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Good morning, all. The matchup you see in today’s featured image isn’t in my Top Five, but I wanted to start with it because those FCS Western Carolina Catamounts unis are The Cat’s Meow! It’s amazing how a simple uniform can reach out and smack you upside the head with just a funky color and a cool script helmet. I love that shade of purple, and I like that they added a script “The” instead of just going with “Cats.” Not only that, but this supposed Cupcake Week matchup almost turned into an upset special. The Cats led for a while, and hung in there before losing to NC State 38-21. At least you looked like winners!
Anyway, I’ll be back later with my 5&1 list. Now it’s time to welcome back Terry Duroncelet for yet another season of Sunday Morning Uni Watch. Take it away, Terry!
…..
Hello, everyone! It’s been a long 8 months, but we’re finally ready to roll. There are… A LOT of changes that have happened since then, obviously.
The first thing I want to mention is that you can expect me to be a bit more wordy this season, and perhaps a bit more feral, like from years ago. That’s because I recently left my menswear job of 5 years, to pursue a new opportunity in a field that I’ve been interested in for years. This of course, means that my Saturdays are free for the first time since the 2018 season. I’ve been balancing quillions of games while working on Saturdays from 2019-2023 (some real Devil May Cry Dante Must Die mode-type behavior, not recommended), but now that I’m free on the weekends, I can devote my full attention to these columns! And needless to say, I couldn’t be happier.
This of course, is not the only change for 2024. In case it wasn’t apparent, college football has been rather… ACTIVE in recent times. The two Big XII teams of all-time moved to the SEC, The Pac 12 LITERALLY counted down from 10, and a mind-boggling number of teams across the college landscape rolled out new (and oddly-simplistic/traditional) uniforms. Oh, and you can pretend to be an 18-year-old who likes shiny objects on your favorite gaming console once again. Yeah, this is gonna be a season to remember, and we’ll take you along for the ride, one week at a time. So without further ado…
From Thursday, August 29th
• Arkansas/Arkansas-Pine Bluff: Look too quickly, and you’d think this was Arkansas vs Mizzou. The Razorbacks always come correct, so let’s pick on Pine Bluff for a moment: it’s 2024. Who in their right mind wears side panels on their football uniforms at the college or pro level in 2024? Well, several teams actually, but it looks ESPECIALLY egregious on the Golden Lions. They look about as sad as the old mall there, whose only two functioning buildings left on the premises are an oddly-placed hotel, and a Dirty Dillard’s (codename for Dillard’s Clearance Center). Also, check out APB head coach Cedric Thomas repping the ThreeTwo Stripes.
• Colorado/North Dakota State: ♫ And it don’t matter if you’re Black or White* ♫ (*with a lil’ bit of gold thrown in for good measure). I was wondering if Colorado was going to unveil anything new, after numerous people were disappointed with the lack of “new drip” (I feel several years older than I actually am putting that in air quotes) to usher in the Deion Sanders era from last year. On the one hand, I like the approach to the flatiron motif, and while I tend to be “eh” on white facemasks, a white cage on a black helmet is an underrated look. On the other hand, the gold numbers edged in white –while awesome– are so shiny, they look almost sweat-drenched at certain angles (check out who I believe to be #66 on the right), which in-turn makes them look like they’re screenprinted. On the other end of the ball, North Dakota State somehow makes a fairly-common color scheme of green-and-gold look refreshing. Pant stripe could use a bit of work, tho.
• Illinois/Eastern Illinois: The Illini sporting the (modern) classics.
• NC State/Western Carolina: DAAAAAAAAAA Cats. Can I just say: I’ve never heard of a team called the “Catamounts” before, and I wish I had this information sooner. Right up there with the Chanticleers (from Thursday’s game against Jax State).
• Mizzou/Murray State: I just wanted an excuse to talk about the Racers’ dope helmet stripe (and a firm reminder that Mizzou used to be a proper <strike>country</strike> football team).
From Friday, August 30th
• Oklahoma/Temple: Not that this is a bad thing because, y’know, LOGO-CREEP, but why do the Jumpman logos (Jumpmen?) look microscopic on the Sooners’ togs? Like, it looks STRANGE, especially when you throw the lower wordmark due to the Vapor (blown) Fuse template, they almost look fake. This has apparently been a thing since last year, so I have no idea how I didn’t notice until now.
• App State/East Tennessee State: How do you create a visually-stimulating game when both teams have incredibly-similar* school colors? Something like this (*I’m aware that ETSU is navy and gold, not black and gold, LET ME LIVE).
• Oregon State/Idaho State: I must be going smooth-brained after doing this for 13 years (14 seasons), because this might be the first time I’ve seen a white/black/black combo that I… didn’t hate? Also, nice helmet callback.
• South Florida/Bethune-Cookman: Color-vs-color matchup between the Bulls and the Wildcats.
• Baylor/Tarleton State: I know I’m gonna catch hate for this, but Baylor had an elite look with their prior set. The new unis are fine enough, but I think they would’ve been the prime example of how to do borderline-Brutalist simplicity, with sensational colors doing all the talking (something-something school pride), and have it look good. Now they just look like a slightly-more adventurous Green Bay Packer squad. Not that that’s a bad thing, just talking aloud.
• LA Tech/Nicholls: I’m a sucker for a surprise light-blue uni, so these were cool to see from the Bulldogs!
• Utah State/Robert Morris: Don’t have a cow, man. Or do, whatever floats your boat (closer look, thanks to Blaise D’Sylva, of course).
• Charlotte/James Madison: It’s giving La Croix with how faint it is, but technically color-vs-color between these two teams.
And that will do it for Week 1 of the 2024 season! Of course, the first week will be full of missed games and tidbits, so please be gentle as we (really, me) find our footing. Hope your Labor Day weekend is a good one, and I’ll see you all next week!
…..
Thanks, Terry!
Canadian University Uni Watch
Returning for 2024 is Wade Heidt, who will appear every week on SMUW until the season ends. The jersey he’s wearing was created by the one and only Wafflebored (who took the photo as well). Now, let’s enjoy Wade’s look at the three-down, 110-yard game from up north.
…..
What time is it? Time for some university football uniform watching Canadian rules style! It’s time for the CUUW!
It may be the first full Sunday Morning Uni Watch, but the CUUW had an early start last week. It’s Week 2 of the U Sports football regular season for three of the four conferences. The Canada West conference kicked off this weekend. We will travel the country from east to west to look at a few games.
Let’s look at a game in the Atlantic conference (AUS). The Bishop’s Gaiters went purple over purple at home in Lennoxville, QC. The visiting St. Francis Xavier X-Men wore white over white. Both schools back this year with the same uniform designs. Good mentality. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Both Bishop’s and St. FX will likely mix-and-match with different colour pants this season with these jerseys.
In the Quebec conference (RESQ), it was a battle of a couple of the Montreal schools. The McGill Redbirds wore a white/red/red combo at home. The visiting Montreal Carabins wore their blue/white/white combo.
This is a new helmet for McGill, replacing the red helmet which featured the numbers on one side. The new helmet is part of a season-long celebration of McGill’s participation in the first ever intercollegiate rugby-style football game. Marking the 150th anniversary of the home-and-home series against Harvard back in 1874. One side of the helmet features the 150th anniversary logo while the other side of the helmet has an “M”.
I dig that beautiful blue for the helmets of the defending Vanier Cups champs. These Montreal helmets really pop.
In the Ontario conference (OUA), it was the home opener for the York Lions in Toronto. Results have been far from good for York on the field. They’ve won 1 game in the past 3 seasons. Often getting beaten badly. I guess getting new uniforms can at least help change things? Appears probably not.
The new Lions red jersey has no striping and white-based numbers trimmed in black. The white helmet no longer has the logo or striping. York has ditched the black pants. Wearing new red pants with the red jerseys. The uniform is less busy than the old one but the plain white helmet is a downgrade without the logo. Makes me wonder if the university is going with no helmet decals to save money on the football team budget. The visiting Ottawa Gee-Gees wore their garnet/white/white combo. The garnet helmet has emerged as the primary helmet but I miss seeing the more traditional silver lid for the Gee-Gees.
Since we missed out on Canada West action last weekend, we will look at a couple games in the conference as we travel west.
The Calgary Dinos wore mono-red from head to toe at home. This is a new uniform for the Dinos. Not a major redesign, just minor changes to the striping and number font. The Regina Rams wore gold over gold (beige) on the road. I see my alma mater still have their khakis that I am not crazy about.
The Rams have made changes to the helmet. The gold horns replaced with white and the switch to a white facemask from green. Yes, the helmet changes give a throwback vibe to the days when the Regina Rams were a junior football team (CJFL) before becoming the U. of Regina’s football team in 1999. However, it also gives me the vibe of when the LA Rams switched to the white horns and mask while still having gold as a trim colour in the uniform. The helmet change doesn’t match as well for Regina with this uniform.
(JV: Loved that LA Rams look, and I love this Regina Rams look!)
In Vancouver, the UBC Thunderbirds opened their season at home wearing navy over navy. The Vanier Cup finalists are sticking with the same uniforms. The visiting Alberta Golden Bears did a lot of mix-and-match last season. They started this season bringing their yellow/white/yellow uniform out to the Point Grey campus. The large Smirking Bear logo still adorning the yellow helmets this year. Love it! Was a good-looking game.
That wraps it up! See you next week. Go out there this upcoming week to achieve those touchdowns in life, but take the rouges when you can get them.
…..
Thanks, Wade!
2024 Uni Tracking
Uni Watch will again track the combinations worn by college football conferences. Long-time trackers Rex Henry (tracking the ACC), and Dennis Bolt (now tracking the Big Teen) are returning, as is Zach Wooldridge (tracking the SEC). We’re working on a Big “XII” tracker at the moment.
…..
We begin with Rex who said, “Florida State & Boston College play Monday night, but Boston College released their set already. I also threw in Notre Dame this year for symmetry.”
We’ll have updated Trackers next Saturday, since USC/LSU and Boston College/Florida State haven’t played until today and tomorrow, respectively.
The 5&1 List
It’s back…
Once again I’ll give you five really good matchups and the worst looking one of the week. Unlike most lists, it’s not an *exact* ranking. It’s the five matchups that caught my eye the most, then I rank those from 5 to 1. Agree or disagree, but either way let’s have some fun with it.
…..
I usually have something to say before showing you the list. Yesterday was a long day, though, which turned into a long night, so I’m just getting right to it this week. We begin with…
5. The “It’s Not Just Anthracite That Excites Me About The Cougars” Game:
Portland State vs. Washington State
I like those regular unis too.
4. The “I Can Appreciate A Good Mono Uniform” Game:
Coastal Carolina vs. Jacksonville State
Mostly when it’s paired against a non-mono uni.
3. The “I Love It When The Falcons Look Like The Falcons” Game:
Merrimack vs. Air Force
Loving that Merrimack uni as well, especially the helmet logo.
2. The “Color Palette Special” Matchup:
North Carolina vs, Minnesota
Even with my third favorite helmet in their arsenal, the Gophers looked great paired with the Tar Heels.
1. Simply The Best:
UConn vs. Maryland
Stripe-tastic and color-ific!
&1.
Eastern Michigan vs. UMass
I like light gray *instead* of white…not with it!
That's It For Today
I hope you have a restful Labor Day Weekend. I hear Phil will have a post tomorrow, but I’ll be catching up on as much sleep as I can. I’ll get to it eventually. Take care, everyone.
Jim. Just curious where did Texas and colorado st land on the list for 5a d 1. And I for one disagree with Anthony on his Baylor stance. They need to go back to the old gold not this athletic gold aka Yellow
If I still did Honorable Mentions, CSU/Texas might have gotten one.
Jeez, can’t tell you how much I hate all those biking shorts. Gawdawful.
My friend’s son pitches for the Jacksonville State baseball team. So, for me to say Coastal Carolina has one of the top uniforms in all of college football, it was kind of difficult for me to say. But, they do, IMHO!
Vanderbilt looked sharp in white/black/white with nice stripes.
Good to see Temple in just cherry/white (no black, gray) …but it’s high time they ditch the ‘acres of diamonds’ motif -save that for the marching band. And if they insist on a white helmet , use the owl-in-flight logo or the Hooter head. And those pants? I know, I know – contrast.
The Tar Heels could use a tweak – match the pants argyle to the helmet stripe.
Neglected to mention how great the Dinos interlocking UC is…not digging the use of Air Jordan cleats.
I didn’t get the Towson-Cincinnati joke. What would be the funniest thing ever?
Cincinnati went mono white at home while Towson went White/Yellow/White. The joke is that given Towson’s colors on their university seal and the colors of the Maryland State flag, they could have worn black and red and looked more like Cincinnati than Cincinnati did.
Huh, that’s one take, but I was thinking that if Cincinnati wore their usual red uniform then the two team’s colors together would look like the Maryland flag.
What say you, Terry? What was your intent?
*red & black uniforms…
What I especially enjoy about Zach’s SEC Tracker is the layout reminds me of the youth football uniform sections in Christmas catalogs from when I was a kid. Great nostalgia.
As a Towson alumni, it’d just be wrong to see them wearing red… our colors are black and gold! The white/gold/white alternate look is probably their best, too.
Eastern showing a glimpse of a world where the raiders had sleeve stripes
As a ‘Nole, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, I hope we go non-traditional at home. Damn that stings to type.
If by non-traditional you mean adding turquoise, by all means go for it.
Otherwise, stay traditional.
Those Eastern Michigan unis are absolutely brutal. Worst attempt at a “sleeve stripe” I’ve ever seen.
SEC tracker – should have stripeless (ew) black pants for Mizzou link
Great call on #1 Jim. As a UConn fan, it was a (typically) rough watch, but the sartorial splendor of the matchup eased the pain quite a bit.
University of Vermont (UVM) is also Catamounts.
Alas, they gave up football 50 years ago.
As for the NDSU v. Colorado game, you don’t find many Bison v. Buffalo matchups. The proud American Bison being repped by both teams is fantastic.
Also on Coastal Carolina, the Jacksonville Jaguars need to take note. Ditch the new white helmets for some of those beauties!!!!!!!
Just saw the replay of Wyoming vs. Arizona State. Wyoming wore brown pants for the first time in forever, which was a good thing in contrast to ASU wearing yellow pants. Didn’t look too bad, even though Wyo got Smoked by ASU.
“which in-turn makes them look like they’re screenprinted”
This stood out to me a bit re: Colorado’s uniforms. Looking at some images closer, I’m pretty confident the gold is printed on (and it makes sense given the visual effect it wouldn’t be a fabric).
It looks to me like gold that was printed on white twill, which then has stitching. Interestingly – took a peek at their shiny gold numbered white uniforms from last year and those were printed/heat pressed – other debuts last year also looked heat pressed.
I wonder if last year was a rush job on new unis (obviously something Deion wanted and Nike benefitted from) so they went the faster route, and this year we’re getting more “complete designs” (likely started when he got hired).
Another game that I thought looked good with nice contrast was Arizona St vs Wyoming
Jim. Just curious where did Texas and colorado st land on the list for 5a d 1. And I for one disagree with Anthony on his Baylor stance. They need to go back to the old gold not this athletic gold aka Yellow
If I still did Honorable Mentions, CSU/Texas might have gotten one.
Jeez, can’t tell you how much I hate all those biking shorts. Gawdawful.
My friend’s son pitches for the Jacksonville State baseball team. So, for me to say Coastal Carolina has one of the top uniforms in all of college football, it was kind of difficult for me to say. But, they do, IMHO!
Vanderbilt looked sharp in white/black/white with nice stripes.
Good to see Temple in just cherry/white (no black, gray) …but it’s high time they ditch the ‘acres of diamonds’ motif -save that for the marching band. And if they insist on a white helmet , use the owl-in-flight logo or the Hooter head. And those pants? I know, I know – contrast.
The Tar Heels could use a tweak – match the pants argyle to the helmet stripe.
Neglected to mention how great the Dinos interlocking UC is…not digging the use of Air Jordan cleats.
I didn’t get the Towson-Cincinnati joke. What would be the funniest thing ever?
Cincinnati went mono white at home while Towson went White/Yellow/White. The joke is that given Towson’s colors on their university seal and the colors of the Maryland State flag, they could have worn black and red and looked more like Cincinnati than Cincinnati did.
Huh, that’s one take, but I was thinking that if Cincinnati wore their usual red uniform then the two team’s colors together would look like the Maryland flag.
What say you, Terry? What was your intent?
*red & black uniforms…
What I especially enjoy about Zach’s SEC Tracker is the layout reminds me of the youth football uniform sections in Christmas catalogs from when I was a kid. Great nostalgia.
As a Towson alumni, it’d just be wrong to see them wearing red… our colors are black and gold! The white/gold/white alternate look is probably their best, too.
Eastern showing a glimpse of a world where the raiders had sleeve stripes
As a ‘Nole, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, I hope we go non-traditional at home. Damn that stings to type.
If by non-traditional you mean adding turquoise, by all means go for it.
Otherwise, stay traditional.
Those Eastern Michigan unis are absolutely brutal. Worst attempt at a “sleeve stripe” I’ve ever seen.
SEC tracker – should have stripeless (ew) black pants for Mizzou link
Great call on #1 Jim. As a UConn fan, it was a (typically) rough watch, but the sartorial splendor of the matchup eased the pain quite a bit.
University of Vermont (UVM) is also Catamounts.
Alas, they gave up football 50 years ago.
As for the NDSU v. Colorado game, you don’t find many Bison v. Buffalo matchups. The proud American Bison being repped by both teams is fantastic.
Also on Coastal Carolina, the Jacksonville Jaguars need to take note. Ditch the new white helmets for some of those beauties!!!!!!!
Just saw the replay of Wyoming vs. Arizona State. Wyoming wore brown pants for the first time in forever, which was a good thing in contrast to ASU wearing yellow pants. Didn’t look too bad, even though Wyo got Smoked by ASU.
link
“which in-turn makes them look like they’re screenprinted”
This stood out to me a bit re: Colorado’s uniforms. Looking at some images closer, I’m pretty confident the gold is printed on (and it makes sense given the visual effect it wouldn’t be a fabric).
It looks to me like gold that was printed on white twill, which then has stitching. Interestingly – took a peek at their shiny gold numbered white uniforms from last year and those were printed/heat pressed – other debuts last year also looked heat pressed.
I wonder if last year was a rush job on new unis (obviously something Deion wanted and Nike benefitted from) so they went the faster route, and this year we’re getting more “complete designs” (likely started when he got hired).
Another game that I thought looked good with nice contrast was Arizona St vs Wyoming