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FIU’s “Vice U” Uniforms to Debut Tonight vs. Sam Houston State

The Florida International University (FIU) Panthers will transform this evening into “Vice U.”

On the field at Pitbull Stadium, which will be ceremonially decked out to complement the FIU uniforms, Vice U will play Sam Houston State on ESPNU, for a special prime time Tuesday evening game.

In case you missed it, the Panthers unveiled their second generation Vice U uniforms a couple weeks ago. They’re white with heavy doses of aqua and fuchsia, styled after the famous “Miami Vice” TV show that debuted 40 years ago.

The new uniforms, which not only borrow the Miami Vice font for their helmet decal, also have an image of palm-tree leaves on the sleeves and the likeness of a boat on the back collar.

As noted above, FIU’s connection with Miami Vice is fitting since this is the 40th anniversary of the TV show’s debut in 1984. “Our brand is ‘Vice U,’” said Hunter DuBois, who is an FIU social media specialist. “We want to own that whole scene. This is just the beginning. We’ve already done uniforms for our women’s soccer team, and our vision is that all our teams will have ‘Vice U’ uniforms.”

FIU may not be a major player in NCAAFB — yet. But they’ve been working on things to raise their national profile, including selling the naming rights to their stadium to Pitbull, and in a move befitting of Oregon, plan to wear 12 different uniform combinations. Those combos include FIU’s traditional uniform, the new Vice look, which will debut tonight, and also FIU’s “Biscayne Bay” light blue jersey and pants.

Not only does the team expect to wear a different uniform combination for every game, they are the only NCAA program that does a different field design for every home game.

And the field for tonight’s game? Well…just get a load of this:

As I noted when FIU unveiled these uniforms — I’m excited to see them on the field. As I said then, “The problem I foresee with these, unfortunately, is the numbers are probably going to be either very difficult to read, or completely illegible. The light blue with only pink drop shadow is definitely going to cause to visibility problems (as seen in the video and also in the outdoor boating shots, where it’s completely washed out by the sun). But other than that, I like these. I even like the palm tree pattern in the stripes!”

Again, the game is tonight against Sam Houston State, and can be seen on ESPNU beginning at 7:00 pm.

Being a Tuesday night, and without much gridiron competition (the only other NCAA football game on tonight is UTEP/La Tech), these new Vice U uniforms should be getting plenty of eyeballs.

I’ll definitely watch at least a part of the game. What do you think of these uniforms? Will you watch, even if for a few minutes, just to check them out?

I love brighter colors like fuchsia and aqua, and I wish more teams would incorporate similar colors, rather than doing the trendy black outs and Icy Whites schtick. Should more teams go in this direction?

Love to hear your thoughts!

 
  
 
Comments (0)

    I actually think these are pretty cool and are going to be fun. I’m normally not a fan of gimmicky uniforms. But this is something like nobody else has done before.

    Should be a nice contrasting game with some decent sets as long as Sam Houston doesn’t pull anything crazy out.

    I like the perception that Florida is a place where garish (or festive, take your pick) football uniforms are worn. It’s a welcome respite from the kidney punches the state has had to endure. I’ll see your Vice U suits and raise you the expansion-year Buccos and Jaguars uniforms, plus the Dolphins’ perfect season!

    I’ll see your expansion-year Buccos and Jaguars uniforms, plus the Dolphins’ perfect season – and raise you this:
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    This:
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    And this:
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    I’ll record it and watch a few mins just to check them in action. Seems as the numbers need to be darker though. Surprised NCAA ok’d these.

    It is Florida and I can be all grumpy about it but I actually enjoy this Vice U thing. It is fun and the locals seem to enjoy it so go ahead. But I am glad when my Irish don white pants us fans start to say nooooo, do not do it! Stick to what you have had for eons, please.

    I turned this game on and watched a little bit of it. Yes, it was gimmicky. But, it was also pretty fun to watch IMO. I thought the blue yardage numbers were great. While I’m not a fan of most stuff like this, I think it worked pretty good. For a “one off” pretty good. If they do it over and over, then it would probably lose it’s uniqueness and over all fun factor.

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