Tired of seeing annoying ads (like this one!) on Uni Watch? There’s a simple solution: Join Uni Watch Plus. You’ll get an ad-free site experience, plus exclusive access to our UW+ discussion forums, push notifications whenever a new blog post has been published, a special UW+ badge accompanying all your comments on the blog, and a 20% discount on our Teespring merchandise.
Good morning, everyone, and Happy Autumn! So long, Summer…don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
My second favorite season of the year is a colorful one in my part of the world. Lots of yellow, orange, brown, and red will be falling from the trees soon. Speaking of red, long-time readers know I love a good Red Pants Alert. I got one yesterday, thanks to the Kansas Jayhawks. I’ll take white/white/red over Paterno Pants any day, and there were a LOT of Paterno Pants in this weekend’s games. Somehow, this good-looking matchup with West Virginia didn’t make the Top Five. Who did? We’ll find out later, but let’s check in with the rest of the SMUW Crew first, beginning with the our very own Terry Duroncelet.
• Syracuse/Stanford: Max Weintraub noted something about this game: “1. Both teams nicknames are singular AND a color| 2. Both teams’ helmets feature a big letter S| 3. Syracuse wide receiver Umari Hatcher has TWO mouthguards. I’m pretty sure he only has one mouth.”
• Washington State/San José State: ‘WAZZU’ decals for the Cougars. Dig the name, but this logo will ALWAYS be peak Pullman.
• Ole Miss/Georgia Southern: GI Joevember in September for Ole Miss, complete with literal stomping grounds! (also, is anyone else DEEPLY-uncomfortable with them pushing the nickname “The Sip“?). This was just one of MANY military appreciation displays across the college landscape, and while I will definitely try, I’m certain I’m gonna miss a few.
• Michigan/USC: I know I (rightfully) shunned the Wolverines’ navy trou, but this is the rare case in which it actually makes sense.
• Oklahoma State/Utah: The Utes are the underrated stripe kings of college football, and I feel like I don’t say that enough.
• Mississippi State/Florida: White at home for Sip State (I almost threw up typing that).
• West Virginia/Kansas: Now THIS is how you do alternate white helmets the right way! The Mountaineers have been absolutely cooking with their new unis this season. And the white jerseys/red pants combo for Kansas is always a fun sight to see.
• WKU/Toledo: BIG RED! That’s it, that’s the statement.
• North Texas/Wyoming: 2003-2004 decals for the Mean Green (closer look). This game was HEAVY on the saturation, I felt like I was watching an Astroturf game on a CRT in 1996. Not exactly a bad thing, of course.
• Sam Houston State/NM State: the tiniest KATS logo I’ve ever seen. To be fair, this is the only KATS logo I’ve ever seen, not counting old pics (very necessary closer look).
• BYU/K-State: I LOVE these old block shadow unis that BYU wore. The rare all-white that’s actually super-exciting to see. Also, while there are a few teams waving the block shadow flag (like the aforementioned WKU), there aren’t nearly enough teams doing so.
…..
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.
…..
Yes, it’s time. Time for some university football uniform watching Canadian rules style! It’s time for the CUUW!
Can you feel it? The bite of the autumn air slowly emerging as the seasons change. The stakes in each game becoming more real. We get to look forward to the beauty of the vibrant uniform colours running down the field with purpose. The lovely autumn backdrop decorating the magnificent stage. The visual beauty of it may be a reason I started to love football so many years ago.
We will celebrate this weekend’s battle of school colours on the U Sports football fields across the country. Let’s view some games. Travelling east to west as the CUUW is famous for.
*In the Atlantic conference (AUS), the Saint Mary’s Huskies broke out their black alternates at home in Halifax. Deemed BFBS (black for black’s sake) by the CUUW. Saint Mary’s is maroon and white. Black is not a school colour. Still, the white/black/white/combo is not a really bad uniform. They are not doing the head-to-toe black alternate so the CUUW cuts them some slack. Not a fan of using maroon as a trim colour with a black uniform. The visiting St. Francis Xavier X-Men always look fine wearing white over navy.
On to the Ontario conference (OUA) we go to view a couple of games.
*In Kingston, the Queen’s Gaels may only have one uniform. That doesn’t matter. I have all the time in the world to gaze my eyes on the exemplary mono-yellow uniform of the Tricolour. The visiting Guelph Gryphons decided on a black/white/black combo for Saturday’s road look.
*It was the 54th annual Red & Blue Bowl rivalry game in Toronto. The Toronto Varsity Blues wore their usual navy over navy at home. The York Lions wore white over red for their road uniform. York has seen better success on the football field in the past. Toronto has seen better days than the one they had Saturday. The York Lions won! Why is that amazing news? York won their first game since 2022 (which they actually lost but were awarded a win via forfeiture). This is York’s first win earned on the field since 2019. Here is an unusual visual of the Lions hoisting a trophy (the Argo Cup) for the win.
We will head to the Canada West conference for two games this weekend.
*The Alberta Golden Bears like to switch up the combos. They went with a white/green/green combo at home in Edmonton. The white helmet with the “A” logo is back. This is one of their weaker combos. The CUUW is not a supporter of this style of combo of white helmet with mono-colour dark jerseys/pants in a football uniform in general. Alberta’s traditional home combo looks better. We got a first look at the new Regina Rams white road jersey. Regina wore white over white. One thing is certain in Canada West. There is a great probability of two schools wearing green facing each other.
*In Vancouver, the UBC Thunderbirds wore their usual navy over navy combo at home. There was some notable stuff from the visiting Saskatchewan Huskies. They have kept the Huskie Head logo on the helmet that had re-emerged last week. We saw the new green pants for the Huskies too. Saskatchewan wearing white over green.
Another fun weekend! Now back to class for these student athletes. I salute them. Not only do they have to study for challenging university class, they have to study their playbook and travel a lot.
We will see you next week. Go out their and get those touchdowns in life but take the rouges if 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). And this year Derek Buchheit will be tracking the Big “XII” for us.
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.
…..
Four weeks in, and still no LSU in the Top Five. Thanks, UCLA for spoiling it with your Paterno Pants. At least Purdue’s white pants had stripes, but both were ruled out because I never liked metallic gold-helmeted teams going gold/white/white. There’s usually an exception to every rule, but in this case I don’t think there is. Enough about who didn’t make it. Let’s see who did, starting with…
5. The “Thank The Maize Socks For Keeping This Matchup In Contention” Game:
USC vs. Michigan
I would have ranked this higher with maize pants, because you can never have too much maize/gold/yellow below the belt.
4. The “I’m Not Upset With The Look Of This Upset Special” Matchup:
Monmouth vs. Florida International
Congrats, Monmouth, on your first win over an FBS school!
3. The “Black Pants Alert?” Game:
Youngstown State vs. Pitt
The one time I get really excited about black pants is when the Penguins go red/white/black.
2. The “Holy Indy Colts…I Ranked An All-White Uni This High?” Game:
Charlotte vs. Indiana
Just make those numbers a little bigger, Charlotte, and you’ll achieve Colts-like uni greatness.
1. Simply The Best:
Villanova vs. Maryland
I knew this one was it the minute I saw it.
&1…Vanderbilt vs. Missouri
What I said in the intro about gold/white/white applies, the gold numbers don’t help, and those beautiful diamond-pattern end zones deserve better than Paterno Pants, Mizzou.
That's All, Folks
The bad news: it wasn’t the coolant reservoir in my car that was the problem. It’s the freeze plugs. Cha-ching. The good news: the guy who diagnosed the problem yesterday was able to plug the tire on the truck I’m borrowing. So I have that going for me. Here’s hoping we all have a great and restful Sunday. Take care, everyone, and I’ll see you next weekend.
Not deeply uncomfortable with calling it The Sip. Never heard of it before this morning and I had to look it up. It’s less bothersome than to go with the more familiar nickname which reportedly has racist overtones from the past. More uncomfortable that the Stars & Stripes motif covered the end zones; part of the US Flag Code (in addition to not wearing the flag as clothing) is that the flag not be put on the ground where it could trampled underfoot. Those things bother me more than the Sip.
Agree 100%. The Sip at least sounds more authentic and locally derived than “The Land” or “The Lou.”
I have a similar reaction to some of the flag stuff.
because you can never have too much maize/gold/yellow below the belt.
Yes, you can. If a “unitard” look evokes scorn, a “leggings” look isn’t much better. As you said, I can also see why Michigan went with blue pants, but it would have looked better with maize pants and blue socks.
I think he was referring to both teams wearing yellow pants, not players wearing the same-colored pants and socks.
You are correct, sir.
Isn’t “OrangMEN” plural?
Orangemen (sic) is plural…but Syracuse hasn’t been known as that since 2004. Since then, they’ve just been “orange” which is singluar.
“there were a LOT of Paterno Pants in this weekend’s games”
So, high-water khakis? Occasionally with whales on them?
I thought about the khakis after I posted this.
I’ll probably just call them Penn State Pants from now on.
Plain pants should limited to Penn State white, Michigan maize and Notre Dame gold. Though for all I now, ND has the monogram on them now.
Is “high water khakis” a code for urine-stained? Because if so, then “Paterno Pants” is a perfect description.
I’m surprised at how much I liked Navy in gold/blue/blue
“STFX” shall be my new thing to type when someone is being obnoxious online.
Why would “The Sip” be uncomfortable? Feels like all the writers on this site try too hard sometimes, even with Paul moving on.
Mizzou/Vandy: a case for Mizzou in White/banana/black, or even full banana. Vandy in gold pants doesn’t help.
Michigan/SoCal: nope, no mono-blue, if you can’t do maize trous versus yellow, then go white.
BC Red Bandanas: I get the red bandana thing and it’s an important tribute, but gold/white/gold would still be a much better look, or even do a special red bandana helmet over mono-white.
‘Nova/Terps: like the color contrast but Villanova’s details seem too random without attention to an overall concept. I could bump IU/Charlotte up to #1.
> 3. Syracuse wide receiver Umari Hatcher has TWO mouthguards. I’m pretty sure he only has one mouth.”
Not to be an old man yelling at a cloud, but wait until you find out that a lot of guys who do this don’t actually use either of them–they have a third they actually put in their mouths.
I played a lot of football in my younger days, and couldn’t stand the sound of a mouth guard flopping around my helmet. I have no idea how these guys deal with *two* of them.
I thought CU looked great last night! The flatirons in the stripe is an awesome modern touch on the classics.
That really is a slick detail.
Disappointing game, in the outcome and the blue pants. The Big House, sunny day, and Michigan comes out in the mono-blue. WTF? And yes, the maize socks made it at least OK, for those players who wore them. I like that CFB players usually don’t wear hose, but this time it looked better than the bare legs.
I love stripes on helmets, sleeves and pants, but Utah is going overkill with theirs.
Disagree about Kansas in red pants – no stripes, and plenty of guys wore red hose for the ballet pants effect. And I think West Virginia’s unis are a bit of a mess. Yesterday the jersey looked like it was from a different set than the pants and helmet.
LSU in yellow/purple/yellow in the daytime is absolutely glorious. It’s a shame this isn’t their default home look.
It was funny that Baylor forced Colorado to wear what is, by far, their best uni combo so that they could wear their own stupid icy whites and then lost in absolutely heartbreaking fashion.
Two players with #13 also scored for Stanford on Friday link
Not to be that guy, but the Big XII tracker has the wrong unis for Colorado
SEC Tracker is now added. Thanks for your paitience.
Baylor’s jerseys and pants last night — minus the number/NOB font and collar — were exactly the same as the all-white uniform Nike is giving the Packers this year. And the helmets suffer from the same problem the Packers’ do: no yellow, even though the jersey and pants both have yellow stripes.
Saints have two offensive players wearing bright gold numbers while the rest of the team is dull. The numbers match the color of David Carr’s captain’s patch, which doesn’t match his uniform number. Looks like a cheap high school.
Wow. Can’t believe how much I love the Queens mono yellow in the Canadian college recap. Would be perfect if the helmet stripes matched the UCLA/pants stripes.
Fun thing about Queen’s with the one uniform is every road game they play is colour vs. colour. Their yellow is a road uniform against another school wearing their darks.
The helmet stripes not matching the UCLA stripes seems to be a tradition with Queen’s as it’s been like that for decades with different uniform designs. Not sure why or if it is intentional. Example here. Same situation as seen in this photo from the 1970s:
Mizzou baffles me with this sort of thing, and its been this way for years. It seems like it would be so easy for them to have a great uniform every time.
I’ve noted this off and on for many years, but with Paul’s exit and the changeovers (leading to more attempts to monetize)– is it truly necessary for everyone to still write in this awful, corny dad, PG prose?
I’ll admit there are times when I find the outright vulgarity of much more successful sites in the space to be problematic. However, I think it would be more interesting to open things up to writers with unique opinions from different parts of the country and decidedly less “plaid shirts, khakis, and New Balances” lifestyles.
Just a thought. As long as the monetization and compensation plans are working well, I guess there’s no need for any changes. I’ve been reading Uniwatch since back in the Page 2/Bill Simmons days, so I’ll support you all regardless of the cheese.
open things up to writers with unique opinions from different parts of the country and decidedly less “plaid shirts, khakis, and New Balances”
Stereotype much?
Let’s see…we have an editor from Long Island (who barely ever agrees with me), a weekend editor from Ohio, a writer from Louisiana, and a writer from Vancouver. And we’re not all white. Still haven’t ticked off enough boxes for you?
I don’t know about the others, but I write the same as I speak. If that’s too awful for you, you’ll have to wait until I’m gone because I’m not changing my style to appear edgier when I’m not.
I can guarantee you will never, ever see me wear khaki pants and a plaid shirt. :)
Thanks for calling out “Paterno pants.” If a team is not going to have a uniform with pants stripes (hmm, have I said before how pants with no stripes annoys me?), at least have them be pants with a color, not some stripe-less white pants that look like what a team wears at practice.
Miami/USF was a nice sight for anyone that loves dark green.
That game was in my top ten. Looked nicer than I thought it would.
agreed – i thought it was gonna be too much but it was really nice
Thank you for adding the Big 12 to the tracker! Awesome job.
(One small correction, UCF was off last weekend. They’ll wear those Space uniforms on 11/2).
Not deeply uncomfortable with calling it The Sip. Never heard of it before this morning and I had to look it up. It’s less bothersome than to go with the more familiar nickname which reportedly has racist overtones from the past. More uncomfortable that the Stars & Stripes motif covered the end zones; part of the US Flag Code (in addition to not wearing the flag as clothing) is that the flag not be put on the ground where it could trampled underfoot. Those things bother me more than the Sip.
Agree 100%. The Sip at least sounds more authentic and locally derived than “The Land” or “The Lou.”
I have a similar reaction to some of the flag stuff.
because you can never have too much maize/gold/yellow below the belt.
Yes, you can. If a “unitard” look evokes scorn, a “leggings” look isn’t much better. As you said, I can also see why Michigan went with blue pants, but it would have looked better with maize pants and blue socks.
I think he was referring to both teams wearing yellow pants, not players wearing the same-colored pants and socks.
You are correct, sir.
Isn’t “OrangMEN” plural?
Orangemen (sic) is plural…but Syracuse hasn’t been known as that since 2004. Since then, they’ve just been “orange” which is singluar.
“there were a LOT of Paterno Pants in this weekend’s games”
So, high-water khakis? Occasionally with whales on them?
I thought about the khakis after I posted this.
I’ll probably just call them Penn State Pants from now on.
Plain pants should limited to Penn State white, Michigan maize and Notre Dame gold. Though for all I now, ND has the monogram on them now.
Is “high water khakis” a code for urine-stained? Because if so, then “Paterno Pants” is a perfect description.
I’m surprised at how much I liked Navy in gold/blue/blue
link
“STFX” shall be my new thing to type when someone is being obnoxious online.
Why would “The Sip” be uncomfortable? Feels like all the writers on this site try too hard sometimes, even with Paul moving on.
Mizzou/Vandy: a case for Mizzou in White/banana/black, or even full banana. Vandy in gold pants doesn’t help.
Michigan/SoCal: nope, no mono-blue, if you can’t do maize trous versus yellow, then go white.
BC Red Bandanas: I get the red bandana thing and it’s an important tribute, but gold/white/gold would still be a much better look, or even do a special red bandana helmet over mono-white.
‘Nova/Terps: like the color contrast but Villanova’s details seem too random without attention to an overall concept. I could bump IU/Charlotte up to #1.
> 3. Syracuse wide receiver Umari Hatcher has TWO mouthguards. I’m pretty sure he only has one mouth.”
Not to be an old man yelling at a cloud, but wait until you find out that a lot of guys who do this don’t actually use either of them–they have a third they actually put in their mouths.
I played a lot of football in my younger days, and couldn’t stand the sound of a mouth guard flopping around my helmet. I have no idea how these guys deal with *two* of them.
I thought CU looked great last night! The flatirons in the stripe is an awesome modern touch on the classics.
That really is a slick detail.
Disappointing game, in the outcome and the blue pants. The Big House, sunny day, and Michigan comes out in the mono-blue. WTF? And yes, the maize socks made it at least OK, for those players who wore them. I like that CFB players usually don’t wear hose, but this time it looked better than the bare legs.
I love stripes on helmets, sleeves and pants, but Utah is going overkill with theirs.
Disagree about Kansas in red pants – no stripes, and plenty of guys wore red hose for the ballet pants effect. And I think West Virginia’s unis are a bit of a mess. Yesterday the jersey looked like it was from a different set than the pants and helmet.
LSU in yellow/purple/yellow in the daytime is absolutely glorious. It’s a shame this isn’t their default home look.
It was funny that Baylor forced Colorado to wear what is, by far, their best uni combo so that they could wear their own stupid icy whites and then lost in absolutely heartbreaking fashion.
Two players with #13 also scored for Stanford on Friday
link
Not to be that guy, but the Big XII tracker has the wrong unis for Colorado
SEC Tracker is now added. Thanks for your paitience.
Baylor’s jerseys and pants last night — minus the number/NOB font and collar — were exactly the same as the all-white uniform Nike is giving the Packers this year. And the helmets suffer from the same problem the Packers’ do: no yellow, even though the jersey and pants both have yellow stripes.
Saints have two offensive players wearing bright gold numbers while the rest of the team is dull. The numbers match the color of David Carr’s captain’s patch, which doesn’t match his uniform number. Looks like a cheap high school.
Wow. Can’t believe how much I love the Queens mono yellow in the Canadian college recap. Would be perfect if the helmet stripes matched the UCLA/pants stripes.
Fun thing about Queen’s with the one uniform is every road game they play is colour vs. colour. Their yellow is a road uniform against another school wearing their darks.
The helmet stripes not matching the UCLA stripes seems to be a tradition with Queen’s as it’s been like that for decades with different uniform designs. Not sure why or if it is intentional. Example here. Same situation as seen in this photo from the 1970s:
link
Mizzou baffles me with this sort of thing, and its been this way for years. It seems like it would be so easy for them to have a great uniform every time.
I’ve noted this off and on for many years, but with Paul’s exit and the changeovers (leading to more attempts to monetize)– is it truly necessary for everyone to still write in this awful, corny dad, PG prose?
I’ll admit there are times when I find the outright vulgarity of much more successful sites in the space to be problematic. However, I think it would be more interesting to open things up to writers with unique opinions from different parts of the country and decidedly less “plaid shirts, khakis, and New Balances” lifestyles.
Just a thought. As long as the monetization and compensation plans are working well, I guess there’s no need for any changes. I’ve been reading Uniwatch since back in the Page 2/Bill Simmons days, so I’ll support you all regardless of the cheese.
open things up to writers with unique opinions from different parts of the country and decidedly less “plaid shirts, khakis, and New Balances”
Stereotype much?
Let’s see…we have an editor from Long Island (who barely ever agrees with me), a weekend editor from Ohio, a writer from Louisiana, and a writer from Vancouver. And we’re not all white. Still haven’t ticked off enough boxes for you?
I don’t know about the others, but I write the same as I speak. If that’s too awful for you, you’ll have to wait until I’m gone because I’m not changing my style to appear edgier when I’m not.
I can guarantee you will never, ever see me wear khaki pants and a plaid shirt. :)
Thanks for calling out “Paterno pants.” If a team is not going to have a uniform with pants stripes (hmm, have I said before how pants with no stripes annoys me?), at least have them be pants with a color, not some stripe-less white pants that look like what a team wears at practice.
Miami/USF was a nice sight for anyone that loves dark green.
That game was in my top ten. Looked nicer than I thought it would.
agreed – i thought it was gonna be too much but it was really nice
Thank you for adding the Big 12 to the tracker! Awesome job.
(One small correction, UCF was off last weekend. They’ll wear those Space uniforms on 11/2).