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Sunday Morning Uni Watch 2023: Week 4

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Good Sunday Morning Uni Watch. Welcome to the Week 4 edition of Sunday Morning Uni Watch.

In case you missed it, yesterday was a pretty big uni-news day in the NHL, with the Minnesota North Star, er, Wild announcing a new alternate, which actually honors the Minnesota North Stars look of 1978, the Winnipeg Jets unveiled a special alternate uniform which pays tribute to the RCAF’s founding, and the Pittsburgh Penguins got themselves a spiffy new helmet advertiser. The NHL season may be just around the corner, but it’s time for some college football!

One of the big games on the schedule yesterday featured 4-0 Notre Dame hosting 3-0 Ohio State (ranked #9 and #5 going into the game, respectively), and as they are wont to do, the Irish broke out a special uniform for the game. The uni consisted of their regular gold helmet, and new green jerseys and pants. Paul had the rundown on these when they were introduced on July 31st. But you can also read more here, here, and here for more on Notre Dame wearing green jerseys.

The green uniforms were pretty basic:

Solid green tops, with white numbers outlined in gold, and simple “ND” logos on each sleeve cap rendered in white. The pants were also kelly green with no stripes.

Most players went barelegged or with low white socks, but a few, such as quarterback Sam Hartman, went with high white socks/leggings (and in Hartman’s case, bicycle shorts).

As per tradition, jerseys were NNOB.

It was quite a good looking game, as THE Ohio State University went with their traditional gray/white/gray road uniforms.

You can see lots more photos here.

But that was just a taste of a pretty uni-eventful week 4 of the College Football season.

To take care of that, here’s Terry D. with the rest of your…

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Sunday Morning Uni Watch
by Terry Duroncelet, Jr.

Now that I’m no longer being mollywhopped by NyQuil after dealing with that inner ear infection from last week, here’s that higher-energy column, as promised!

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From Thursday:

• Coastal Carolina/Georgia State: White at home for the Chants. Maybe it’s the green field providing leverage, but Coastal is one school that does white at home very well.

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From Friday:

• San Diego State/Boise State: If the Aztecs had red pants, this would be the perfect ‘opposites attract’ matchup.

• San José State/Air Force: After what seems like ages, the Spartans FINALLY embrace a bit of yellow, and THIS is how they choose to use it?! Geez, the State of California experiences one (1) hurricane, and they make the color grey their entire personality.

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From Saturday:

• Michigan/Rutgers: Am I becoming a full-white appreciater? Granted, I think red pants would’ve made this a 10-out-of-10 game, but I don’t hate the white lids for the Scarlet Knights Rutgers.

• Oregon/Buffalo: Keeping with the blanco-friendly train, I really liked Colorado’s look in their trouncing at the hands of a less-than-stellar-looking Oregon. At least the marching band played along.

• Texas A&M/Auburn: Orange facemasks for Auburn. Honestly, it adds a nice character to an otherwise safe uniform.

• Vanderbilt/Kentucky: I swear, if anyone here mentions that DAMN DRESS… also, those chrome domes are still brutal.

• Louisville/Boston College: Louisville’s helmets from yesterday looked kind of out of context, but I love them so much. Here’s hoping they stay in the rotation.

• Kansas/BYU: White facemasks for BYU, and Kansas’s red alts are apparently leftovers from last season, since they don’t use that design anymore.

• South Alabama/Central Michigan: I don’t talk about them enough, but South Alabama treats having a consistent helmet design like the floor is made of lava. I can dig it, though. This week’s offering is Homecoming-focused (Blaise D’Sylva with the close-ups).

• Florida International/Liberty: Light blue togs for the Panthers.

Misery Mizzou/Memphis: Between the grey Memphis suits, and choice of locale, this game was DREADFUL to look at. I’d rather watch a 3-hour documentary on the history of paper plates. I will say, Memphis’s helmets did look kinda cool.

• LSU/Arkansas: Both squads wore ‘3’ decals in honor and support of LSU defensive back (and former Arkansas defensive back) Greg Brooks. Brooks underwent emergency brain surgery recently to remove a brain tumor. The Razorbacks also wore full-red against the Tigers, which is supposedly the first time they did it in 5 years, which also was against LSU.

• Arizona State/USC: We all know that certain players will keep ‘blood jerseys’ with radically different numbers on their person, in the event that they need to hit the field, but might share a number with another player (which you can do in college football, as long as both of you aren’t on the field at the same time). However, I’m not sure if I’ve seen someone peel off their alternate number on-camera before!

Michigan Agricultural College Michigan State/Maryland: The Spartans wore some AMAZING MAC decals on their helmets as a tip of the hat to their roots, when they were known as Michigan Agricultural College (closer look).

• Old Dominion/Texas A&M-Commerce: Love those ODU lids.

• UTEP/UNLV: Well, freeze my farts and burp on Charlie Brown’s momma’s neck, it appears that UTEP is stuck in 2011. An ABYSMAL camo jersey top with those weird orange dart things on the sides is already bad enough, but THEN you throw the S&S helmet decal on top of that?! I don’t know if I should be disgusted, or impressed. An odd mixture of both sounds about right. This is some goblin VTuber levels of UNHINGED to combine these two elements together and think that this is a good idea. On the other end of the ball, UNLV wore some simple –but effective– retro decals on their helmets (closer look). A tale of two teams, and one of those teams chose violence.

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Thanks TJ! Great roundup, as always. Let’s move on to the rest of the SMUW…

 

 
  
 

Canadian University Uni Watch


Returning for 2023 is Canadian University Uni Watcher Wade Heidt, who will bring us some looks at three-down, 110-yard Canadian university football from up north. That’s Wade to the right side of your screen (you can even click to enlarge). The shirt Wade is wearing was created by the one and only Wafflebored! Wade’s rundown will appear every week on SMUW until the season ends.

Enjoy!

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Canadian University Uni Watch
by Wade Heidt

What time is it? Time for some university football uniform watching Canadian rules style! It’s time for the CUUW.

Some teams had the weekend off but still a lot of interesting uniform happenings. Too many to make the CUUW. We will take a look at six games including the four conferences. Travelling east to west as the CUUW does.

• In the Atlantic conference (AUS), the Mount Allison Mounties wore their best look at home in Sackville, NB. It was garnet over gold for Mount A. The Bishop’s Gaiters wore white over purple on the road.

We will look at two games played in Montreal on Saturday in the Quebec conference (RSEQ).

• Another colour vs. colour game! Well, another colour vs. colour not featuring Queen’s of course. The Concordia Stingers wore a yellow over yellow combo at home. The visiting Laval Rouge et Or wore what they normally would sport at home. Laval wore their gold/red/gold combo.

• It was a throwback game for the Montreal Carabins at home. Montreal wore 1960s throwbacks to the days when the football team played as the Bleu et Or. Different from the current school team colours of blue and black. These uniforms blue with yellow trim.

A brief cliff notes synopsis. The University of Montreal had dropped university sports, including the football program, in 1971. University sports did start to return to the school in the 1980s but the football team did not hit the gridiron again until 2002.

The visiting Sherbrooke Vert & Or wore their green/white/white combo. Not the greatest look here at the Vert & Or uniforms at CUUW press time with the game being in Montreal.

• In the Ontario conference, the Carleton Ravens wore black over white at home in Ottawa. The CUUW has not spotlighted Carleton yet. It is our duty to have a look at all the U Sports schools. This combo better than the black over black combo. Especially since the Ravens have switched to the white helmets from the black ones a couple of seasons back. The Toronto Varsity Blues went with the white over navy combo.

Go west we will! On to the Canada West conference for a couple of games.

• The Calgary Dinos wore their red/red/black combo at home. Not unusual and a good look. The unusual part about this game was seeing the Saskatchewan Huskies in white pants. Going white over white. Icy!

• The Alberta Golden Bears always have the CUUW curious about what they will wear next. They did not disappoint when they visited Vancouver on Friday night. It was yellow on the road as the light jersey again. This time going with a yellow/yellow/green combo. The hometown UBC Thunderbirds wore navy over navy. I miss the days a few seasons back when UBC wore royal blue and yellow. Just think it looked better that the current uniforms.

Honourable mentions to the notable uniform items that did not make the cut. The Ottawa Gee-Gees wearing silver helmets for the first time this season. The traditional silver helmet recently has taken a back seat to the garnet helmet introduced last season. Glad to see the silver helmet back. Also, notable that the Manitoba Bisons wore white at home.

Looking forward to the advancement to the crisper football weather and meaningful games as the season progresses. Over and out until next week!

• • • • •

Thanks, Wade! Great stuff yet again.

 

 

Jimmer Vilk's Five and One

Jimmer Vilk’s 5 & 1

Welcome to the Five and One for 2023!

Once again, Jim “Jimmer” Vilk (the original “5 & 1” decider) has returned.

The original concept of the 5 & 1 was simple: Jim picked five good matchups and one awful matchup. He’s still calling the project “5 & 1” but with a new twist.

You may agree and you may disagree — these are, after all, just opinions and everyone has one. Feel free to let him know what you think in the comments section.

If you have a game you feel is “worthy” of consideration for the 5 & 1, please either post it in the comments below or tweet Mr. Vilk @JVfromOhio.

Here’s today’s 5 & 1:

• • • • •
The schedule is settling down, finally. More conference games, and more recognizable unis this week. Only a handful of stinkers, but one of them was so stinky it made my evening a little easier. Just a couple of items before I begin: First, thanks, Louisville, for wearing a script helmet. Now work on that font! Second, green teams…stop wearing mono green on grass or on green turf. Please and thank you. And now, in the words of the Black Eyed Peas, let’s get it started!

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5. The “RED PANTS ALERT!” Game:
Oklahoma/Cincinnati

I’ve been waiting a long time, Bearcats!

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4. The “No West Coast Bias Here!” Matchup:
Cal/Washington

It was worth staying up late to find this gem.

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3. The “Those Who Love Perfect Striping Will Love This” Game:
Charlotte/Florida

You won’t like my next game as much, though!

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2. The “I Love It When Ole Miss Looks Like Ole Miss” Game:
Ole Miss/Alabama

A wonderful cacophony of a uni vs. a timeless classic.

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1. Simply The Best:
Louisiana Tech/Nebraska

Three cheers for this red, white and blue beauty!

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&1. The “Icy White vs. Hot Mess” Bowl:
UNLV/UTEP

Surprisingly, silver numbers on white are harder to see than white numbers on camo.

See you next week!

• • • • •
Thanks, Jim! OK readers? What say you? Agree or disagree with Jimmer’s selections? Let him know in the comments below.

 

 

NCAA Uni Tracking

NCAA Uni Tracking

Uni Watch will again track the uniform combinations worn by college football conferences. New this year is Zachary Wooldridge, who is tracking the SEC. If anyone with some extra time and graphical skills is interested in tracking the Big XII or B1G, please get in touch with me (Phil.Hecken@gmail) and we’ll set something up.

Long-time trackers Rex Henry (tracking the ACC), and Dennis Bolt (tracking the PAC-12) are returning for another season. Following the tracking, Dennis again returns with his Duck Tracking (which is the longest continuously-running feature on SMUW!)

+ + + + + + + + + +

Rex is up first today (ACC):

• • •

More Here.
Follow Rex on Twitter here.

• • •
And now, here’s Dennis with the PAC-12:

Read more about the PAC12 uniforms on Dennis’ blog.

• • •

Here’s Zach with the SEC:

You can follow Zach on Twitter here.

• • • • • • • • • •

Welcome to the 2023 Oregon Ducks Uni Tracker. This little project was originally begun way back in 2008-09 by Michael Princip, who retired after several seasons, whereupon the project was continued by Tim E. O’Brien. He, too, retired from the tracking, but the project has been ably kept up by the man who also tracks the Pac12, Dennis Bolt.

Here’s this weeks combo for the Ducks:

You can read about this uniform, and MUCH MORE, by checking out the Duck Tracker here and the color combo spreadsheet here!

Thanks Dennis!

 

 

And finally...

…that’ll do it for today! Thanks to the entire SMUW crew: Terry, Wade, Jimmer, Rex, Dennis and Zach for all their efforts on another outstanding SMUW.

Everyone have a good Sunday, and for all those who are observing Yom Kippur this evening, G’mar chatima tovah.

Catch ya next weekend!

Peace,

PH

Comments (46)

    In this case, “blood jersey” is probably the wrong term. In this case, #10 was on special teams with another #10, so he HAD to have a different number to be on the field at the same time.

    Agreed; I think that’s probably why TJ single quoted it — just for lack of a better term. But that “under” jersey was worn so as to prevent two players on the same team sporting the same number on the same play. Perhaps “special teams jersey” would be a better term? “Alternate number jersey”?

    Thanks for the explanation; that makes sense.

    Are players who do this listed on the roster under both numbers? One reason they wear numbers in the first place is so the other team knows who’s out there. What would stop a player from changing numbers multiple times in a game?

    [I know that college teams have long had multiple players with the same number, but it was surreal to see two number zeroes standing next to each other on Miami’s sideline last night.]

    I honestly don’t know if other teams do this, but USC lists only one number per player. link

    There are obviously a lot of double numbers (two players with the same number) but I only see one player per number.

    I don’t believe there is any prohibition on a player having “two” numbers, but there is a prohibition on having two players with the same number being on the field at the same time.

    While this link won’t answer your question, it does give a pretty good explainer about numbers.

    I don’t think it’s a blood jersey. I think it’s a player who plays on both offense and defense (or special teams) and wears a different number for each.

    Terry’s right. Kentucky’s chrome domes are still brutal. That game was on my short list for the &1 until I saw the fiasco in El Paso.

    Alberta is starting to compete with Mount Allison for my fandom. They both looked wonderful yesterday.

    “Kentucky’s chrome domes are still brutal”

    So are Minnesota’s.

    VERY few chrome helmets look good on the field — especially the lighter color ones. I can probably count on one hand those that have worked (red and green are probably the best).

    Don’t know for sure but think good probably Alberta continued with the yellow jersey on the road due to undefeated streak and big upset win wearing them the week before in Saskatoon. That undefeated streak over now after Friday’s game.

    And 2 might be Oregon state v. Washington state. The grey and the yokes is a bad combo. Woof! The uni future of the PAC 2 is not bright.

    The &1 looks like it didn’t have much competition this week with that UTEP uniform. Wow.

    The Ole Miss/Alabama picture actually has an effect reminiscent of the dress picture. If I look off to the side of it, my brain interprets the shadowed part of the ball carrier’s pants as light blue – probably due to the suggestion of the color from the gloves & helmet in close proximity.

    The Ole Miss/Alabama picture actually has an effect reminiscent of the dress picture. If I look off to the side of it, my brain interprets the shadowed part of the ball carrier’s pants as light blue – probably due to the suggestion of the color from the gloves & helmet in close proximity.

    I wish there was a like button because that’s the first thing I thought of when I saw it on one of my TVs. Just an awesome helmet.

    “Well, freeze my farts and burp on Charlie Brown’s momma’s neck.” That’s a new one and I like it.

    Honorable Mention &1: Missouri/Memphis

    I’m not opposed to heresy.
    I think Notre Dame needs to wear white pants with the blue jersey and blue pants with white jersey. Although I did not enjoy the look of the Irish yesterday, it was nice not seeing the khaki (please pronounce like Ricky) pants clashing with the shiny gold helmet.
    And please ditch the grey face mask. Gold or blue make more sense in this day and age. Even the most religious haze to agree with some of Darwin’s principles.

    No blue road pants for the Irish, please.
    It took a long time for Navy to not look like Notre Dame. Let the Middies have the blue pants.
    Now green pants… with blue or white jerseys… I could be on board with that.
    Facemasks must stay gray though.

    “No blue road pants for the Irish, please.”

    No blue road pants for the Irish, please.

    Fixed it for ya.

    TJ, loved the “goblin” drop, even if it wasn’t really a nod to the “green govlin” of Corc yore.

    Jim, there is something awesome about how florida uses the exact stripe pattern no matter the base colour.

    I don’t want every team to adhere to it, but yeah… perfect striping like that is quite enjoyable.

    It would be as much if an abomination as any “rule”, damn satraight. It’s why the cowboys rock, they break the rules. As long as you own it, I’m kool and the gang.

    I wanna see the gold pants with last nights iteration of green jersey for ND, I loved the green jersey but the pants green was to much

    Has anyone every noticed that Iowa Captains wear the military captain insignia on the front of their helmets?

    The University of Arizona jersey is wrong in the Pac 12 uniform tracker, they no longer wear a blue stripe on the white jersey, they now wear two red stripes.

    You are telling me PTX, I graduated from Arizona and after having the worst uniforms in college football they finally got it right the last two seasons. I’m surprised this wasn’t brought up by another reader already? I noticed the first game they not only changed the stripes on the blue jerseys to two red stripes but also changed the number fonts to a smaller thinner font, look how goofy the number 4 looks on them now, it looks like a pitchfork. It didn’t take long for Arizona/Nike to screw up some really nice jerseys.

    Yeah I noticed the striping and the new font on the blue jerseys a couple of weeks ago during a highlights recap. I was surprised no one else had mentioned it. I hadn’t seen the white jerseys until today, but they are just as inexplicable, if not more so. There are a few schools that have gone back to a more classic design over the past few seasons, but it seems like Arizona is the first one that is already blowing it up.

    When I saw the red stripes on the blue jerseys a couple of weeks ago, I thought maybe it was for just that game, but they are the new blue jerseys. They also added a patch to the neck, so with that and the Pac 12 patch and Nike logo they have a nice, cluttered look on the jerseys now. The stripes on the white jerseys used to match the stripes on the helmets, now with two red stripes on the sleeves no longer matching the stripes on the helmets, they just look messy again.

    San Jose is in the silicon valley , not La/San Diego where the hurricane was, which is like 8 hours away.

    Great stuff this weekend!
    A few observations:
    The MSU helmet logo was nice. It is similar to M in the Marist College seal.
    The ODU helmet was fantastic! Love the Mexico City 68 inspired design. It works so well for them.
    Kansas in all red… They are the 100% the Texas Rangers of college football. Are they a blue team? A red team? A powder blue team?
    Every time I see Mizzou in that combo, I think I’ve accidentally changed the channel & found All the Right Moves.

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