The University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish will be wearing their “Shamrock Series” uniforms this Saturday against the unbeaten Army Black Knights.
The University had unveiled the uniforms earlier this year, but we’ll take a look at them again now:
The video is a spoof of “The Wolf of Wall Street.”
The 2024 Shamrock Series game will take place at Yankee Stadium this season, with a 7:00 pm (ET) scheduled kickoff. The game will be broadcast on NBC.
Now a closer look at the uniforms.
The team has included some handy-dandy storytelling:
As you can see, the team will wear their regular golden dome helmets with the new “blue-gray sky” uniforms.
Both the jersey and pants are blue. The jerseys have beveled gold accents for the numbers and the iconic “ND” logo, which is on the sleeve caps. The UA logo sits at the base of the collar and is also rendered in gold.
The blue pants, which are stripeless, have a UA logo on the right leg, with another beveled “ND” logo on the left pant leg.
The numbers are huge, and in a bespoke “Gothic” font.
Rear numbers (and of course, ND almost always goes NNOB) are in the same style as those found on the front of the jersey.
And here’s a bit of storytelling about those gothic numbers…
The Irish have been wearing special “Shamrock Series” (SS) uniforms for more than a decade, with the first game coming in 2009 against Washington State in the Alamodome. They played a designated SS game every year thereafter until 2017. The SS resumed in 2018, but skipped 2019 and 2020 (they had a scheduled game in 2020, but it was canceled due to COVID). In 2021 they once again resumed the SS, and played another game in 2022. 2023 once again did not have an SS game. Even though the SS began in 2009, the team basically wore their regular uniforms that game.
Here’s a look back at the uniforms worn for each of those SS games:
2010
ND vs. Army (Yankee Stadium in Bronx, NY)
2011
ND vs. Maryland (FedEx Field in Landover, MD)
2012
ND vs. Miami (Soldier Field)
2013
ND vs. Arizona State (AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX)
2014
ND vs. Purdue (Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, IN)
2015
ND vs. Boston College (Fenway Park in Boston, MA)
2016
ND vs. Army (Alamodome in San Antonio, TX)
2018
ND vs. Syracuse (Yankee Stadium in Bronx, NY)
2021
ND vs. Wisconsin (Soldier Field in Chicago, IL)
2022
ND vs. BYU (Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, NV)
As I previously noted, ND has a very classic uniform and they tend to use their SS games to go a bit wild for a game. The solid blue uniform is designed to highlight the beveled gold numbers and sleeve logos, but otherwise this is a very plain uniform. I get why they won’t pair the special blue jersey with their regular gold pants, but to me, if ND is wearing blue jerseys, they must wear gold pants. I guess I should be grateful they didn’t make the pants a shiny gold like the helmets and numbers/logos.
I’ll need to see these on the field to render a full opinion, but from what I’ve seen, I’m not a big fan. The reflective nature of the numbers tends to make them very difficult to read, so I hope that’s not the case this time around. Again, we won’t know how well these work on the field until we see them in action. I also wonder if the reflective elements will be more or less difficult to read for a night game (as opposed to wearing them for say, a 1:00 pm start).
Your thoughts? And of all the other SS uniforms the team has worn, which is your favorite/which did you like the least?
As a USC alum, I use ND as my cautionary “slippery slope” example for why I don’t want the Trojans to start wearing alternate uniforms, even though last Saturday’s retro uniform was good. Notre Dame might be the first team to wear alternate uniforms when they would break out green jerseys, usually against USC. However, now most of these are terrible.
2023 did have a Shamrock Series game. It was the opener vs Navy in Dublin. ND and Navy both wore jerseys very similar to their typical looks (ND in blue, Navy in white), with some gold Celtic scrollwork added. I thought the pattern made ND’s jersey really pop, and I wouldn’t mind seeing it reappear, perhaps on the green jersey and/or white pants.
While the two teams did wear (slightly) modified uniforms for that 2023 season opener, it wasn’t considered a “Shamrock Series” game. (link — scroll down to “Shamrock Series”).
I did enjoy the look for both teams
link
Why do they even waste money and resources on this shit?
One of the ugliest uniforms I have even seen
The reflective nature of the numbers tends to make them very difficult to read, so I hope that’s not the case this time around.
It will be. No need to wait until you see them on the field.
Is Mike Tirico calling the game?
Is Mike Tirico calling the game?
LOL.
Do I smell the clubhouse leader for the And One?
It’s penciled in.
My guess is Noah Eagle, as it’s NBC’s prime time game.
Per 506Sports.com, Noah Eagle and Todd Blackledge are the announcing team. I hope they have great spotters who can read those horrid numbers!
I like that shade of blue.
Is it Positivity Week?
Did I miss the memo?
; )
Wow. Those are brutal. On the short list for all-time worst uniforms no matter the sport. Good thing I dislike ND. If I was an alum or fan, I’d be weeping.
The shade of blue is nice, I kinda like the uniform overall… but it doesn’t look like ND.
More stupid mono nonsense. I despise ND football (don’t ask), but their regular unis and/or the swap of green jerseys vs blue are an iconic look. Just wear the damn things. These suck.
Those numbers will be nearly impossible to read. They’re hard to read just in the photos.
Absolutely hideous
couldn’t agree more. these are absolutely garbage. The only cool part is that beveled ND logo on the sleeve, but that number font is impossible to read and the plain blue pants make these look like a leotard.
The retail version of this jersey is so terrible. Under Armour isn’t great with Fan Apparel.
ND is the anti-Army for me this year. Usually I’m not a fan of Army’s big special uni, whereas this year I really like it. And I usually love ND’s big special uni, whereas this year I very much don’t like it. Best I can say is that the helmet is OK.
I hate Notre Dame. But I think they have some of the best primary home uniforms in college football. That being said, 2021 vs Wisconsin is such a solid look. Dang.
That year’s Shamrock Series game was originally scheduled for Green Bay, which is why those uniforms evoke the Packers.
What an absolute joke. Awful.
As a collection, these are some of the worst uniforms ever devised, 2021 withstanding. And 2012, 2016, and 2018, along with 2024 being absolute trash.
And this is coming from a ND fan…
Oooh…shiny things! Hard pass from me. I do like that shade of blue though. I just wish the pants, I mean shorts, had striping.
Barf
Love the helmet, but the rest… it’s not my cup of tea.
These are very silly and will look stupid in action but ok
The 2021 and 2022 are both pretty nice—I especially love the “striping”/“accents” of the 2022 one.
Just because Grantland Rice described the sky as Blue-Grey doesn’t mean it makes for a good looking or necessary jersey color. At least add some regular Notre Dame colored striping in some combination of gold/white/green/blue to attempt to make it less dull and depressing.
And, from watching sports car and Indycar racing, I’ve quickly learned that chrome paint jobs or elements only look good under overcast daylight conditions where the sky can act as a “scrim” for the shiny surfaces to reflect evenly so they appear evenly bright. On a cloudless day, chrome elements see the clear blue sky and look too dark and it obscures any details, such as race car graphics or beveled elements of ND’s numbers. It’s going to be even worse at night for the football game since they will often ‘see’ the black night sky under most situations.
The less shiny satin gold helmets for Army show how inferior the more reflective ND gold helmets are in comparison.
That’s why these things look fine on a designer’s computer screen or under the controlled conditions in the hands of a skilled photographer in the studio, but suffer a lot in real world outdoor stadium settings. Combine that with the boring blue-grey base uniform and you’ve got a really unattractive look that fails at its most basic level – allowing you to be able to identify the individual players.
Stupid!!, stop messing with the best uniform in sports. Don’t touch the Yankees stripes either