College Football's Newest Looks

If you are anything like me, on Saturdays in the fall (whenever you're not at a game) you have as many screens as possible trained on college football. But last weekend, you may have felt as if you needed to adjust the color settings on your television or computer.

From Oregon to Maryland, NCAA football games across the nation are starting to look more like a Van Gogh painting than football games. Maryland blew up Twitter on Monday night with their black, yellow, red, and white state flag uniforms. Oregon upheld their reputation to wow with their all-black uniforms with fluorescent lettering. Georgia decided to join in, sporting a new helmet and all-red uniforms on Saturday. And Arizona State is planning a blackout in the desert with their all-black uniform and a flaming pitchfork on their helmet in their upcoming matchup against Missouri. Boise State sported an all-white look that had a retro spin while Michigan will roll out their throwbacks against Notre Dame this weekend.

But despite the negativity toward the new fashions on the gridiron, I like the new uniforms so many teams are using. My top three would be: 1) Maryland, 2) Arizona State, and 3) Michigan. As someone who was born and raised in Maryland, I was proud to see the state flag incorporated into the flashy outfit. Arizona State’s all-black uniforms were awesome. I’m looking forward to Michigan’s because of the M on the front of the jersey. It isn’t as self-righteous as the number in the front.

Now, you might be wondering: Why do teams wear specially designed uniforms like that? Well, let me break it down for you. The first reason that schools do this sort of thing is for press attention. Don’t believe me? I bet most of you hadn’t even thought of University of Maryland football before last week. Second, is to attract fans. If I was a Terps fan and I was going to pick a game to go to, I would probably want to go to the one where they wear a snazzy uniform. And the biggest reason of all is money. Donors and alumni will pay big bucks for “game worn” equipment. But after all is said and done, I really like the new colorful uniforms and the fun it adds to game days.