn’t have the greatest uniforms, but still looked decent. Now, I don’t think they look worse, nor do they necessarily look better. But they did add a new lid, new tops, and new bottoms to mix! Yay! Anyways, the uniforms have been simplified, to basically just a shoulder pipe around the numbers. Then they threw in a new white helmet (blue lid is much better…). They apparently were looking at a grey helmet, but supposedly trashed it at the end. A new grey pair of uniforms and pants were also added. Unfortunately, again, because of Nike’s pant template, Nevada has the shortened stripes…I’m sure thesewill look better on the field, but we shall see. Grade- B

4.       San Diego State- The Aztecs from San Diego State have not only unveiled new football uniforms, but also an updated logo. The logo isn’t drastically different, and without this graphic, you probably wouldn’t notice a difference whatsoever. But you definitely would notice the football uniforms. And boy do these look good! Who doesn’t love UCLA stripes on the shoulder and matching stripes down the pants?! Very traditional, and I love that. I love these. Think white over black and vice versa would look good too. (Here are the old ones) Grade- A

5.       Wyoming- Wyoming has replaced their turf field this year, with a unique look nonetheless. As far as turf field designs, I like it! It looks better installed too. As far as football fields, don’t get me started on turf fields…I just want a nice mud game…is that too much to ask?! Apparently, cause turf fields ruined them

1.       Arkansas State- As Arkansas State starts another season with another new coach, they possibly have a new white helmet. And this new UConn style lid circulated the web, but no idea what if it’s real or not. Grade- B+

2.       Georgia State- Georgia State has revealed new Nike uniforms. They also addeda new helmets. The new uniforms are just plain. I liked the stripes on the old ones. If anything, I think there needs to be something to break up the monotony of a single color, like these new uniforms. I would like for them to not wear that all blue set, but you just know that wont happen…Grade- B-

3.       Louisiana-Lafayette- The Ragin Cajuns have released their new Russell uniforms. And I actually like these. Very clean, very bold. Just not a fan of the chest piping. (And is it me, or does Russell make the bulkiest looking uniforms?) These definitely beat the old set. I love the two sided helmets, with the Ragin Cajuns wordmark on one side, and the flue-de-li on the other. I think these look a whole lot better than the past set. Speaking of Ragin Cajuns, did you know the apostrophein “Ragin” is actually a chilly pepper? Well, now you know. Grade- A-

4.       Louisiana-Monroe- The Warhawks of Louisiana-Monroe have updated their adidas uniforms. No more are the stripes around the back and pants. Now are just plain, somewhat boring, single color uniforms. And there adidas goes again, placing their logo under the collar, and making it look oh so cramped, when they could just move it over…Grade- B-

5.       South Alabama- The Jaguars of South Alabama will be playing their first full season at the D1 level. And to commemorate, they got new Nike uniforms. Honestly, these aren’t too bad, but aren’t the greatest. The typeface is painful to look at. Would look a lot better if they went with their logo typography. The helmet features a Denver Broncos style truncated stripe, and a very big helmet number. The pantsare nice, but like most (if not all) Nike pants, stripes don’t go all the way up or down the leg because of the template. Overall, not bad, but could be better. Would like to see how they look on the field. Grade- B-

6.       Texas State- Remember when D-1 was 120 teams? Yea, that’s long gone. Now there’s too many teams to count, and we call it the FBS (yea, I hate it too). Let’s add another new team to the D-1 (still calling it that!) list- the Texas State Bobcats. The Bobcats will be playing in the Sun Belt conference to begin this milestone season. And they have some odd looking helmets…Texas State will also be coached by Dennis Franchione. Here are the uniforms they wore last year, don’t know if they have revealed new ones or not. Doing some research about this program, I found out I just love their stadium! I’m not sure why, but I just do!

7.       Western Kentucky- Unfortunately for the Red Toppers, they have a new coach this year. Even more unfortunate, it’s Bobby Petrino. But the good news, they have a wonderful looking chrome white helmet! Chrome base, and stripe! If only the logo was chrome as well. Really curious as to how this one will look on the field. Petrino also updated the uniforms, like he did when he got to Arkansas. And that’s a shame. WKU had some great uniforms, and these are decent by themselves, but a total downgrade after what they used to have. Random piping across the chest, “HILLTOPPERS” down the pant leg, and just bleh. The piping on the black uniforms doesn’t even connect to anything!! I wish they hadn’t touched the previous set, but then again, these could be a lot worse. I still like the chrome lid, but these uniforms take the grade down. Even the conference patch is on the wrong side of the chest!! (small detail that bugs me…) Grade- B+(lid) C (uniforms)

Mid-American

1.       Buffalo- Did you know that Buffalo was in New York? Just to be sure you don’t forget that, Buffalo has added a new chest plate which reads “State University of NEW YORK Buffalo”. How awful is that…That’s so bad it’s hilarious. “What state do we play in again?” The chest plate definitely will cause some confusion with the new matte blue helmet, which looks great, reading “UB” for University of Buffalo…Black armpits on both uniforms makes these even worse…Grade- C-

2.       Kent State- Kent State has updated their uniforms, and the high school stripes are thankfully gone. These are a lot cleaner, and nicer. The base layer is annoying, but I don’t think a lot of players will be wearing those.

3.       Massachusetts- UMass played their first D1 season last year, with new uniforms to boot. Now, they have a possible new helmet, which I like. And a great story out of UMass for their spring game, where they wore nameplates with the names of victims from the Boston Marathon Bombing. Kudos. Grade- A- (helmet) A+++ (spring game)

4.       Miami (OH)- Definitely adidas’s most out there uniforms of the year, Miami (OH) has some wild ones. “MIAMI” is written across the shoulders, and the back of the helmet. Chrome lid, and chrome colored number outlines. The numbers and helmets and gloveshave an odd feathered pattern. White pants and red pants have a HUGE “M” on it. Don’t really know what to think of these just yet.Bold for sure. Different, yes. Wait for it to be on the field? Absolutely. Grade- B for Bold

5.       Western Michigan- The Broncos of Western Michigan have received new helmet prototypes this year. Oddly enough, they look extremely identical to those helmets worn by theBroncos from Idaho…Even more odd, I like this one a whole lot better than two of Boise’s three helmets with this same design. It’s really hard to beat that matte black one with the red-eyed bronco, just saying. When WMU did reveal their new uniforms, the helmet design was slightly changed. The color has changed to a darker brown, and it is matte, as well as a matte white lid. The uniforms are just plain. Hey adidas, let’s get away from these super simple stuff…Also, the Broncos will be playing their 75th year in their stadium, so they have a commemorative logo.  Grade- B

Independents

1.       BYU- According to Wikipedia, BYU’s uniforms were royal blue from the 1970s to 1999, when the blue was changed to a darker shade. This year, BYU plans to throwbackto theroyal blue uniforms. Also, for homecoming, the player names on the back will be changed to “Tradition”, “Spirit”, and “Honor”. Am I the only one that wishes they would switch back full time to the royal blue? Grade- A (throwback) B- (gimmicky NOBs)

2.       Notre Dame- The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are coming off a great season obviously. So what does adidas do to commemorate the occasion? Update to the new “tread marks” template…Yuck. Hey adidas, MOVE YOUR LOGO OVER! Along with the typical uniforms, Notre Dame will be donning “shamrock series” uniforms for the second year in a row. And these are shiny. Glitteryin fact. I do like  Irish-style number font, as gimmicky as they may be. The numbers, shamrock, and helmetsare so shiny…but that’s what 17 year olds like, right? Right. I liked the green helmet decal better last year, but anything, and I mean anything, is better than the 40/60 helmet design from last year… Grade- B-

*Michigan and Notre Dame are playing their final regular season game, and at the Big House to boot. So, like anyone else with the opportunity, they have alogo for the game.

3.       Old Dominion- The Monarchs from Norfolk, Virginia will be playing their first season as a D1 team as FCS independent in 2013, with their second season being played in the C-USA. The Monarchs don’t really have a rich history (pun intended) with their uniforms, and their new unis aren’t much different than what their used to be. Why would I put a team that won’t even be playing FBS football for another year you ask? This is why. One of the most beautiful helmets ever crafted. Both matte AND chrome. That’s just gorgeous if you ask me! And apparently the logo is supposed to be chrome as well! I can’t wait to see these on the field!! Grade- A

Lower Level teams

Southern Conference

1.       Appalachian State- Last year the Mountaineers of App State got some awesome throwbacks! This year, they got brand new Nike uniforms. I like the matte black helmets, but wish the A decal wasn’t just an outline. I like that Yosef is staying this year, much like last year’s throwbacks. The only gripes I have about these are 1) silly shoulder thingys and 2) need something to break up the monotony. At least there is no piping like years past. Grade- B+

2.       Citadel- The Citadel has new adidas uniforms. By now you know the deal, adidas, just move it over. Save me some heartburn. Please. Nothing special with these white ones. But wait, there’s a new blue alternate!! Very similar to what Michigan and Nebraska and Wisconsin (all adidas teams…) have worn. I like that blue color, and think that would be a great look on the field! Grade- B+

3.       East Tennessee State- East Tennessee State has decided to restart their football program after being discontinued in 2003. Former Tennessee coach Philip Fulmer has been named Director of Football Operations, which will consist of head coaching duties. Here are just two of the prototypes presented at a press conference early in 2013. Wouldn’t mind seeing both of these this year. Grade-incomplete

4.       UT-Chattanooga- The Mocs from Chattanooga have a brand spanking new white helmet. It’s only the old blue one, but mocked up in white. I like it. Think it will break up this all blue look. And are those not the biggest numbers you’ve seen in a while?? Grade- B+

Ohio Valley

1.       Tennessee Tech- The Golden Eagles of Tennessee Tech have a wonderful looking purple helmet to go along with their typical look. Grade- B+

Big South

1.       Coastal Carolina- New matte black helmet (with glossy decal, bleh) for CC. Here’s what they usually wear. Grade- B-

Independent

1.       Charlotte- 2014 will be the first year of football for UNC-Charlotte, but they will play in the C-USA in 2015. Now that they’ve revealed their new uniforms, I wish they would be play C-USA this year! I love these, only for the gradient(?) stripes, like the old stripes of Arizona. But overall, not a bad first set. Grade- B+

D2

1.       Findlay- Ever heard of the University of Findlay in Ohio? Neither had I. Not until they revealed their new helmet, which makes them the first team ever to have a player’s name on the back of the helmet. Now what happens when you have something long, like Richardson or Lutzenkirchen?? Grade- A-

And that does it for this year’s uniform tracker. I used to think uniforms were just my personal forte per say, but I love seeing everyone’s reactions to all this kinda stuff. 

Hope you all enjoyed, and let’s hope for one hell of a season. I’ll be in the student section wearing this!

War Eagle!

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