The Purdue Boilermakers have a prime time spotlight game against #2 ranked, and new B1G Conference member Oregon this Friday night. So, of course, the Boilermakers have called for a “blackout” and have introduced a new helmet they’ll pair with an all-black alternate uniform.
Flipping the script for Friday night. pic.twitter.com/rUfuD0N4Zk
— Purdue Football (@BoilerFootball) October 15, 2024
Recognizing the importance of this game — and the fact that they’re playing Oregon, who took the alternate uniform concept and launched it into the stratosphere — Purdue will break out their own alternates and new helmets. In the uniform game, it’s almost impossible to “outdo” Oregon (like TOSU last week), but the Boilers are giving it their best shot.
The new helmet is glossy black, featuring a black script “Purdue” logo on the right side of the helmet, outlined in gold, and has a thick black stripe with two thin gold stripes. Face masks are gold.
The left side of the helmet will feature the player number, also in black, outlined in gold.
While those definitely look pretty nice up close, the ghosted “Purdue” and player number will likely not be highly visible at any distance. That’s actually probably by design, as the Boilermakers’ alternate uniform is extremely plain (again, by choice).
The uniform is solid black, with no striping or accents of any kind. Only the B1G logo on the right side, “P” logo on the collar, and maker’s mark are on the jersey front, along with player number in a large gold font, with a thin black/thin gold outline.
The rear of the jersey is similarly plain, featuring a large gold number in the same style as on the front. The model below is shown with “BOILERMAKERS” for NOB.
I have not been able to ascertain whether that NOB will appear on all jerseys, of if it is merely a “placeholder” and the jerseys will include regular player NOB.
So, yes, we’ll have another “blackout” game. At least in Purdue’s defense, their school colors are black and gold, and they’ve worn all-black uniforms previously. But the new helmet, with its ghosted decals, will likely give the uniform the appearance of an all-black helmet from a distance. Again, that’s by design.
The next question is: what uniform will Oregon wear (they will officially unveil their Friday night look at 8:00 pm ET today)? Will the Ducks counter with an all-white look (so we’ll have another blackout vs. “Icy White” matchup)? That remains to be seen, but yesterday Oregon did unveil special footwear they’ll be sporting, which are a two-tone green with yellow laces. This would lead me to believe that at least some of the Ducks uniform will be green (helmet, pants and/or socks). Of course, nothing is guaranteed with Oregon, so that’s obviously pure speculation at this point. But we will find out this evening.
The Boilermakers, unfortunately, are off to a rough start for the season, and are 1-5. The Ducks are undefeated and sit at 6-0, ranked #2 in the nation. Purdue will have its work cut out for it for sure. They suffered a tough loss last weekend, falling to Illinois 50-49 in overtime.
The game kicks off Friday night at 8:00 pm (ET), and will air on Fox.
I’ll definitely need to see these on the field to render a judgment, but I’m anticipating the helmet decals will be almost impossible to read at distance — although as mentioned, this seems to be more of a feature than a bug. I totally get that the players and fans are probably very excited for the blackout game, and it’s not BFBS, so I’m fine with their decision. Of course, Purdue got beautiful new uniforms for this season (“I love it when Purdue looks like Purdue”), so naturally I’ve have preferred them to wear their gold/black/gold uniform with gorgeous stripes for this game. Hopefully the all-black uniforms will get the Boilers players and fans fired up for the game.
Your thoughts?
“I totally get that the players and fans are probably very excited for the blackout game”
I guess, and I’m sure you’re right, but why? What is the appeal, can anyone explain it? Is it just the excitement of doing something everybody else has already done? Because there’s absolutely nothing new left in this concept, it’s the same dreary hype video every time and the same boring uniform concepts with a tweak here or there. At least sometimes one of the schools adds neon to the black. Are fans really _this_ het up to hear AC/DC’s “Back in Black” as 60 kids run onto a field in the Midwest?
I don’t disagree with anything you’ve said, but these uniforms aren’t designed for me. I’ve never seen the appeal of an all-black uniform (but at least Purdue has black as a school color); Maybe it’s a feeling like “well, we’re doing a blackout, so we’re legit big time now”? Clearly black is a very popular uniform color (and has been for 20 plus years). What many of us thought was a fad has not gone away, and if anything, has increased in popularity. I’m not even sure it’s black so much as it’s “new” — and I think younger fans (and players) want to be wearing something new. For those of us who are older and grew up expecting a team to be in a certain look are naturally resistant to seeing something new.
I try to put myself in the players’ shoes, and think back to my salad days. For baseball, I grew up with powder blue being a perfectly acceptable color for a road uniform. But if I were in my 40s-50s then and grew up with gray flannel, I probably would have felt differently. The kids today grew up when black was ALWAYS a popular color. So they lean into it.
Well said Phil. It’s weird to me how the all-white or all-black uniforms haven’t been more accepted on this site, but you really hit the nail on the head about growing up with a certain look and just expecting those rules of uniforms to be followed for younger generations. Plus, Purdue has black as one of their main colors, so no clue why there is so much hate for this version of a black out jersey or black out in the crowds for the fans. As for these specific uniforms, those helmets are sick, like that double thin strip down the middle too, good clean look.
The above post needs to be sent to every sports team in North America.
Along with the same dreary hype videos, come the following:
– The storytelling description that is sometimes a real stretch of reality.
– The same pictorial display of the player:
– With a darked out visor.
– Head down.
– Squeezing a football at their chest.
– Showing “passion and intensity” with their mouth open in a contrived post.
– Pointing to the back of the jersey with their thumbs. (I guess Herb Brooks was wrong.)
Along with the much preached, by me, that why don’t teams just go to monochrome white or monochrome black uniforms with school colors for numbers and letters and trim. No more various school color uniforms, just white or black. In this era of NIL and college free-agency, the pandering to the modern athlete wants will crush tradition and wipe out any aesthetics that sports uniforms brought us.
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Agree with all of this. We will have to accept that college football has embraced the chess pieces aesthetic of all white versus all black. I expect college basketball to follow this route very quickly.
I’m good with schools that have black as a primary color to do this. Not the teams that decide to add it in later so as to do this.
This! Only teams with black in their color scheme should do all black unis. And all white unis should be avoided at this point. I’m grossed out how often LSU is pulling out the white pants and white helmet when their standard set is a classic.
The monochrome look just screams, “We don’t have traditions, we have to manufacture hype,” and at this point it’s so played out and desperate.
Ducks should go green/yellow/green/yellow. That would be a nice matchup. Purdue looks very Saints-esque.
I’ll be at this game! (Fully expect them to be out of it by halftime!) I guess I need to make sure I bring something black on the trip rather than yellow, gold, or gray. (Which…might be the Eagles sweatshirt [therma sideline?] I’m currently wearing, actually.)
These look ok. I do like the helmet script, though I doubt I’ll see much of it from the stands. Very much hoping Oregon goes with their throwback look.
Are you really trying to “outdo” Oregon if your alt still has all school colors?
Let’s not complicate things, these are awesome.
Ugh. Mono black (barf), helmet logo you won’t be able to see from a distance (stupid), stripe-less pants (usually I’d say that’s OK for college, but not with this combo) and plain jersey. OK, checks all the silly boxes of a terrible look.
I can confirm that all players will have “BOILERMAKERS” for the NOB: link
Black lettering on a black helmet will basically be invisible. Why not use gold script? I hate the ghost lettering and numbering trend. Should be banned.
I like the helmet, but I would like it more if it had a logo rather than script. The gold mask and the black straps look sharp. Jersey numbers are legible.
I think that for a lot of these BFBS/WFWS, the pushback here is less about the idea of an all-black or all-white uniform, and more a reaction to the hype that tends to imply or claim that it’s a novel and creative thing that we haven’t already seen a million times before (basically every week one or more of these gets revealed).
But as I said, I do like this one so far, and Purdue has every right to go mono-black as much as they want.
AFAIC, the presence of black in so many uniforms owes a debt to concert t-shirts of the 1970s. Black is a neutral background and all colors appear to jump off it. The issue I have is when teams eliminate details (mainly pant stripes) in favor of broad swaths of void. They should do their best to use details from the source uniform.
The gold facemask on black helmet rules.
They look like garbage. Purdue has more uniforms combos than wins. Doesn’t matter what they wear they’ll still get blown out. It’s like they’re just irrelevant because they’re so bad.
Slow Clap. Yay. Another Black Uniform.
Too much ornamentation, should be even more black. I expect Oregon to go all white, except for the shoes (which will draw extra attention to them).
The Purdue script is more aligned to the basketball team which has had way more success lately.
I think it is cool to get the players and students excited with a theme. My only critique is I always think helmets with two different decals looks off. Purdue has such a beautiful logo with the train, I would have kept everything for the younger generation but classic boilermaker decals.
Oregon will be wearing yellow-white-white for tomorrow’s game.
Yep. Put up a short post on it already: link