Bring Back Old Uniforms

[EasternMarketPony]

So what does it take to bring back the old uniforms? Mostly just looking for the red pony on the white helmet. Foxsports.com even got into it. Do we need to start a Web site?

http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/story/3518244

Let's whine about college uniforms
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Eric Moneypenny / FOXSports.com
Posted: 4 days ago



It was recently announced that BYU would go back to the same football uniforms that it had through the 70s, 80s, and 90s.

New head coach Bronco Mendenhall wanted to embrace the school's rich football tradition, and to do that, the Cougars needed to start looking like the teams that Jim McMahon, Steve Young, and Ty Detmer played on, instead of the ones that Gary Crowton coached.
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This is a smart move by Mendenhall, one that I've been calling for ever since I saw BYU quarterback Kevin Feterik roll out to his left in 1999 against Washington for the first time, wearing a futuristic-looking dark blue and gold uniform, and looking like he'd been allocated to NFL Europe or the CFL's Winnipeg Blue Bombers (who currently have gold helmets, but that's for my article "Let's whine about CFL uniforms!").

However, BYU isn't the only program that needed to change its suits. And in recent years, Iowa has had success after going straight back to the Chuck Long-looking digs instead of the whatever in the heck kind of strange-looking stripy deals they had in the latter Hayden Fry days. Oklahoma State updated their logo, but kept the uniforms pretty classic. Texas A&M even brought back their white facemasks, simply proving that this sort of thing ain't hard.

And it isn't. So, here are some other teams that should embrace their history and change their uniforms ...


SMU
Southern Methodist football teams should never NOT look like the Dickerjames/Pony Express/pre-Death Penalty teams of the early-to-mid 1980s. And when they get changed back, please send me a Jerry Ball No. 34 SMU-retro jersey. Also, I want it extra small, so the 3 and the 4 stretch WAY out like they did when Ball wore it. I realize that the current SMU uniforms are kind of a throwback to another era or something, but I like them a lot better on Ole Miss. Plus, if I were a high school star prep tailback, and were even considering SMU ... I'd want to win the Doak Walker, not dress like him. I'd wanna dress like Dickerson.

Virginia
I know, the Virginia uniforms are pretty rad. But when I was watching the 1990 Virginia-Georgia Tech shootout fairly recently on the Classic version of the Entertainment Sports and Programming Network (one of the best ACC games ever), it reminded me how awesome the old Virginia plainly striped white helmet/orange jersey/white pants home unis looked. Now, it's a good thing they got rid of that nearly faded, almost blue artificial turf at Scott Stadium, because it looked like it hurt. But it wouldn't hurt Al Groh to go back to the uniforms that Virginia proudly wore to a No. 1 national ranking for three weeks during the 1990 season. If those 80s and early 90s threads were good enough for Don Majikowski, Scott Secules, Herman Moore, Shawn Moore, Terry Kirby, and Chris Slade, they're good enough for the current Hoos.

Maryland
Keep whatever you're doing with Under Armour, just know that The Fridge's commercials are a little strange. One uniform suggestion: Take that same cursive "Terps" logo and put it back on a red helmet. I know the helmets were white when Randy White and other Terrapins rocked the ACC in the 1970s. But those teams didn't have Boomer Esiason, Frank Reich, or Neil O'Donnell. That's the Maryland football I think of. Well, not counting the Maryland football with black helmets and uniforms that sucked for the better part of the 1990s.

South Carolina
I hope that Steve Spurrier wanted to spit at those all-black uniforms from last season as much I did. Two choices if the Gamecocks go retro: The Todd Ellis/Sterling Sharpe mid-to-late 1980s uniforms, with maroon helmets and like eight different jersey/pants combos (but only with that weird, gaudy helmet stripe, not the boring, single black stripe down the middle, like in the 1990s). Or, you can't go wrong with going back to the ones Holtz had for his first few seasons recently, similar to the uni that George Rogers won the 1980 Heisman in (which is what internet rumors are indicating).

Pittsburgh
I know, the school's colors are officially Gold and Dark Blue now, instead of Dijon Mustard and Royal Blue. And "Pitt" is frowned upon. Keep the colors. But embrace the "Pitt." Wannstedt is selling the program's proud history of Marino, Hugh Green, Dorsett, and National Championships to recruits and the fan base all that he wants, and he'll probably do well in doing so. But the current uniforms aren't Tony Dorsett, they're Larry Fitzgerald. Really good, but not great.

Wyoming
Bring back the helmet stripe, please. With the exception of Texas and Oklahoma State, white helmets with no striping are generally terrible-looking (see: Utah State and Ball State). And who in the name of Jay Novacek said it was all right to replace Wyoming's admittedly putrid yellow color with boring ol' gold? There was nothing wrong with being one of the only brown and yellow teams in all of sports. I like watching a Mountain West game late on Saturday night and thinking about making eggs and sausage on Sunday morning. I am a simple man, albeit one with a strange vendetta towards eight current college football uniform designs.

San Diego State's recent uniform revolution appears here to stay.
(Harry How / Getty Images)


San Diego State
At first I thought it was a favor or a dare, but since they're apparently here to stay, I'll say that those bowling ball-looking, red-fading-to-black San Diego State football helmets look really stupid. So stupid that I will spell it like this: "stoopid". If that's the future of the football helmet, it's gonna suck. It should be noted that I used to say the same thing about those crazy-looking Revolution helmets and facemasks, but I'm pretty used to them now. But still. San Diego State: 100% red helmets, all-black home uniforms. This isn't hard.

Louisiana-Lafayette
It isn't particularly the uniform that is the problem. However, this school needs to either convince the national media to just call them "Louisiana", or go back to being SW Louisiana, which I liked. Beat Louisiana-Monroe to the punch by taking the state for yourself, or make them go back to being NE Louisiana, because I don't like their name either. "USL" was a cool thing to put on a helmet.
However, the reasons for uniforms to change and evolve are so a program can put a new stamp on things, and build its own tradition. What would we identify Kansas State with nationally, had Bill Snyder not requested that the Kansas State Wildcat look like the bastard cousin of the Iowa Hawkeye? Therefore, this sort of thing will always be up for debate. If every team looked like they did in the 1970s or 1980s, we'd might as well bring back the Freedom Bowl and put it on Raycom. Though I do hold reverence for those days when I had no clue which local independent TV station would be showing a Dec. 28 bowl game that I wanted to watch.

[me@smu]

See I would think a link to the early 80's teams and the resultant death penalty wouldn't be in our best interest.

[PlanoStang]

See I would think a link to the early 80's teams and the resultant death penalty wouldn't be in our best interest.

Yeah, but the dark blue helmets with the non visible decals really suck
I hate trying to look like the ny giants, or the ole miss rednecks. I suggest that we go a few years past that to what Jerry LeVias wore out during his seasons.



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[Stallion]

being associated with Dickerson, James, et al is about 1,000 times better than being associated with an unparalleled legacy of losing.

[PlanoStang]

Not really..............while wearing some rose colored prior 70s glasses. Hmmmmm. maybe I still have them on....all, or most of the time depending on when the ncaa wears them. ncaa wears them about BCS hours a day.

[Rayburn]

I agree with Plano, with one addition:

red helmets, blue jerseys ...



... with shoulder hoops, ala the late 1950s:



make it look like this:

[RGV Pony]

Go to old shades of blue, color cominations, red helmet...and what do we have?

Jim Kelly's Buffalo Bills uni.

Not too bad.

[Dooby]

Let's go real old school.


Ditch the facemasks.

[Dutch]

why stop there? go with brown leather helmets.

[Bergermeister]

I think our current uniform is the BEST ever.... SMU does not have anything to hang its hat on when it comes to tradition in regard to uniforms. Every head coach has changed it in some way. Some did the wholesale change, others tweaked it. WORST EVER=Dave Smith (he should have never been allowed to do that). 2nd WORST=Forrest Gumpp (with the blue pony... UGH!). BEST=Phil Bennett; 2nd Place=Hayden Fry; 3rd=Ron Meyer/Bobby Collins; 4th=Matty Bell/Rusty Russell; 5th=Bill Meek

[abezontar]

I say we drop the pads also....only pansies need to wear pads.

[Peruna_Ate_My_Rolex]

while we're at it...forget the cups. real men don't mind the pain.

[Greenwich Pony]

Yeah, after the third or forth good kick, you don't really feel any worse...

[Dooby]

while we're at it...forget the cups. real men don't mind the pain.

There was an article in Sports Illustrated not too long ago that said that noboby in the NFL does wear cups. It is true.

By the way, a professor told me years ago that Pye tried to change the colors to light blue. Any truth to that?

[NavyCrimson]

OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!