Today was originally supposed to be a blog dedicated to the scholars of the world as they embark on a new beginning of post undergraduate education. However, with breaking news in the world of the uniforms there are much more pressing issues to be discussed than graduation.
This morning at a media event and press conference from Cowboys Stadium, Nike unveiled its BCS line of Pro Combat Uniforms for four of its Elite schools. The schools given this high honor of rocking cutting edge and innovative uniforms are the University of Oregon, Texas Christian University, the University of Florida, and Boise State University. These uniforms were presented by Ndamukong Suh, Steven Jackson, Desmond Howard, and many others.
Starting at the top with my Ducks. In a perfect 12-0 season trumped somewhat by their bright and loud uniforms it is only fitting that they stick to their roots and end their season on the same note. They are not my favorite colorway of the 80 combinations they have at their dispose but I can definitely appreciate the creativity. Nike was somewhat limited in options with Oregon being the #2 seed to #1 Auburn and thus the away team but they still did pretty well.
I am one for uniformity when it comes to uniforms. I like themes, all-blacks, all-whites, and alternating colorways with helmets matching pants and jerseys matching shoes/socks. But I understand not everything is going to go my way and Nike knows what they’re doing. While I would have preferred a combination similar to what they wore against UCLA these will suffice for the time being as they hopefully bring home the crystal ball.
They decided to go with the carbon-fiber helmets, white jerseys, and white pants. But the real fun comes in with the base layer and footwear. The base shirt is customized to have a fast design and each individual players’ number on the sleeves which is nice for individuality. The shoes are the Zoom Alpha Talon Cleats that are brand new for Nike and won’t be available for other schools till next year and the socks add a little pizazz with the highlighter yellow.
I would like to defer to my NFL blog https://jonmackin.wordpress.com/2010/11/23/new-nfl-nike-uniforms-with-pictures-off-all-teams/ for a second to validate the authenticity of the leaked Nike NFL Pro Combat uniforms for 2012. If you notice they have the same pant design, same structure throughout the upper half of the uniform. Further verifying that NFL uniforms are not fake and that Nike “leaked” them on purpose to start the buzzing of the bees.
See? Now on to TCU. TCU is the only Texas school I will allow my sons to go on recruiting trips to and for that they get my seal of approval. Even though they did just cheat on the Mountain West with the Big East. Which if they would have stayed with the additions to Boise State, UNR, and Fresno State we would have been a better conference but that is an entirely whole new issue in itself.
But I digress, these TCU unis are sick. Thanks to Nike, one of TCU’s new school colors is red which is attributed to the venom that the horned frog produces. I assimilate it to how the Lady Vols of Tennessee wear light blue in with their creamy orange. Anyways, the old school style jersey is countered with modern pants with scales throughout and revolutionary helmet with red stripes as well.
Now on to one of the newest members of the Mountain West that I previously alluded to, the Boise State Broncos. These are the unis in which Kyle Brotzman will be missing field goals in and the rest of the returning Broncos will be getting acclimated to Sam Boyd Stadium in. At first glance they look like their standard all-blues that they wear at home on the smurf turf but there are some subtle differences.
Nike designed a new jersey which can be noticed around the collar and with the difference in fonts. They also incorporated more orange into this makeup with the cleats, base layer, and logo on the helmet. Which anyway to brighten up a boring uniform for me is a good thing. These unis are clean and to the casual fan are the same but are much more detailed to the avid sports/fashion enthusiast.
Along with Urban Meyer went any sort of creativity for the Gator Pro Combats. Maybe it is the fact that Florida is a traditional university and doesn’t want to piss off boosters by wearing some ridiculous uniform or maybe it is because they are only playing in the Champs Sports Bowl that Nike wanted to allocate their work to the preceding three teams. It’s not that these uniforms are ugly it’s just that they aren’t much different from what Emmitt Smith and Tim Tebow have been wearing for 20 years.
In conclusion, (I love doing that as unprofessional and cliché as it may be) Nike did a pretty good job with the designing of their Bowl Series Pro Combats. I would have gone into it with a completely different mindset and strategy but that is why they are getting paid to do what they do and why I am writing about it. All in all there weren’t any monstrosities but I would have liked to have seen some more creativity.
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