The Penn State Nittany Lions, one of the most conservative teams when it comes to alternate uniforms, will break out their “Generations of Greatness” (GoG) uniform tomorrow for their playoff game against the Southern Methodist University Mustangs.
The GoG isn’t a specific throwback uniform to any one era, instead combining different uniform elements from several different, ahem, generations of uniforms.
For the non-uni observant (which is probably no one reading this), the uniform won’t even look different than what the Nits normally wear. The biggest difference between this and their current set is the navy TV numbers on the helmet. But there are actually several differences.
Aside from the helmet numbers, the team swaps the current blue cage for a gray facemask. There are a few more subtle differences as well, such as the white stripe at the sleeve hems, a different design at the base of the neck on the collar, slightly different number fonts, and white shoes. One other big difference between the GoG and the normal home uniform are the stripes on the pants. To see the “storytelling” with this uniform, here’s a handy-dandy explainer:
Interestingly, PSU showed off the uni they’re wearing tomorrow with the tweet shown below. Aside from noticing the white stripes on the hems, it would be impossible to tell these are the GoG uniforms. The number font is basically covered up, and the helmet numbers and pants stripes aren’t viewable from a straight-on perspective.
For The Glory. #WeAre x #CFBPlayoff pic.twitter.com/iSQLWSwLvo
— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) December 20, 2024
While this game will still be quite good looking, SMU will be going mono-white for the game. I’m fine with the look, but it will mean that five of the six uni-elements (helmet/jersey/pants) for both teams will be white.
Just takin’ the show on the road again ✌️ #PonyUp pic.twitter.com/bZpg0FBXF8
— SMU Football (@SMUFB) December 20, 2024
The Penn State/SMU game kicks off tomorrow at 12:00 noon (ET), and will be shown on the TNT network.
Love all the “GaG” storytelling nonsense. For me though, Penn State should never have stripes on their pants, legacy or not. The blank whites are one of their most distinctive features (like ND’s plain gold pants, for example). Re the helmets, I like the grey facemask and numbers on the helmets. That said, black shoes would be more “old timey” to me, even though they wear them now I believe. And, yes to the block numbers. I think that’s the style all football teams at every level should wear.
Meh…
Man, what a mess. The one team that shouldn’t have stripes on its pants now adds them.
On the collar of where their logo is on the primary uni it looks like they just put a patch over it to cover the logo. It looks kinda odd and off to me. Also, not a fan of the grey face mask and white shoes.
Beautiful classic uniforms…why are we screwing around with them? If you “need” to change something, just do the white stripe on the sleeves and the block numbers. No need to change the facemasks, shoes, or pants.
Preach
I just wish SMU would have worn the red cage with the whites. I think it’s their sharpest look — red pony, red cage.
Could be the worst uniform game in college football history. Yuck.
Think Penn State needs to go BFBS!
Make these permanent, swap numbers on helmet for nittany lions logo. Time to end one of the most boring uniforms ever that some market as “classics”. Hire tons of psychologists to assist the people who can’t handle logos on helmets or a stripe on pants.
Interesting that others here don’t like these. Big fan of everything except the hem stripe and the white shoes.
I love these and wish they had a road version as well.
I’d prefer the black shoes for them, but I’d be okay with white shoes if they stayed with this look permanently.
I like the solid blue stripe on the pants. Ties in to the helmet stripe. I could live with this if they did it full time.
Agree with the pants stripe matching the helmet stripe as a keeper but take off the helmet numbers and leave that to Bama. And always black shoes, please.