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Is Ohio State Going With All-Scarlet Uniforms for Playoff Game?

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It could really be just a harmless tweet, but fans and followers are always trying to decipher any possible leaks, teases and uni information from the social media accounts of their favorite teams.

So, once The Ohio State University Buckeye TwitterX account posted the following yesterday…

…it immediately led many to believe the school is planning to wear their all-scarlet uniform against first round opponent Tennessee, a week from this Saturday. (The full schedule for the NCAA College Football Playoff, now featuring twelve teams, is here.)

Higher seeded teams are given home games in the first round of the playoffs, so as the No 8 seed, OSU is hosting Tennessee. And since the game is in the Horseshoe, perhaps the tweet, featuring twelve red emojis, will just be clarion call to “Scarlet the Shoe” (where the school asks all fans to wear scarlet).

But other fans have interpreted this to mean the team will wear their all-scarlet uniforms for the game (which would also likely include a “Scarlet the Shoe” theme as well).

You remember the all-scarlet uniforms right?

Here’s how they look on the field.

Those mono-scarlet uniforms made their debut on October 30, 2021. They have not been worn this season — but the Buckeyes have gone with their mono-gray this season. The team further wears an all-black uniform as an alternate, but those were last worn in 2023.

The excellent OSU “11 Warriors” posted the story on Twitter fueling further speculation as to all-red uniforms. In response to that story being tweeted from the 11 Warriors account, Josh Poloha, the Associate producer at 11 Warriors, quote-tweeted the story with this additional nugget:

Of course, that doesn’t mean Ohio State will be wearing the all scarlet, but I’d say it pretty strongly suggests it will be so. But there’s also the bit about wearing the “gray sleeve stripes” — which is actually a throwback to the 1968 jersey the team has worn for previous playoff games and bowls.

They have a white version as well.

That jersey would be paired with the red pants and socks, if the above proves correct. Interesting.

There are almost no mono-unis I like if the helmet is a lighter color than the shirt/pants/socks. But I actually liked the OSU all scarlet. It looked good to me because the stripes on the helmets, jerseys and pants are identical, and a good number of players wore low socks.

But if the “playoff gray” (1968 throwback) is paired with the red pants, then the stripe symmetry will be lost. The only difference between the throwback and current jersey is the stripe pattern on the sleeve caps, and the 1968’s have black TV numbers.

If the Buckeyes do indeed break out the scarlet pants (especially if it’s with the throwback), that will be a very interesting sartorial choice.

Thoughts?

 
  
 
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Comments (41)

    genuine question for people’s thoughts. are color names (“process blue”, “athletic gold”, etc.) sort of adjacent to the silly corp storytelling the majority seem to dislike on this site? i don’t know why but i kinda wish we just said “blue”, “yellow” when referring to colors.

    Those are specific shades of yellow and blue. Process blue tells the person more than just blue. Blue can be a million different things. Process blue is much more specific.

    But nobody knows what “process” means, it is not descriptive. Dark or light blue would tell you something about the color blue. I think navy and crimson are the only non adjective color descriptive terms that people would really know what it means with the shade of the color.
    If you are describing the Panthers’ shade of blue you could call it light blue, or even “Carolina” and understand the color much better than calling it process blue.

    Yes and no – some of that is just due to history.

    The panthers blue is absolutely not the same as Carolina blue. Whether or not “process” conveys the right thing, those are distinctly different colors, which is how Carolina blue took off in the first place. Sometimes it’s just a matter of timing, one could have said the same when Carolina blue first took off as a term, but given years of history it feels more natural now.

    There’s always a line to determine though. Is “Carolina blue” just blue? Ohio state has had its colors as explicitly “scarlet and gray” since they were chosen in 1878.

    Given this is a uni blog, I think we can move beyond primary colors and recognize that “scarlet” is actually a distinct specific color, and is different from just making up a new fancy marketing name for a color (like other examples in this comment section where some unnecessary action word is added just to make the color seem more school/design specific).

    Scarlet is more yellow and brighter than a generic red, but given red is a catchall for a spectrum.

    Scarlet is an actual dictionary word for that shade of red, and it distinguishes it from the “crimson” worn by Bama and OU. “Athletic gold” is an important distinction from both “old gold” (e.g., Notre Dame) and yellow (e.g., Oregon, LA Rams).

    In the next tier you have school- or team-specific terms for colors that, IMO, fall short of corporate douchebaggery, like Michigan calling their shade of yellow “maize.” Maybe it’s a bit much, but they’ve called it that forever and it’s part of the school’s identity.

    Then you have Nike calling things “glacier white” or “speed green” or whatever. These are indefensible and should never be uttered by anyone.

    In full agreement with Paul. Distinct shades are important to name, corporate-speak is indefensible. I throw up in my mouth every time I hear Icy White.

    Since this site always and without exception, likes to hang a (usually) unnecessary nickname with everything relating to said site, I’ll indulge in this notion and call “The” Ohio State’s all red uniforms what they look like:

    Strawberries

    That being said, I am glad that this site, that I have been reading since 2005 or so, has made a significant switch from the political leanings, snarky comments and condescending attitude. Just reporting. That’s all I need.

    Sorry if I’m misunderstanding, but is “full blood clot below the neck” condescending, political or snarky to other readers? Whether or not you think that is unnecessary is a matter of opinion. I find it quite necessary.

    It is called a change in topic.
    Reading comprehension is very important in understanding when prose shifts from one topic to another as it did in my post.
    I’m sorry if the message conveyed that it was an all single topic post, but it was not. I will make two posts next time.

    I will do better…

    A lot of it is on the teams and players (and fans tbh – like the ones that bought grey and black knockoff alts for years).

    For instance, OSU players decided to wear their “cannonball helmets” randomly that one year against Michigan, had nothing to do with Nike other than the fact Nike made those alts for a different game (which the university was down with).

    Given this isn’t a “new” alt design, I’d venture it was a decision stemming from the school and players to wear something “special.” Especially in this case – Nike doesn’t make any money from them only wearing an alt pair of pants (the jerseys with grey sleeves are a playoff staple at this point and somewhat expected).

    Wish they never got rid of silver on their primary red jersey. Ties in good with the helmet and pants. Would also mean there’d be silver on the Scarlett pants so they could pair them with the white jersey.

    Agreed. I was very disappointed back in 2006 when they switched back to the Earl Bruce stripes. The Woody stripes look so much better. And all their national championships since 1954 have been in those jerseys.

    Everyone flipped out in 2006 when they changed the sleeve stripes. They also flipped out when the black stripes on the pants were changed to better match the jersey stripes.

    Goodnight! Yes I remember that. Thinned them out. I remember disliking that change. It’s grown on me now. But when I see old pictures of the thicker pant stripes I miss it once in awhile.

    Can anyone who is a fan of these mono looks explain why you prefer them over contrast between the jersey and pants? I just cannot imagine what it is about this style that makes people like it. Especially when the helmet is a different color, making it look completely out of place from the rest of the mono uniform.

    I think you can be a “fan” of some matching tops/pants and not others, while also not having to “prefer” one or the other writ large.

    Generally I agree that a contrast helmet alone looks imbalanced, but it depends on execution. I think teams that match the helmet with cleats/socks often find a different means to “visual balance” and some of those looks have been great (Oregon has nailed this at times, and there are a lot of teams that historically wore whit

    Accidental cutoff – historically wore white on white with a contrast helmet and usually black cleats but now color, and looked great doing so (Cleveland Browns, bama, etc).

    I personally prefer contrast tops and bottoms, but many of those looks also turn out bad – there are a lot of variables at play.

    In this case I think OSU should be in their traditional britches which work so well off the scarlet tops and helmets, but I think if everyone were to be in gray/silver cleats and potentially socks it can work pretty nicely and still pops.

    The ones that truly throw me off are when the helmet is white and everything else is in a color, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that work well IMO.

    Not a fan. Don’t like a silver/grey helmet and no silver/grey on the uniform. And if they wear the jersey with grey sleeve stripes, I would hope they’d break out new scarlet pants that match these. Another example of the sloppy slope. Ohio State has one of the best uniforms, and this won’t be as good.

    A lot to unpack. First and foremost: Why cant Ohio State just look like Ohio State?

    For starters Nike has refused across the board in pro or college to match silver pants with silver helmets. So the Buckeyes suffer the same fate as the Raiders where they never look quite right. And that’s a shame because like the Raiders, the Buckeyes have one of the most iconic looks in all of college football.

    Secondly, the scarlet pants are fine as a one off once in awhile (and by that I mean maybe once a season) as long as they are paired with their standard home jersey. As stated in the post, the scarlet pants stripes match the helmet stripe and primary jersey stripe.

    The primary jerseys are already a bit of a source of contention within the fanbase. The “playoff jerseys” or “Woody stripe” jerseys are much more popular as they were designed by Woody Hayes in the 1950s and some form of them were worn (tv number color went from white to black in 1968) up until Earl Bruce took over in 1979. He implemented a very similar stripe pattern as the current primary jerseys. Those were worn from 1979-1987 when John Cooper took over and reinstated the “Woody Stripes” in 1988. Those were worn throughout the 90s and stayed throughout the 2005 season (including the 2002 national championship). Jim Tressel reverted back to the “Earl Stripes” for 2006 and that has been Ohio State’s primary home jersey since. With the exception of some throwbacks, black jersey, and variations of gray jerseys, the “Woody Stripes” or “1968 Throwback” has been reserved for big games in the Urban Meyer era (including the 2014 national championship) and exclusively for the CFP in the Ryan Day era. So it would be 100% appropriate for Ohio State to wear those jerseys. But not with the scarlet pants with “Earl Stripes.”

    This is the first ever playoff game at Ohio Stadium and the first ever December Buckeye football game at Ohio Stadium. That is not the time to trot out in some flavor of the month uniform. This should be a sacred moment to channel in the tradition of Ohio State (one of the most traditional schools in the sport) and wear the traditional “Woody Stripes” Jersey with standard helmet and pants.

    Also worth noting. The Buckeyes claim national championships from 1942, 1954, 1957, 1961, 1968, 1970, 2002 and 2014. They wore the “Woody Stripe” jerseys in each of those with the exception of the Paul Brown led squads in 1942.

    Wear the 1968 Throwbacks.

    I totally agree for this matchup in particular

    Which is exactly why we’re going to get surprised with a scarlet helmet for no reason haha

    Nothing would surprise me at this point. I didn’t mind the scarlet helmets on the 1942 Throwbacks they wore against Michigan in 2010. But if they wear something like that with a jersey from 1968 and pants from 2024 I will lose my mind. Aesthetically and as alum/fan.

    Color matching is a separate deep dive worthy topic though. From the good interview series this summer (and other sources) we know Nike doesn’t have full control over helmets, and the process itself is pretty complex. Multiple materials – not just the helmet and base pant fabric but trims and printed details too, different lighting conditions with those materials, and then some of the performance aspects for pants and tops themselves.

    From my professional experience, greys and silvers are the biggest nightmare of all. So much can go wrong in how they cast, and getting consistency across fabrics and trims is quite difficult (even at Nike’s scale). Part of this is that “shine” and metallic finishes in synthetics often impacts performance and feel. There have always been some level of issues there even for the teams you called out, and it comes down to tradeoffs.

    Nike absolutely could make shiny metallic britches, but I’d venture it may require a different fabric and not wear as well as a solid color.

    This is a great point I’d love love to have more insight on all of it. Because it seems like technology has gone backwards in a sense. They used to be able to match silvers, metallics. Even the original early 2000s Seahawks overall with the steel blue pants was achieved fairly well.

    It’s odd they could do it in the 1970s on but in the last ten years or so, not so much. I don’t know if I’m just ignorant to the advancement in fabric and capabilities of dye or materials or if manufacturers don’t care that much.

    I agree, I’d love to hear more about the color matching process. I imagine it isn’t easy at all, but I’d hope they could get it right. Silver along with gold never seem to match close enough for me. Gold is the biggest culprit imo.

    I don’t know if they will do this but this game would be a great candidate for color vs. color. Tennessee’s orange and white would contrast fine with OSU’s uniforms.

    I don’t think orange would go good against Scarlett imo. I’m in favor for color vs color as much as humanly possible. I just don’t think it’d work here, but I’d be open to seeing it.

    I like it. And I’m not a big Ohio State fan. I don’t know if it has anything to do with Christmas, but it’s a good choice for a game being played December 21.

    Just got beat by Michigan, so put on that cute little red outfit and show the world you’re DOING JUST FINE. No, you’re not mad about Michigan. Michigan’s mad about YOU!

    Not a fan of this look, using grey socks would improve it a little. But hey, it is OSU and I never take the Buckeyes as seriously as they take themselves. Do what you like. Love their mascot, though.

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