The NFL is Their Own Worst Enemy
All BOLD everything. Join us for Bold Rush Thursday: https://t.co/ZxlQ01Rm3Ghttps://t.co/v8IjZz6jhS
— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) October 30, 2015
All BOLD everything. Join us for Bold Rush Thursday: https://t.co/ZxlQ01Rm3Ghttps://t.co/v8IjZz6jhS
— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) October 30, 2015
Halloween has the potential for some really spooky football games this season, with some great potential upsets on the schedule. Auburn comes in to the early morning game off a rough four overtime loss to Arkansas. Back home, the Tiger host an Ole Miss team that’s tough to read, as they defeated Texas A&M this past weekend, and fell to now top 15 Memphis.
Ole Miss has always been a team that has stuck with their classic uniforms for years. Last season, the Rebels broke out their long forgotten powder blue helmets against Memphis. They auctioned off those helmets, so it was unknown whether they would ever be worn again or not. Ole Miss announced not long before the season started that they would wear the throwback helmets once again this year against Vanderbilt. Surprising everyone, the Rebels actually broke out their new old-fashioned lids on the road against Alabama, in which they defeated the Tide 43-37.
Joshua McCoy / Ole Miss Athletics |
Ole Miss has worn their powder blue helmets three times this season, in wins against Alabama and Vanderbilt, and their upset loss to Memphis. Outside of their lovely alternate helmets, the Rebels have only repeated their uniform combo once this year (powder blue lids, white jerseys with red details, and grey pants). As much as I’d love to see a blue vs red matchup this Saturday, I know it won’t happen, which means Ole Miss still has a decision to make on their road jerseys. They have two different white tops, one with red details and another with blue. The last time they came to Auburn, the Rebels went with their blue detailed tops, so hopefully they’ll go with the red-trimmed white jerseys this weekend, for some contrast.
Joshua McCoy / Ole Miss Athletics |
In 2013, Ole Miss slightly changed their uniforms up, the biggest changes being the two different white jerseys, and two new pairs of pants. The Rebels have a choice of two helmets and two road jerseys for this weekend, so why not have another choice with the pants? Ole Miss has their traditional grey pants that they’ve worn for a long time, as well as a new blue pair and white pair of pants, both of which have “REBELS” written down the pants leg. The blue pants were worn two years ago, the last time the Rebels traveled to Auburn. The grey pants were worn last year in Oxford.
After two weeks on the road, Auburn is finally back home. The road trips saw Auburn break out the white uniforms for the first time against Kentucky. Both games saw the Tigers go white from head to toe with the new white accessories that were standardized across the board this season. The last home game, against San Jose State, saw Auburn mix the accessories, with white socks and cleats and blue sleeves and gloves. I’m curious to see if they’ll continue to mix the different elements again this weekend.
Past Game Review
What I enjoy about writing these types of reviews is that we don’t concentrate on the results of the game here. There’s many (too many) sites across the web that harp on how the game went and what could’ve, should’ve, and would’ve happened. Here, it’s just the aesthetics of the game. And that will save a lot of heartache for myself and I presume many of you that read this.
Wade Rackley / Auburn Athletics |
Regardless of the heart attacks we all suffered during the four overtimes last weekend, at least it was a pretty good looking game. This past weekend was a very red-heavy series of college football games, and the Auburn – Arkansas game was no difference. I’ve liked Arkansas’s look since they redesigned their uniforms last year. Arkansas has yet to wear their white helmets this season, surprisingly. I figured they might debut them this weekend, but they stuck with their red helmets.
Auburn again went with the all white looks. The overcast Arkansas day kept us from seeing the reflection on the metallic orange helmet stripes, which many are thankful for.
Wade Rackley / Auburn Athletics |
With Halloween coming up, be sure to check out my list of five uniforms worn on Halloween. A followup to this topic will be posted at Uni-Watch this weekend. Think you’ll enjoy it for sure.
Auburn comes off a bye and defeats Kentucky on the road on a Thursday night. This weekend, Auburn faces the Arkansas Razorbacks, a team coming off their own bye week.
Last year was the first season Arkansas wore their new “husks” uniforms. With Arkansas starting the season off by traveling to Jordan-Hare, this week’s game will mark the first time we see Auburn face off against their new red tops. Last year, Arkansas went white from head to toe. This season, they’ve only worn their red helmets and white pants. If the Razorbacks wanted to go full-on all-red, this would probably be the week for them to do so.
Ben Goff / NWA Democrat-Gazette |
Auburn will be on the road for the second straight game, meaning we get another look at the white jerseys. Thursday night against Kentucky saw the team go mono-white, including all white accessories. I would honestly like to see the blue base layer gear be worn this weekend, just to break up the monotony of all the white. Also, I’m curious to see how the morning sunlight reflects off the metallic helmet stripes, and see if it’s any different than how it shined under the lights in Kentucky
Previous Game Review
Like mentioned above, last week’s game was the first time this season that Auburn wore the white jerseys. Many people have asked if this game was the latest in the season that Auburn first wore the white jerseys. That record is still held by the 2013 team, in which it was the Texas A&M game, game seven on the schedule, that Auburn did not wear blue.
Todd Van Emst / OANow.com |
The white jerseys looked great on the new template, as mentioned many times before. The stitch pattern is a lot more prevalent on this template than previous renditions, unfortunately. Also, it looked like the shoulders were a build with a bit more slack, as the they looked a little more broad than the blue jerseys, and the stripes seemed to sit lower than their blue counterparts.
Many people voiced their displeasure about the metallic orange helmet stripe not matching the orange in the rest of the uniform. This topic was mentioned before after the Louisville game, but I haven’t heard much since then. I agree that the oranges did not match, but I’m not as picky in this manner as many other fans are. It comes with the territory in terms of the finish of the stripe, and I’m ok with that. I like how the helmet pops more with the stripe. Yea, it may be a bit extreme for Auburn, and the same effect with a brighter shade of orange might match better.
Julie Bennet / al.com |
Kentucky went with their blue pants and jerseys, as well as their silver chrome helmets. Here’s some random trivia you can use against your friends one day – Thursday night featured the first time Auburn has faced off against a team wearing a chrome helmet.
Auburn basketball broke out new alternate uniforms last season, in what turned out to be a testing period for Under Armour’s new template and tailoring styles. This year, to continue the three year uniform cycle the team has kept since signing with Under Armour in 2005, Auburn will wear a new set of uniforms, presumably retiring the Northwestern striped uniforms, as well as last year’s alternate tiger striped unis.
Auburn teased the new uniforms on October 1, the same day the university announced the new Under Armour contract. The October 16th release date coincides with the Under Armour-wide reveals that include teams like first-year member of the Under Armour family Cincinnati.
Auburn’s new uniforms are a throwback design, harking back to the Chuck Person-era uniforms. Coach Bruce Pearl is big on the history of the program, citing that Person, the assistant head coach, is an easy sell for recruits, for Person played and coached in the NBA, winning a championship in 2010 with the Los Angeles Lakers.
The orange and blue stripes down the side of the uniforms are based off the design that Charles Barkley wore during his time on the Plains. The player numbers have changed to an athletic bold font, replacing the Copperplate font used since 2006. The chest wordmark has also changed from the Copperplate font that has donned many Auburn athletic uniforms since the start of the Under Armour contract.
These new uniforms come 29 days before the first game of the season against UAB. Pearl Jam, the pep rally signaling the start of basketball season is October 22, with two exhibition matches against Brevard College and Indianapolis on October 30 and November 5, respectively.
Last year, the tourney was the goal. This year, it’s expected.
The 2015-16 ArmourVent uniforms. Faster. Stronger. pic.twitter.com/1tUb03kMBP
— Under Armour Hoops (@UAbasketball) October 16, 2015
Under Armour revealed the new Cincinnati football uniforms, along with other teams under the UA banner upgrading to the new template, in August. Excluding last year’s alternate uniforms, the last time Auburn revealed new uniforms was also part of an Under Armour announcement, where Auburn, Texas Tech, and Northwestern each announced their new designs.
You can view previous Auburn basketball uniforms from Under Armour here.
Update:
Here’s a quick mockup of all three uniforms.
Update 2:
Here’s a collection of photos, few from players’ social media accounts
A bye week came at the right time for the Auburn Tigers. A 4-1 Kentucky team is also coming off a bye week after an overtime victory against Eastern Kentucky. As Auburn tries to bounce back after a 3-2 start, the Tigers travel to Lexington in what will be the first game of the season that they sport the white uniforms.
In Kentucky’s five games thus far this season, the Wildcats have worn five different uniform combinations. The opening week game against Louisiana-Lafayette saw Kentucky in their traditional home uniforms, going with blue helmets, blue jerseys, and white pants. The week two game on the road at South Carolina was the inverse of the previous game, going white-white-blue. The Florida game is where UK started to change things up, breaking out the chrome helmets and grey pants, along with the blue tops. Missouri in week four saw the chrome blue helmets for the first time this season, along with the grey tops and blue bottoms. The last game that Kentucky played was against Eastern Kentucky, and once again saw the Wildcats in a pretty normal uniform combination, going white-blue-white.
Kentucky Athletics |
Kentucky has enjoyed breaking out new uniform elements for big games. With this year’s game being on Thursday night, in primetime, I would expect to see something new. There’s been rumors of a new helmet or two since the summer, including what looks to be a matte white shell with grey chrome facemasks and decals.
Kentucky did make a small tweak to their logo this season, The school claims that each athletic team and all the gear will still don the old logo, while the new playing surfaces (new turf football field, basketball courts) will feature the new logo.
Thursday night will mark the first game of the season that Auburn will wear the brand new white tops. As mentioned many times, Auburn updated to the new Under Armour template, and we’ve already seen the blue jerseys for five games. Many people have wondered if this is the latest in a season that Auburn has broken out the white tops. It’s close, but that record is actually held, in part, by the 2013 season, when the Tigers wore white for the first time on the road trip to Texas A&M. I wrote about it back then and you can read about it here.
Also mentioned before is that Auburn has standardized the base layers worn throughout the team. When Auburn revealed the new uniforms and new accessories in the off season, they only showcased the white uniforms with white accessories. We’ve seen the blue jerseys paired with each of the three sets of base layers, including a mixture of them (more on that in a bit). I’m sure we’ll see Auburn wear all white from head to toe this week in Kentucky, but I’ll be interested to see if they mix it up.
The last time Auburn and Kentucky met up was in 2010, Auburn’s national championship season. That game saw an all-white vs all-blue uniform matchup, something I doubt we see again this Thursday, not with Kentucky’s enjoyment of different uniform elements.
Bob Gathany / The Huntsville Times |
Previous Game Review
The San Jose State game two weeks ago turned out to be a great looking match up. SJSU broke out their matte yellow helmets for the first time this season, and I loved them. The chrome decals on the helmets looked great in Jordan-Hare. The Spartans’ star running back Tyler Evans got so much action that his nameplate started to fall off.
AP Photo |
Auburn decided to wear a mixture of the new base layer accessories. The new blue sleeves and gloves were matched with the white cleats and the (old) white socks. I have mentioned before that the white sleeves seem to clash with the blue tops, but work as a nice continuation of the pants, and vice versa, so this mixture was a good look, in my opinion.
Zach Bland/Auburn Athletics |
War Eagle!
I was tipped off a few weeks ago that this news was coming, and now it’s official. Auburn and Under Armour have re-signed for a massive new deal.
The new deal does a lot for Auburn. The biggest thing it does is cement Auburn’s placement at the top of Under Armour’s list. Auburn was UA’s first big name school that they signed, and in recent years it was pretty obvious that Auburn was falling down the totem poll, with other teams getting newer gear and the new football uniform template long before Auburn did.
Signs have been pointing to Auburn re-signing with Under Armour for a while now. The recent Under Armour reveal showcased Auburn in the newest template. It’s hard to imagine the equipment staff ordering all the brand new gear when they would just be sitting through the lame duck season before switching to a new brand. The Tiger Tailgate, the annual season kickoff for the athletes, saw every single athlete receive a brand new set of shoes along with a new State of Auburn t-shirt. There’s countless other small items that could also be listed, including the basketball team receiving new Steph Curry backpacks and the team will be one of the first teams to wear the Steph Curry shoes on the hardwood this season. A program that plans to leave a company like Under Armour wouldn’t be on the top of the list for items like this.
There’s nothing like family.
Proud to carry on the tradition of @AuburnTigers for another decade. #TeamUA #WarEagle pic.twitter.com/5ItD0s4oDW
— Under Armour (@UnderArmour) October 1, 2015
Temple just recently announced their extension with Under Armour, extending their deal another 10 years. Cincinnati signed 10 year deal worth around $5 million per year earlier this season. Auburn’s contract with Under Armour was discussed here back in December, in detail. The previous deal was signed in 2008, with Auburn receiving $4.3 million per year. With apparel contracts across the country increasing significantly over the last few years, Auburn’s deal was left in the dust, and it continued to fall into the middle of the pack area as each new deal was signed. This new deal, like mentioned earlier, should help propel Auburn back to the top of this list.
#Auburn & @UnderArmour to impact student-athletes on The Plains through 2025: https://t.co/m1QU3WPZ8m #WarEagle pic.twitter.com/FmzGUtaZq3
— Auburn Tigers (@AuburnTigers) October 1, 2015
This post will be updated when more information becomes available. You can also follow my twitter account for more information.
The Auburn Uniform Database is dedicated to documenting the historic aesthetics of Auburn University Athletics.