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Minnesota Gophers to Wear Throwback Helmets This Saturday for Homecoming

The Minnesota Gophers unveiled a “new” uniform combination (which the school is referring to as a throwback) that they’ll wear this weekend against Maryland, when they have their homecoming game.

The team also unveiled a hype video showing off the uniforms.

Unfortunately, the team didn’t provide any still photos to accompany the video, but I was able to make some screengrabs. Let’s look at the uniform now.

Helmet

The team will be wearing a white helmet with numbers on the sides, and a maroon/gold/maroon stripe down the center. Facemask is gray.

The team wore this style white helmet from 1957-1967. At the very beginning of the video, there is a brief clip of a helmet with the number “60” — while it didn’t specifically indicate it’s for the year 1960, they wore this style of helmet during that season — which also happened to be the last season that Minnesota were National Champions.

Jersey

The jersey isn’t a throwback — it was introduced in 2024 as part of a redesign.

The rear of the jersey features a small logo of the state of Minnesota above the NOB — which reads “MINNESOTA” — in gold. Of course, the uniforms from the 50s-60s were NNOB. The “MINNESOTA” NOB will probably be on every jersey (as opposed to being a placeholder for player NOB). Large gold numbers in the team’s current font style are below the NOB.

Pants

The pants are white with a maroon/gold/maroon stripe (matching the helmet). Like the jersey, the pants aren’t a throwback set, per se, but part of the 2024 redesign. The school did wear pants in this style during 1957-67 when they wore the white helmets with numbers on the side. So, they’re both modern and a throwback at the same time.

Full Uniform

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Here are a couple photos of the team wearing the white helmets/maroon jerseys/white striped pants from 1957-67, which is the era to which the team is throwing back:

Interestingly, in 2006, against North Dakota State, the team played a throwback game against North Dakota State, in which they wore throwbacks that were much more accurate:

Those uniforms had no sleeve stripes, as well as block numbers, which is more akin to what they wore during the late 50’s/60’s.

I am all for teams doing throwbacks, but I wish the Gophers were going the whole nine yards and wearing a a full throwback uniform, rather than a partial one. I’m sure the unis will look good on the field, and for those old enough to remember the glory years in attendance, will likely bring back some fond memories (especially of the 1960 National Champs). But by wearing their current jersey with the throwback helmet (and pants — though the pants are the same as they wear currently) feels a bit like the team is half-assing it.

The 109th Annual Homecoming game against Maryland will kickoff at 3:30 pm (ET) Saturday afternoon, and the game will be broadcast on FS1.

Your thoughts on the “throwback”?

 
  
 
Comments (16)

    Almost every game.
    I love it when the Golden Gophers wear gold helmets (as long as it’s not shiny gold), but this is my second favorite look.

    If they did wear these every game, though, I wouldn’t complain.

    I think it’s a really nice “fauxback” and it captures the spirit of the original without requiring a whole extra maroon jersey with no stripes! (i like the stripes better anyway) 10/10 this is a great look for the goph

    Yeah this doesn’t feel “lazy” to me but rather a design that clearly feels throwback (especially to the fans), looks really great IMO, and incorporates nicely into their existing look.

    Obviously different era for the site now, but it’s interesting that this is a case where the throwback is explicitly *not* about selling more jerseys. I’m sure there will be some other gear, but this was truly a “uniform” led design mainly about the on field visual.

    The entire uni may not be a true throwback, but anything that does away with that stupid wooden paddle helmet stripe is a positive change.

    Indeed! I can’t stand PJ’s branding On college unis.

    I have sympathy for the source of “row the boat,” but it is distinctly Minnesotan to raise one individual above the team.

    Why don’t NFL teams cut the center stripe on speedflex and Schutt F7? It looks unfinished and like garbage…College helmets look much cleaner. Are they lazy?

    I think the white/white/yellow look linked to in the article looks better but this ain’t half bad either.

    Their number font isn’t so awesome that it should be present on a throwback/fauxback. Objectively, it shouldn’t be used at all.

    The maroon over white jerseys and pants is SO much better than the monochrome maroon/maroon or gold/gold. The gold/gold look like pajamas.

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