Tag: Alternate Uniforms

Ohio State Football: Ranking our top five favorite alternate uniforms

Nothing is more polarizing in college football than alternate uniforms. We rank the top five Ohio State alternates used.

This Saturday when the Ohio State Buckeyes take the field to play Michigan State, they won’t be wearing their traditional unis. Instead, they’ll be wearing a clean, all white look. From what we can tell the only change from their normal look as the road team, will be white pants instead of gray.

In the new world of college football, alternate uniforms are a sign of the times. There are hard-core traditionalists who will never accept anything but the original. At the other extreme, are those who would like a new combination each week, ala the Oregon Ducks. Ohio State and Nike seem to have met nicely in the middle offering one to two alternates per year.

Like it or not, alternate uniforms are here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future. And for those who argue that Alabama and Penn State would never wear alternates… that’s okay. Do we really want Ohio State to be either of those teams? I don’t think so.

With that said, let’s countdown our all-time Buckeye favorites in the alternate uniform universe.

Ohio State to wear all white alternate uniforms Saturday against Illinois

Ohio State will look just a little different when they take on Illinois in Champaign this Saturday. The team is breaking out all-whites.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen Ohio State in a non-traditional, alternate uniform. Actually, it’s been just over a year ago when Ohio State hosted Michigan State and wore the all-black alternate unis while facing the Spartans.

 Credit: Joe Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports

Of course, I’m not counting the beauties that Ohio State wore in the Fiesta Bowl against Clemson because those are more of a throwback than an alternate. And they are oh so nice!

Ohio State QB Justin Fields and coach Ryan Day now clicking in mindset
Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

For those of you hoping that a shortened season would mean no time to change the duds… sorry about your luck.

Eleven Warriors reported earlier today that Ohio State plans to wear an all-white version of their current uniform, similar to the all-white alternates from the Braxton Miller era. Apparently, this all-white version will not be chromed out and have the normal sized stripes on the helmet and sleeves.

Love it or hate it, alternate uniforms are part of the college football landscape and it’s probably not changing anytime soon. And regardless of the fans’ perspective, the players love the change of pace. So, if it keeps the recruits coming, we can sacrifice tradition for a week.

Take a look at our top all-time favorite alternate uniforms in Ohio State history and see how they compare to Saturday’s look.

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Boston College uniforms for Notre Dame game an honor to American hero

When Boston College welcomes Notre Dame to town on Saturday, the Eagles will be wearing very special uniforms in honor of an American hero.

I’ll start by saying I’m kind of boring and old school in the sense that alternate uniforms don’t usually do very much for me.

Notre Dame wearing green on Saturday when they upset No. 1 Clemson would have made the game no more special to me than it was with them wearing blue and gold.

Maybe it’s the years of disappointment when the green was worn in huge games that made me this way, but whatever the case, I’m generally not much for them.

I will say Boston College’s alternate uniforms this weekend are about as good as it gets, however.

And it’s not simply based off their look, but the story behind them.

Saturday will be a “Red Bandanna Game” for Boston College, in honor of alumni Welles Crowther.

If you’ve never heard the story of the “Man in the Red Bandanna” during the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, then it’s worth a few minutes of your time to learn more.

In short, the 24 year old former Boston College lacrosse player was working in the WTC when the attacks took place.  A volunteer firefighter when he was just 16 years old, Crowther sprung to action immediately by helping guide many to stairways and exits, saving their lives before the tower fell.

Because of the smoke he put a red bandanna over his mouth and nose to protect from the smoke.  It happened that he always kept the red bandanna with him and survivors who he helped simply referred to him as the “Man in the Red Bandanna”.

At just 24 years old his spent the final minutes of his life helping save as many others as possible instead of running for the exit and saving himself.

If you’re interested, I try and watch the following piece on Crowther each September 11 just for some life perspective.

If there were more people in the world like Welles Crowther today, it’d undoubtedly be a much better place to live.

The Athletic in Love/Hate Relationship with Notre Dame Alternate Uniform

The Athletic listed several alternate college football uniforms that they both love and hate. Notre Dame had one get both love and hate.

The Athletic has been on a uniform kick lately.  In the NHL they’ve been discussing the best sweaters in the history of each franchise and tackled recent alternate college football uniforms today.

Notre Dame has been wearing an alternate look at least once a season each of the last ten years and a couple times wearing a second alternate look twice in the same year.

Notre Dame didn’t get any love from The Athletic today for any of their alternate uniforms.  At least not none that was categorized under “favorites” on the list.  Notre Dame did get listed under “hated” for one of their alternates, however and I assume you already know which recent alternate it went to.

Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

Pete Sampson and Nicole Auerbach said the following about the uniforms from the 2018 Shamrock Series game against Syracuse at Yankee Stadium:

Against:  These were less alternate jerseys than Halloween costumes, a Notre Dame football player trick-or-treating around the Bronx dressed up like a New York Yankee.  Most of Notre Dame’s alternates for the Shamrock Series have been edgy with some homage: military green for the game against Army, or touches of the Golden Dome on fabric for the Purdue game.  Even the Knute Rockne jerseys (faux old-school leather cleats!) from 2017 leaned into something Notre Dame.  Dressing up like a baseball player did none of that.  And replacing Notre Dame’s iconic gold with a dingy batting helmet?  Just thinking about it makes me clutch my pearls. – Pete Sampson

For:  Yes, I am aware that most of you hated these.  But that doesn’t mean you are right.  These jerseys paid homage to the most successful professional sports franchise in the United States on said franchise’s own turf.  They mixed elements of traditional baseball and football designs beautifully, from the pinstripes on the pants that looked classic and clean to the matte helmet that looked like a batting helmet.  I believe the backlash to these uniforms was not about the uniforms themselves but rather the success of the Yankees.  Just because you personally didn’t have the honor of growing up a Yankees fan doesn’t mean you have to disrespect the pinstripes.  They’re iconic, much like Notre Dame’s gold helmets.  You’re all just haters. – Nicole Auerbach

And people wonder why the Yankees get so much hate even if they’re not in the business of winning the World Series anymore.

I looked over all of the semi-recent Notre Dame alternates back in the fall ahead of the Irish wearing the ’88 tribute throwbacks against Boston College.  I agree with Sampson in that it wasn’t overall a good uniform but I did think they looked a ton better when the game actually came around than when they were unveiled during the previous summer.

Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports

That said there is no excuse for the Rockne tribute uniforms to not get some praise in the “love” category.  Those are as perfect of alternate uniform that Notre Dame has ever worn and whenever they wear them again won’t be soon enough in my eyes.

Michigan State basketball to wear 2000-style throwback uniforms against Maryland

Finally something to celebrate!

Things haven’t been going well for Michigan State basketball of late. Maybe a uniform can change that?

MSU has announced, through a neat Twitter video, that the team will be throwing it back to the Flintstones era with new alternate uniforms modeled after the threads the 2000 national championship team made so famous. Check it out.

The jersey reveal couldn’t have come at a better time with Michigan State’s two biggest athletic programs in bad places. The basketball team has lost three straight and is struggling to get its confidence going and the football team has been a disaster for a few years now.

Maybe all we need to restore everything is a little throwback magic courtesy of some new uniforms.

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Rank ‘Em: Recent Notre Dame Alternate Uniforms

I liked the theme of this uniform even if the final look was far from amazing.  I found it hard to read the lettering and even though the helmet was a solid effort, you couldn’t tell it was anything unique other than a different color gold unless the camera was zoomed in.

No. 15 Notre Dame takes on Boston College this Saturday and will be honoring the 1988 national championship squad by wearing throwbacks as a nod to the last title-winning team.  We at FIW would be more excited about a different throwback being made starting Saturday, but we won’t be holding our collective breathes.

If you missed it when they were announced back in August or just simply haven’t seen them for whatever reason yet.

They’re Notre Dame’s nod to 150 years of college football and are done pretty well.  I wish they’d do the actual old-school jersey and not just impersonate the mesh but understand why that wouldn’t so much fly these days.  They’re close enough to the first football jersey I ever owned (shoutout to Ron Powlus and Champion brand) so bring some nostalgia for even me who was far too young in 1988 to remember anything about that championship.

Do you remember all of the alternate uniforms the Irish have worn in the semi-recent history?  If not we’ve put them all together for a refresher and give a letter grade on each of them.

2005, 2006, 2010 Green Jersey

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