By Phil Hecken
Well, the regular NCAA season is almost over (we still have the traditional end of season Army/Navy game next Saturday), so we didn’t have the full slate of games this week. But we did get a bee-you-tee-ful ACC Championship game last night between Duke (in blue and white) and FSU (in garnet and gold). I’m not sure what arrangement those two made (the “away” team is required to wear white or be penalized 15 yards per half) so that both teams could wear color, but it was great.
Now, I don’t want to see every game in color versus color, but neutral site and/or rivalry games deserve special consideration. Despite the beatdown of the Blue Devils by the Seminoles, it was a thing of beauty. So was the Baylor throwback in their matchup with Texas.
We can’t overlook Auburn’s amazing run either — and how’s this for déjà vu? Check out Cam Newton and Gabe Wright doing confetti angels after big game wins — several years apart! Congrats on the BCS Bowl, Auburn. Let this be a lesson to THE OSU — be careful what you wish for.
Since there weren’t a lot of games, I don’t want to steal any of TJ’s thunder, so I’ll just turn it over to him here, for your final regular season SMUW.
Sunday Morning Uni Watch
By Terry Duroncelet
Three months, 300 uniforms (O.K., 300,000 uniforms). And what do we end up with for championship week? Quite the chill week. Let’s go over the happenings form this last regular season week of NCAA football…
From Thursday:
• Louisville and Cincinnati (two Adidas teams) wore new helmet designs. Cincy had what looked to be a metallic grey and red decal on theirs, while Louisville not only had the same treatment, but they also had a new helmet stripe. Here’s their usual one for comparison.
From Friday:
• Remember the togs that Northern Illinois wore against Western Michigan in The Adidas Bowl last week’s game? They wore them again against Bowling Green. Even more shocking than the idea of a “different uniform”? The score.
From Saturday:
• Arizona State wore… their Arizona State uniforms against Stanford? Wow. A normal look for a not-normal-looking team. Imagine that.
• The Duke Blue Devils ACTUALLY DRESSED UP LIKE THE BLUE DEVILS! Not only that, but check out the color-vs.color action. Nice unis, decent contrast… sweet.
• Why is it that I love the hydra effect? Because you get things like this. Credit to Jared Buccola for the tip-off.
• From Trevor Blank: “Twice ESPN showed Oklahoma quarterback Cody Thomas and referred to him as quarterback Kendal Thompson.”
• Auburn wore these orange Superman undershirts against Mizzou in honor of Thomas J. Sullivan, who died of childhood cancer. Also from that same game: Sam Brochin says this: “Just wanted you to know that Chris Davis (yes, Iron Bowl return Chris Davis) has both FiOB and JrOB.”
• Michigan State wore all-green against Ohio State, but it was THE who was green with envy, as their BCS title hopes were doused by the Spartans 34-24.
• Signs that make you go “WHAT THE HELL?”; Part 1.
• Signs that make you go “WHAT THE HELL?”; Part 2. Why so? This is why. All of this from the Baylor/Texas game. To Austin… AND BEYOND! Christopher Hall caught #75 for Texas with a banged-up helmet decal (right of the shot). Nothing like sending off your stadium with a fantastic win to cap off a fantastic season while wearing fantastic uniforms. Those were the throwbacks that Baylor wore against Texas. Look, Saints: OLD GOLD! That helmet is SOOOOOO glorious.
Speaking of capping off, that puts the 2013 NCAA regular season in the books. Like Alabama’s BCS title hopes, I hate to see it go, but hey, these are students, after all. There is life after football. But don’t worry, guys: I’ll be back in a few for the bowl season! So until then, have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Hearth’s Warming, or whatever you celebrate, enjoy next week’s Army/Navy game for those of you who are watching, and I’m gonna go load up on illegal amounts of eggnog. See you then.
Catherine Ryan’s
Five … and One
Happy Sunday, UniWatchers! Let’s get to the countdown!
Honorable Mention: Marshall vs. Rice: Given the schedule of games this weekend, this one may have gone unnoticed. I love the all-white on all-navy. Just a good loking game.
5. UCF vs. SMU: The frigid temperatures didn’t do much to dull this great match-up. I love SMU in the red/white and I love UCF in the gold pants on the road.
4. Michigan State vs. Ohio State: Some people loved this. Other people hated it. I thought it was okay. I like the all-green for Sparty but I think the pants could use a stripe.
3. Mizzou vs. Auburn: I thought this game was great. I was happy to see Mizzou in their gold pants and Auburn has some of the best uniforms in college football.
2. Texas vs. Baylor: Oh, those Baylor throwbacks. Enough said.
1. Duke vs FSU: LOVE Duke in the blue jerseys (and no BFBS). What a gorgeous game!
+ 1: Memphis vs UConn: These helmets are ridiculous.
BCS Bowl Predictions…
Well, tonight we find out who gets the bids to the big games, but it’s never too early to make some predictions. I’m usually pretty good about these, but there always seems to be a surprise. Will this year be any different.
I was really hoping to find a way to put the Ducks in one of the 5 big bowls, but after crunching the numbers, it looks like they’re on the outside looking in. And I still think they have an outside shot at the Sugar Bowl or maybe the Fiesta. But I’m not going to predict that.
We know Alabama is in, and it’s pretty likely THE Ohio State University is as well. UCF also punched its ticket. It’s basically a given that Clemson and Baylor are in.
Lets see how I do — and feel free to agree/disagree/make your own selections in the comments below.
We’ll start with the BCS Game (which is set):
• BCS: Florida State vs. Auburn
After this, the Rose is also set:
• Rose Bowl: Michigan State University vs. Stanford University
Here’s where some of the at-larges and other possibilities come in. My predictions:
• Orange Bowl: Clemson University vs. The Ohio State University
• Sugar Bowl: University of Alabama vs. Oklahoma University (outside shot at Oregon)
• Fiesta Bowl: Baylor University vs. University of Central Florida
What say you? Think these are about right, or am I full of it?
Uni Watch News Ticker:
We begin with Dustin Semore with this “fantastic New York Rangers themed menorah!” Agreed. … “Always fun to see both teams in home uniforms, from July 17, 1977″ says Frank Mercogliano — great find. In fact, that white pinstripe vs. white pinstripe was one of those UW white whales many years back! … We always love long NOBs at UW (that’s Erisbel Arruebarruena) and you can read more here (nice find by Jay Rosenberg). … This article bemoaning the state of NCAA football unis could have been written by Paul. … Chris LaBella noticed some stuff in this photoshop of Curtis Granderson. “The NY Daily News has a photoshopped pic of Curtis Granderson in his new uniform. For a newspaper that prides itself on its sports coverage they didn’t realize that #14 is retired for Gil Hodges and on the front of the uni the #4 has the black shadow drop while the #1 doesn’t.” … Speaking of Grandyman photoshops, here’s one with him wearing #1. Just have the presser already. … Joseph Bailey was at a Hallmark store in western New York and saw this stuff for sale: a Houston Oiler coffee mug, a San Diego Charger magnet and NY Jets erasers. He calls it “The store where time stands still.” … WOW — check out this photo of Willie Davis, taken from a remote camera behind 2nd base. … “Saw this (yes)today in the UCLA-Mizzou game,” says Jamie Hall “(Coach) Frank Haith has his name on a piece of tape on his seat. My question is why stop there? I say assigned seats for all! Plus I am sure that the corporate sponsor is thrilked to have their name covered so that a coach can find his seat.” … Here’s a great shot of the helmets in the Army equipment room. … Terry Mark Saw this beautiful Notre Dame clock on a silent auction table. He’s “Not sure of the year, but looks to be 1970s? Manufacturer is Southern Time Services. Bidding was up to $48.” Nice. … Check out this beautiful Packers cookbook. Johnny Okray‘s grandma “just gave me this cookbook from 1971. It’s a gem. Some great game photos too.” … Li’l help? Toby Hallam asks, “Barry Sanders used to wear a helmet visor, the tabs were black with a yellow strips, like this. Do you by chance recall who made that visor?” Anyone? … Our buddy from sportslogos, Chris Creamer, noticed Majestic has a new logo. … Will Scheibler was thrifting and found this NBA ball jacket & beer curling rings. Will says he “didn’t get every layer of the inside tag but it says shell is leather. Took pics of a leather jacket that was textured like a basketball.” And the rings? “The Port Arthur Curling Club (in Thunder Bay) has a few sponsors for some of the rings.” That one is for the local microbrewery: Sleeping Giant Brewing Co. … Check out this Wichita State alternate yellow hoops uni (h/t Jason Waterfalls) … Houston wore this gray alternate (h/t Christian Rocha) … Beautiful crest on this Army jersey, which we’ll see next weekend (via Nick Determan). … I’m pretty sure this isn’t the way to “honor” the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, but I could be wrong. … Not really sports-uni related, but Brinke sends these Americas’ spy satellite mission logos. … Here’s an NBA old-school jerseys quiz (thanks to K.C. Kless.
And that’s a wrap for this fine Sunday. Special thanks, as always, to Terry Duroncelet and Catherine Ryan for their season-long work on SMUW! They’ll be back after the bowls commence (don’t worry), but how about a nice round of virtual applause for both of these fine folks down in the comments? OK? OK! Great stuff all season long. I really appreciate all you guys (and Timmy O’Brien for the Duck Tracker) have done since the beginning of September. Awesome!
Everyone have a great Sunday and a better week, and I will catch you all next Saturday.
Follow me on Twitter @PhilHecken.
Peace.
“You must be thinking of the bastardized version of the original logo. It’s like painting a moustache on the Mona Lisa. Not the same.”
— Jim Hamerlinck
So did one of the participates in the ACC title game, take a 15 yard penalty to wear their darks?
No, NCAA rules allow agreements to be made for color on color (see also: UCLA/USC)
And if there is no agreement, the penalty is a forfeited timeout each half, not 15 yards.
Pretty sure that’s been changed. When Arkansas State did that earlier this year, they were twice penalized 15 yards (second time was 1/2 distance to goal due to field position).
cit.
@Phil: Arkansas State penalty was 15 yards because they wore a NON-CONTRASTING uniform. It was black against dark blue. If they had worn red, no penalty.
Nothing super about those Superman icon shirts… they can beat bought at any Dick’s or off Eastbay. What a tribute.
PS, the lack of true “old gold” on a consistent basis is a con perpetuated by Nike. They’ve convinced Mizzou, Purdue and others that they aren’t able to consistently make fabric in that color, hence they pushed Mizzou toward traditional gold and Purdue toward vegas gold. Plus Army toward its dusty vegas-like gold. It’s nearly 2014, methinks they can make fabric in old gold.
I totally agree. It is sad. Every weekend I watch HIGH SCHOOLSvthat somehow seem to find a way to purchase OldGold helmets, jerseys, pants and band uniforms, yet colleges and pros “can’t find suppliers willing to make it available. Really?
The actual “color” of Vegas Gold is weak and does not contrast satisfactorily with White. It breaks my heart to see teams like Georgia Tech, and especially the Univ. of Central Florida adopt Gold and White as their main colors, but then have Vegas Gold as a pitiful representation of “Gold” as a dark contrast color.
Can you imagine how great it would look if UCF would actually purchase Old Gold jerseys to wear with their White helmets and pants – if only for the BCS Bowl game they are honored to play in. Simply get a jersey dark enough to match your UCF helmet logo – about 17 shades darker than the weak Cat Piss Vegas Gold jerseys worn now. Please. It would then actually become a true “dark” jersey that contrasts the opponents’ White jersey, and it will look 10,0000% better.
Interesting that in the football movie “The Replacements”, the San Diego team wore uniforms featuring BOTH Vegas Gold and Old Gold as trim colors (with Black) on their White jerseys. The contrast was immense – Vegas Gold much closer to White than it was not. The uniforms were actually pretty cool – years ago I bought one of the jerseys on Ebay. If I get a chance I’ll dig it out of storage to post pics ….
Not a lie, its hard to get a consistent Old Gold, just look at the 2008 Georgia Tech football uniforms.
link
Yeah it looked great at times (especially overcast games).
link
But the color was inconsistent and would appear anywhere from yellow to puke green depending on the lighting
link
If someone could find a way to dye the fabric we use nowadays so it looked like this all the time I’d be on board. Until then I am very happy with the Gold Tech wore this year (much better than the version we had been wearing).
link
uggh, I screwed up the order of the links. The pic with the Navy Jersey should be the 3rd link (its an example of the puke green).
and here’s what I meant for the 2nd link:
link
Count me in the crowd that has trouble believing that Nike can’t produce uniforms in old gold. Nike made a 1920’s-era throwback uniform that link. The uniforms included old gold helmets, pants, and jersey side panels. If they can nail it like that on those throwbacks, why can’t Nike do it for the Saints, Purdue, and all the other teams that are supposed to have old gold in their color scheme?
Calling right now for color v color in the Rose Bowl. Mich St-Stanford looks beautiful already.
No thank you, it will be a week too late for Xmas, and it would be a disaster for colorblind men.
It could work even if you are colorblind. Stanford goes white-red-white, the Spartans go mono-green, no problem.
Those Duke uniforms look a little bit faded out. Could they be re-packaged Colts duds? LOL
Disappointing seeing that “Pearl Harbor” sign at Murphy’s Bleachers in Chicago (located directly across the street from Wrigley Field).
So… the Lions/Eagles game is such a snowy mess that Fox is using digital yard numbers on the field on some plays.
I kinda wish they wouldn’t.
Especially when they tweak the contrast of the graphic mid-play.
This is still an amazing game to watch though.
The Eagles – Lions game broadcast looks almost ghostly with the graphics being superimposed on white snow and blending in with the white of the players’ uniforms. I link, which show the eerie effect fairly well.
Knicks now 0-6 in new orange jerseys after another home blowout…postgame show talking about it.
In another NY note, Jets wearing monochrome green
The Browns’ Greg Little is wearing gold shoes today: link
Thank you, Phil, Terry, and Catherine, for all your work in chronicling the college football uni-verse during the 2013 regular season. It’s been a fascinating (and sometimes harrowing) ride, and you’ve done a great job covering all the details, large and small. Well done!
D’aww, we should be the ones thanking you! ^-^
Barry Sanders’ visor was made by Leader. The yellow strip are just Dymo decals to cover the Leader “Charged L” logo.
Goddamn it, could somebody just break into the Superdome during the week and just burn those black pants?
I’m on it. I am in pissing distance of New Orleans, after all ;3
I am a lifelong Season Ticket Holder and Saints fan. I am so utterly disgusted with the Black Pants (the Badass Wannabee, The”U’ The “U” The “U The “U” Thug -Inspired, Ten-Years-Too-Late-Trendy, East Mississippi Panhandle State Consilidated Jackass Junior College JV Team -looking, Non-NFL Worthy Black Leotard Pants) that I am seriously considering simply giving up my tickets and never going back to another game.
I have strong feelings on the subject. I simply despise the look and attitude the Black pants represent. It is Cheap Macho Thug Wannabee. It is not what I seek to look at when I travel and spend the $200.00 and the 7-8 hours for every home game to travel to my stadium to see. I’d rather not look at it or be part of it. It is shit, it is shitty, and it is not what I want to look at.
Worse yet, it is a pitiful representation for an NFL team. No matter how pathetic they are on the field – you simply do not see the Raiders or Cowboys or any class NFL team attempting such pathetic BS. That the Browns have joined this assinine chorus adds to the disgust.
Enough already. And I’m serious. I’m on the way out and not looking back. It is simply too much. While they are at it, can they simply buy a uniformed set of socks? They look like mismatched ragamuffins. Disgusting.
The black britches are so pretty. Perfect football britches.
Perfect perhaps for a team representing the Haitian Sex Offender Prison …..
Just ignore jedi54, he’s obsessed with mono-black uniforms.
I don’t think the black pants are quite as evil as you make it sound, but they would be greatly improved if they had some striping: link
They are perfect with no stripes.
So the AZ cardinals wore their blood clot unis again. they are now 14-3 and have won 8 straight in them.
I guess I’m in the minority here but IMO the color-vs-color thing only works when one team uses a relatively light home color. For example, USC-UCLA looks fine because of UCLA’s pastel blues. Duke-Florida State was hard on the eyes because both teams use dark colors. Looked like a youth league game or something.
Umm … University of Alabama vs. Oklahoma University … wait, what?!? How about the University of Oklahoma. Yes, they go by OU, quite like Ohio, but the university comes first in title for the former unlike the latter.
For the St.Louis contingent … 106.5 the arch is giving away a “Jersey pack” of tickets in the next 40 minutes – five free jersey gusset games.
The source for the cardinals win streak as of last time they won against the colts was on Darren urbans blog on Arizonacardinals.com ive been searching for the blog for the last few days to back up my comments about them being 14-3 and winning 8 straight but I cannot find it on their site again