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 Sunday morning, everyone. It’s been a while since I received a suggestion for the Top Five, but yesterday I got one from a reader named Herrick who said, “If I may suggest, maybe Cornell at Brown could be in there somewhere? It can be seen on ESPN2 as I type this. Cornell is wearing red/white/red, and Brown is attired in silver/“seal brown”(which seems closer to black than brown)/silver. Beautiful sunny day as well.” I have to agree, this is quite a looker. While the Big Red may no longer be the best looking team in college football, they’re still extremely easy on the eyes. And I love unis like Brown’s where not every piece of the uniform has every team color. It gives me a vibe similar to 1970s Maryland football. Anyway, I had to inform Herrick that I focus solely on games that involve at least one FBS team, but I would share this matchup with all of you in the intro. Even I, Mr. Cloudy, enjoy sunny games like these…in October. It’s peak leaf season here in the Rust Belt, so let the sun shine until November. Then I want a deck of clouds that won’t go away until Easter morning.
So which FBS games made the 5&1? Let’s find out, after we go through the rest of Sunday Morning Uni Watch. We begin as always with our leadoff hitter, Terry Duroncelet. Take it away!
…..
This is going to be a shorter post, as I wasn’t able to catch a lot of football this week. That, and it’s been a low-energy week for me, so apologies for the lighter load.
From Tuesday, October 22nd
• FIU/Sam Houston: These are the most hammy 80s Florida, dead mall-looking football uniforms I have ever seen… and I love ’em. A perfect look for an unfortunately-hot late-October tilt.
From Thursday, October 24th
• Pitt/Syracuse: Contrast Matters: Nightmare on Pitt Street Edition (or would that be Art Rooney Avenue?). The game might have been one to forget for the Orange, but the visuals were anything BUT!
From Saturday, October 26th
• Miami/Florida State: Not to be outdone by FIU from earlier in the week, Miami dressed up for the October occasion. This year’s black togs were the most Halloween-appropriate to-date, as they were strictly black and orange (with a bit of anthracite grey/charcoal thrown in), completely devoid of any green, apart from the U logo (see the black unis of recent past for comparison).
• Ohio/Buffalo: Regardless of what one may think about Ohio’s BFBS unis, I do enjoy the number font on these. (JV: If only you could see it from ten feet away…)
• East Carolina/Temple: “Purple Wyoming” (as I’m calling these) unis for the Pirates. (JV: Even with the BFBS pants, this game would have made the Top Five if Temple wore cherry helmets.)
• Minnesota/Maryland: Loved Minnesota’s helmets from yesterday’s game against Maryland. (JV: Me too!)
• Tulsa/UTSA: Every time I think about Tulsa in any capacity, I can’t help but to think that there’s a HARROWING lack of tri-colored athletic programs (obviously, BFBS/GFGS/WFWS/etc. doesn’t count).
• Fresno State/San José State: No, the ‘V’ does not stand for Vanta Black, but I appreciate both California squads understanding the assignment and sending off October in correct fashion.
• Texas A&M/LSU: LSU posts up in the all-whites YET AGAIN, and aTm unveils some of the more interesting all-black unis I’ve seen in a while. The maker’s mark and SEC patch are this black chrome sort of deal, which I feel was initially made to catch light and really “pop”, but in most of the evening lighting, it had the opposite effect and basically vanished at certain angles, which I thought was actually kind of dope. It sorta, y’know… puts the focus back on the team and not the brands, or something like that. Imagine that. (JV: Not the worst looking game, but definitely the most disappointing.)
That’ll do it for October, which means the end of everyone’s suffering college teams getting a pass for otherwise diabolical uni combos for the season. As the November cool weather (hopefully) rolls in, the games will start to heat up, as we approach the bowl season, and the new expanded postseason. I sadly didn’t have the time to plug any helmet closeups this week, but as always, Blaise D’Sylva is your ultimate go-to for all the new helmets from Week 9. See you next week!
…..
Thanks, Terry!
Canadian University Uni Watch
Returning for 2024 is Wade Heidt, who’s wearing a jersey 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.
…..
Guess what time it is? Time for some university football uniform watching Canadian rules style! It’s time for the CUUW!
Many modern-day warriors out on the gridiron with a mean, mean stride this weekend. It’s getting real. The Ontario conference playoffs have started while the other conferences wrapped up the regular season. It is CUUW tradition to try and look at all playoff games on way to the Vanier Cup. Let’s travel east to west to have a look-see.
*We will start in the Atlantic conference (AUS). The St. Francis Xavier X-Men wore the usual mono-navy at home in Antigonish, NS. The visiting Saint Mary’s Huskies went with their white over white combo. Nothing wrong with these uniforms in the daylight of a beautiful fall afternoon.
*In the Quebec conference (RSEQ), it was a battle of two teams who let the fans know they wear gold. It is in their names! The Sherbrooke Vert & Or went tout vert at home. Mono-green from head to toe. The Laval Rouge et Or went with their classic gold/white/red combo. Great looking game on the Sherbrooke grass. (JV: Well, half of that game looks great…Ooo, La La Laval!)
We will move to the Ontario conference for some playoff action! The OUA Quarterfinals.
*The Guelph Gryphons decided on a red/black/black combo for their home playoff game. Guelph is still giving us new combos even in the postseason. Not their best combo. The Ottawa Gee-Gees went white over white. (JV: Hey Ottawa…Penn State wants to know how you got their pants past the border guards)
*The Western Mustangs wore the usual purple over purple at home. The McMaster Marauders went white over maroon. The purple against maroon matchup not bad on the eyes.
*The Windsor Lancers wore navy over navy at home. The Lancers going with the navy pants possibly to avoid wearing the same colour pants as their opponent? We knew the Queen’s Gaels would wear their only uniform. The classic mono-yellow with the red socks.
*Finally in the Canada West conference, this was a regular season game that was basically a playoff game. Win and you are in. The Regina Rams played at their alternate home stadium. Leibel Field was the location. In another unusual situation, the Rams wore white at home. It was their white over white combo. The visiting Alberta Golden Bears wore their yellow/green/green combo. Coincidentally, Edmonton’s pro football team also wore the same combo as the Golden Bears on Friday night. (JV: At least you could see Alberta’s numbers from a distance, unlike Edmonton‘s)
The regular season is now behind us. We will have all the conference semifinals next weekend. The players looking to catch the spirit as their eyes are wide for that Vanier Cup championship.
…..
Thanks, Wade!
2024 Uni Tracking
Uni Watch will again track the combinations worn by the Power Four 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). 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.
…..
I did some more uni tracking this week. Along with the Ottawa Gee-Gees, thirteen other schools were wearing Penn State’s pants (and the Nittany Lions made it fifteen schools in total). Yeah, some of them stitched a tiny school logo or a different maker’s mark on them, but from a distance, that’s a lot of plain white pants. Get some better locks for your equipment room, Lions! Fortunately I had lots of other games to choose from for today’s list. Let’s get to it, then, beginning with…
5. The “Black For Contrast’s Sake Is Acceptable” Game:
Utah vs. Houston
It almost was a coin flip between this game and Rutgers/USC, until I chose to go with the striped pants option.
4. The “Red Wave” Matchup:
Nebraska vs. Ohio State
In an effort to be bipartisan, there will be a “Blue Wave” Matchup later in the list.
3. The “Mono That Isn’t Monotonous” Game:
Oregon State vs. Cal
Even though I prefer the Beavers in a different helmet, they didn’t seem as Tootsie-Pop-y as they usually do.
2. The “Color Palette Special” Matchup:
Syracuse vs. Pitt
Too bad this one wasn’t played on a sunny October day.
1. Simply The Best:
North Carolina vs. Virginia
Those Carolina throwbacks are one of the few things from the ’90s that should be made permanent.
&1…San Jose State vs. Fresno State
Way too much BFBS on both sides, and thin numbers vs. hard-to-read numbers made it even worse.
It's Walk-Off Time
Remember that photo from the number five matchup? That was one of two walk-off field goals I’m going to share with you before leaving. Here’s the other, from a game that almost made the list.
I hope you enjoy the rest of your Sunday, and Phil’s weekday content. Until next weekend…and next month…take care, everyone.
Cal running an absolute clinic on how to do monochrome right. They look even better than the Pats in all blue (yes, I think the Pats look great in all blue). The bold, high contrast elements tame the sea of baby and make it a thing of beauty. Coupled with a classic script logo. What a set!
…sea of *navy*… (thanks for the assist, autocorrect)
I don’t mind the Pats in blue over blue either.
Any combo they wear now is better looking than the Brady era unis.
For my money, given that the Pats red throwbacks are essentially a color swap of their modern unis (or more like the other way around), the Pats have one of the best 3-uni sets in football. I am thoroughly on the record as not liking the Pat Patriot logo (more like frustratingly underwhelmed by it), but the white/red/white, silver/white/blue, and silver/blue/blue is such a solid wardrobe, and it’s visually consistent (unlike, for example, the Commies) it pays homage to 2 distinct eras of the team’s history while maintaining that consistency, and it’s a clean traditional look without trying anything weird (I’m all for modern styles, but I’m usually disappointed when a team goes for something “traditional” but has to futz around with “modern” tweaks – again, looking at you, Commies). Too bad this is the wardrobe of a flailing franchise. I like to see well-dressed success.
Not sure you mentioned but Boise has new helmets Friday night. Silver logo on white helmet.
Great job crew! I love the 5&1 Houston v. Utah photo! Not only a great way to see the uni match up, but it captures the many different sub actions in one play- the scrum at the line, the vertical leap, the outside rushers dives, and the best is the Utah players looking back at the ball.
A walk off to boot!!
I loved that one, and the Nebraska/OSU photo. Actually looks more like a mountain of red than a red wave.
Minnesota’s throwback helmet looks a lot like Maryland’s helmet from 1956-62 and 1966.
If I’m not mistaken “Seal Brown” was how the Cleveland Browns shade of “blackish brown” in the home jerseys used to be described. I believe now it’s just lazily called “brown.”
Has their ever been a week where Pitt didn’t make this list?
One, Two, Five, Six and Eight.
They’ve made it less than half the time, so it’s just in your head.
I much prefer the Tar Heels in traditional striping than their ‘traditional’ argyle.
For some reason my HS alma mater used Columbia/Red argyle as helmet center striping for many years without historical precedent for doing so…think they dumped that look for plain white lids.
Ahh, the Gaels in mono-mustard…delicious! Those should be worn as both home and road sets…it’s all they need.
And hats off to Regina channeling the LA Rams’ (much maligned?) white horns and mask combo!
Yes, the longtime classic uniform for the Queen’s Gaels is the only one they have and need. The Tricolour did experiment with using a 2nd jersey for their uniform set about 20 years ago. The Queen’s navy jersey can be seen here. Wow, forgot how good the Laurier Golden Hawks used to look when they wore the old gold.
Yes, the white Regina Rams horns channel the LA Rams look. This change this season to white horns and mask is a throwback nod for the Regina Rams themselves. When they were a CJFL junior football team before the club became the U. of Regina school team.
Here is a link to a bunch of photos showing Regina Rams uniforms back to the 1950s. Back in the early 1980s the horns were off the helmets in favour of the team logo on the sides.
I would have swapped the Pitt-Syracuse game for the NC-Virginia one. While that game did look good, it was just differing shades of blue. And the Buffalo-Ohio matchup was just horrendous.
My eyes may be deceiving me, but if you look closely, it sure seems like the stripes on Miami’s sleeves and pants are a dark, dark, dark green.
The promo pics and video when they were announced make it look black, but in a certain light there appears to be a greenish hue to the “black.” All of this is moot, of course, because a) they’re still BFBS, b) if you want green, have frickin’ green on your uniform, and c) Miami already has nearly perfect uniforms, so these are totally superfluous.
As a Washingtonian, but not a UW grad, the Huskies v. Hoosiers was a real nice looking game!
My #1 would have been Syracuse v. Pitt… more contrast and just looking bright & happy!
Thanks for including the lead-in pic & story, that was fun.
Also big thanks to Wade for the Canadian football updates. I especially love seeing Queens in that mono yellow. Somehow it just works. And the Western Mustangs using silver as an accent against purple brightens it up so much.
San Jose St – Fresno St certainly deserved the & 1 (the Spartans’ completely inexplicable black pants/ballet tights sealed it). But Colorado – Cincinnati certainly gave them a run.
Ohio St and Nebraska both have great unis, but it’s just too much red against each other. This would have been a good game for the Huskers to go with white pants.
Texas Tech’s red pants really breathed some life into their road look by offsetting all the black elements in the white jersey. They should go with this look all the time unless they are playing a red team.
Cal running an absolute clinic on how to do monochrome right. They look even better than the Pats in all blue (yes, I think the Pats look great in all blue). The bold, high contrast elements tame the sea of baby and make it a thing of beauty. Coupled with a classic script logo. What a set!
…sea of *navy*… (thanks for the assist, autocorrect)
I don’t mind the Pats in blue over blue either.
Any combo they wear now is better looking than the Brady era unis.
For my money, given that the Pats red throwbacks are essentially a color swap of their modern unis (or more like the other way around), the Pats have one of the best 3-uni sets in football. I am thoroughly on the record as not liking the Pat Patriot logo (more like frustratingly underwhelmed by it), but the white/red/white, silver/white/blue, and silver/blue/blue is such a solid wardrobe, and it’s visually consistent (unlike, for example, the Commies) it pays homage to 2 distinct eras of the team’s history while maintaining that consistency, and it’s a clean traditional look without trying anything weird (I’m all for modern styles, but I’m usually disappointed when a team goes for something “traditional” but has to futz around with “modern” tweaks – again, looking at you, Commies). Too bad this is the wardrobe of a flailing franchise. I like to see well-dressed success.
Not sure you mentioned but Boise has new helmets Friday night. Silver logo on white helmet.
Great job crew! I love the 5&1 Houston v. Utah photo! Not only a great way to see the uni match up, but it captures the many different sub actions in one play- the scrum at the line, the vertical leap, the outside rushers dives, and the best is the Utah players looking back at the ball.
A walk off to boot!!
I loved that one, and the Nebraska/OSU photo. Actually looks more like a mountain of red than a red wave.
Minnesota’s throwback helmet looks a lot like Maryland’s helmet from 1956-62 and 1966.
If I’m not mistaken “Seal Brown” was how the Cleveland Browns shade of “blackish brown” in the home jerseys used to be described. I believe now it’s just lazily called “brown.”
Has their ever been a week where Pitt didn’t make this list?
One, Two, Five, Six and Eight.
They’ve made it less than half the time, so it’s just in your head.
I much prefer the Tar Heels in traditional striping than their ‘traditional’ argyle.
For some reason my HS alma mater used Columbia/Red argyle as helmet center striping for many years without historical precedent for doing so…think they dumped that look for plain white lids.
Ahh, the Gaels in mono-mustard…delicious! Those should be worn as both home and road sets…it’s all they need.
And hats off to Regina channeling the LA Rams’ (much maligned?) white horns and mask combo!
Yes, the longtime classic uniform for the Queen’s Gaels is the only one they have and need. The Tricolour did experiment with using a 2nd jersey for their uniform set about 20 years ago. The Queen’s navy jersey can be seen here. Wow, forgot how good the Laurier Golden Hawks used to look when they wore the old gold.
link
Yes, the white Regina Rams horns channel the LA Rams look. This change this season to white horns and mask is a throwback nod for the Regina Rams themselves. When they were a CJFL junior football team before the club became the U. of Regina school team.
Here is a link to a bunch of photos showing Regina Rams uniforms back to the 1950s. Back in the early 1980s the horns were off the helmets in favour of the team logo on the sides.
link
I would have swapped the Pitt-Syracuse game for the NC-Virginia one. While that game did look good, it was just differing shades of blue. And the Buffalo-Ohio matchup was just horrendous.
My eyes may be deceiving me, but if you look closely, it sure seems like the stripes on Miami’s sleeves and pants are a dark, dark, dark green.
The promo pics and video when they were announced make it look black, but in a certain light there appears to be a greenish hue to the “black.” All of this is moot, of course, because a) they’re still BFBS, b) if you want green, have frickin’ green on your uniform, and c) Miami already has nearly perfect uniforms, so these are totally superfluous.
As a Washingtonian, but not a UW grad, the Huskies v. Hoosiers was a real nice looking game!
My #1 would have been Syracuse v. Pitt… more contrast and just looking bright & happy!
Thanks for including the lead-in pic & story, that was fun.
Also big thanks to Wade for the Canadian football updates. I especially love seeing Queens in that mono yellow. Somehow it just works. And the Western Mustangs using silver as an accent against purple brightens it up so much.
San Jose St – Fresno St certainly deserved the & 1 (the Spartans’ completely inexplicable black pants/ballet tights sealed it). But Colorado – Cincinnati certainly gave them a run.
Ohio St and Nebraska both have great unis, but it’s just too much red against each other. This would have been a good game for the Huskers to go with white pants.
Texas Tech’s red pants really breathed some life into their road look by offsetting all the black elements in the white jersey. They should go with this look all the time unless they are playing a red team.