The Evolution of the Alternate Uniform in College Football

Uniforms have always been among the first things you notice when you watch a sporting event on television or in person. I remember from a young age being drawn to uniforms in football, I remember from a young age being fascinated with the Michigan helmets. From the trademark golden domes of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, to the all white Penn State uniforms, for the most part college football uniforms have stayed pretty consistent throughout history.

Now in the world of what seems like weekly unveils of new uniform combinations, it is hard to remember a time when most teams just stuck to the old school home/away uniform combinations. Now, we still have a few teams like Alabama and USC that stick with the historic uniforms that Crimson Tide and Trojan fans have known for generations, but over the last few years, more and more teams have adopted, what many fans and analysts look at as the Oregon style of uniforms. Now, Oregon wasn't the first team to use an alternate uniform, among the earliest programs to adopt a third uniform was actually the Ole Miss Rebels, but the University of Oregon and Nike are the program who most people equate with the alternate uniform phenomenon.

Oregon starting with what has been referred to as the "Donald Ducks" in the 1995 Rose Bowl, the Ducks have always pushed the envelope in uniform combinations (some good, some not so much). After the 1995 season, the Ducks and Nike have had a partnership with Nike as their uniform designer. And since then the Ducks have a 144-59 record, with 8 Bowl victories and 5 Pac 12 championships. I feel you could make a correlation between the Nike partnership and the on the field performance. I feel the Ducks program had benefited tremendously with the Nike uniforms, many of which are very cool, if I must say.

Contrary to what many may feel, uniforms are among the most important thing to football players. Back when I played football I know the uniform was one of my favorite part of being a player. Many of these college prospects tend to be drawn to schools with slick uniforms and ever since the Oregon trend of alternate uniforms more and more schools have begun to partner up with sneaker companies like Adidas and Under Armor to develop new uniforms to I feel draw in potential recruits in with the different uniform combinations, which may seem flashy and gimmicky to some, but to these kids, it's hip and in a sense fuels the flash that national media outlets that ESPN have helped become a major aspect of the college football world. Along with Oregon, Ohio State, North Carolina and Maryland have started getting very creative with their uniform combinations, with varying levels of success.

Over the last 5 or 6 seasons, alternate uniforms have now become more than just an every once in a while, big game type of tradition to almost an every week occurrence. Odds are, if you watch a decent amount of college football you will see at least one team a week donning an alternate uniform. Naturally, with the amount of uniform flip flopping in college football, you will have a few "what the heck are they wearing?" instances. The Maryland checkered shoulder pad design, many of the early Nike Oregon designs, and the all blue Boise State uniforms are among the worst that I have ever seen. For every nifty alternate design (the Virginia Tech camo Veteran's Day, Washington and Arizona State's all black and Florida orange alternate jerseys are among some of my favorite alternate get ups) you have a few head (or in this case eye) scratchers. However, I do not think this will get stopped anytime soon. The alternate uniform phenomena has bled into other college sports. College basketball and baseball teams (as well as a few pro teams) have started using the alternate uniform combinations to draw in recruits, and much like the football uniforms, not all the basketball ones have been appealing. I remember Notre Dame this past college basketball season donned some all green uniforms that received unanimously negative reviews among fans and viewers on Twitter.

I am a big fan of alternate uniforms in college football. It adds to the flash and presentation of the game, but I also feel that to an extent a few teams could afford to tone it down a little and stick to their traditional uniforms, but as long as we don't get more of the Maryland checker pattern type designs it is a good thing in my eyes. Some people might feel the alternate get ups are gimmicky and unnecessary, and others feel it is part of the charm of college football, which tends to be the side of the fence I tend to lean towards.

-Josh Gamez

@itsjoshgamez

josh.projectcfb@gmail.com