NCAA Division 1 Football Concepts - Power Five Conferences

[mahnkej]

TCU Horned Frogs

 

Today's the day! 13-something months after starting this project, I've finally made it through all 65 Power Five teams in Division 1 football.  Definitely a grind getting through the whole thing, but it was also pretty rewarding. I may still add more to this project (different looks, adding in future teams, etc.) down the road, but for now I'm just gonna wrap things up with the final team from the Big 12,  the TCU Horned Frogs.
 

TCU has very unique look, both in terms of their their color scheme + design features, that for most part work pretty well. One thing I'm not a fan of (along with a gazillion other modern Nike designs) is the plain pants. Don't get me wrong, plain pants can definitely work - Notre Dame, Michigan, Penn State to name a few - but for the most part they just end up making a team look like a glorified set of high school jerseys.

I remedied this for TCU by using the tapered helmet stripe on the  pants,  and also added TCU's secondary frog logo to the thighs. I also kept their excellent horned frog pattern along the neckline, while tweaking the colors to pop even more on the purple and black jerseys.  Finally, eye color of the frog in the primary logo is changed to blood red as a subtle nod to the Horned Frog's unique/terrifying defense mechanism. Throwback look is from the LT-era heyday.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to check out this project, your support is much appreciated! Comments/feedback always welcome. 

 

[mahnkej]

Bonus: Boston College 2.0

 

A bit more of a traditional look than my first go-round, these ones use the classic block font and sleeve stripes. More or less, these are what I would call a "modern throwback" (if that makes any sense). I also added a gold alternate jersey, that includes a red helmet with the primary "BC" logo.

 

[mahnkej]

Cincinnati Bearcats

 

Despite their loss to Bama in the College Football Playoff, the Group of Five's greatest current program is an awesome squad that you can't help but root for. For my version, I went back to a more traditional look based on their previous generation uniforms, minus all the helmet striping. I also added Big 12 Conference patches to the jerseys, as they (along with Houston, UCF, and BYU) will soon be making the jump over to the Power Five.

Additionally,  introduced an all-gray alternate look, with Bearcat claw marks and a helmet based on the U.S. Air Force's A-10 Thunderbolt jet. This one is admittedly a little over the top, but I feel like the Bearcat's secondary "Eyes" logo just lended itself perfectly to doing something like this. 

 

[mahnkej]

Houston Cougars

 

The final team of the future Big 12, we come to the University of Houston. The Cougars are another team (like so many others) that although there's nothing to hate on in their look... there's nothing terribly exciting about it, either. Some of the tweaks I made include:

 

• 5-stripe pattern replaces the current 3-stripe pattern on the jersey sleeves
• Secondary Cougar head logo replaces the primary "UH" logo on the jersey collars and pants
• Number font is tweaked to use Houston's proprietary numbering, rather than standard block letters
• Black jerseys are dropped in place of a set in Houston's official shade of grey. This look also uses an oversize Cougar in place of the "UH" on the helmet, and their old claw marks logo on the sleeves
• TV numbers are added to all uniforms

[GrayJ12]

I like the grey jerseys for Houston - however I do feel like using the UH logo instead of the alternate on the helmet would make it look better.

[mahnkej]

Army Black Knights

 

First up in the 3 main service academies is the Army Black Knights. I really like Army's use of the player names on the chest nametape, it's a unique design feature and a great call-out to their real-world service uniforms. I took this a step further with my design, using a "U.S. Army" nametape on the opposite side of the chest, while also using an American flag + unit patches on the sleeves (Note: I used the 101st Airborne patch for this design; the West Point unit patch would technically be the correct one to use here, but honestly the Screaming Eagle logo is just sublime).

 

Additionally, I added an alternate set based on the military's ACU uniform, using the OCP camouflage pattern and subdued nametapes/patches throughout. 

 

Navy and Air Force coming up soon!

 

[mahnkej]

On 2/3/2022 at 3:57 PM, GrayJ12 said:

I like the grey jerseys for Houston - however I do feel like using the UH logo instead of the alternate on the helmet would make it look better.

Thanks, much appreciated! Looking at it again, I do feel like the UH would balance out the look a little better than using the cougar head in 6 different places. Here's the updated version:

 

[MJWalker45]

15 hours ago, mahnkej said:

Army Black Knights

 

First up in the 3 main service academies is the Army Black Knights. I really like Army's use of the player names on the chest nametape, which is a unique feature and a great call-out to their service uniforms. I took this a step further with my design, using a "U.S. Army" nametape on the opposite side of the chest, while also using an American flag + unit patches on the sleeves (I used the 101st Airborne patch for this design... the West Point unit patch would technically be the correct one to use here, but honestly the Screaming Eagle logo is just sublime).

 

Additionally, I added an alternate set based on the military's ACU uniform, using the OCP camouflage pattern and subdued nametapes/patches throughout. 

 

Navy and Air Force coming up soon!

 

Since you left Army on the back, I would not add the U.S. Army nametapes to the front. As far as the sleeve patch, Army used to wear the patch of whatever unit they were supporting on that gameday, not just during Army-Navy, so I'd leave it as is. The flag on the OCP should not have the camo patterns on it.  This is how it looks on the uniform:

[mahnkej]

On 2/9/2022 at 9:47 AM, MJWalker45 said:

Since you left Army on the back, I would not add the U.S. Army nametapes to the front. As far as the sleeve patch, Army used to wear the patch of whatever unit they were supporting on that gameday, not just during Army-Navy, so I'd leave it as is. The flag on the OCP should not have the camo patterns on it.  This is how it looks on the uniform:

I appreciate the heads-up about the OCP flag, I guess I missed that part. It's been updated on the concept. As for the 'Army' on the back of the jerseys, that was intentional. I feel like the military schools are really big on the whole "One Team, One Fight" kinda attitude.  So they would highlight the school/team name, or just have no back names at all, before they'd have individual player names. Just my take on it. 

[MJWalker45]

5 hours ago, mahnkej said:

I appreciate the heads-up about the OCP flag, I guess I missed that part. It's been updated on the concept. As for the 'Army' on the back of the jerseys, that was intentional. I feel like the military schools are really big on the whole "One Team, One Fight" kinda attitude.  So they would highlights the school/team name, or just have no back nametapes at all, before they'd have individual player names. Just my take on it. 

I was saying to take it off the front, because it's saying the same thing twice, which the Army gets cranky about. Maybe change it to West Point.

[mahnkej]

Navy Midshipmen

 

As promised, here's my take on the US Naval Academy. Home and Road looks keep the same basic premise as the current look, with one major exception: I dropped the 6-stripe pattern from the shoulders and put in some faux epaulets in their place. As it turns out, each cadet is assigned a rank at the academy (even though they're not actually officers until they graduate), so the epaulets are a unique way to display a player's status on the team. 

For the alternate looks, I played around with a couple of my favorites from the past few years. First look is the Marine dress blues uni, which IMHO was easily the look of the year in 2021. As partial as I am to my former employer the USAF, there's no denying it- the Marines easily have the sharpest looking dress uniforms out there.

 

For the 2nd alternate, I made a set based on the US Navy Blue Angels flight suit. This version has a gold helmet w/ Blue Angels insignia, US Navy typeface for the lettering, and Naval Aviator badges in place of the regular logos.

 

Air Force is up next!

 

[mahnkej]

20 hours ago, MJWalker45 said:

I was saying to take it off the front, because it's saying the same thing twice, which the Army gets cranky about. Maybe change it to West Point.

I gotcha, that makes sense. I think the best way to do it would be to just have the chest nametapes on the ACU's, and then drop the back names completely. More in keeping with the camo theme as well. Updated, they'd look something like this:

 

[mahnkej]

Air Force Falcons

 

Final team up for this series is the US Air Force Academy; going forward, any new concepts will be on a new thread that I made specifically for Group of Five + Independent schools. 

 

For the primary look, I added lightning bolts to the uniform shoulders, a la L.A. Chargers. I feel like it really helps fill the uniforms out in a clean and unique way. I also used a lighter shade of silver as an accent color, as I think royal blue and white should be the main colors. Additionally, I added a silver helmet + pants to give them some more options. 

 

1st alternate look is based on the A-10 warthog. Whole set is dark gray, to match the color that the USAF paints their operational jets. Numbering and names are done in black, with minimal accents, in keeping with the subdued look. Helmet mimics the A-10 nose art, with shark teeth & eyes to give them a menacing appearance.

 

2nd alternate is based on the Air Force Thunderbirds flight team. Helmet paint scheme and details match the Thunderbird pilots' helmets, while the uniforms are made to match the paint scheme on the jets themselves. This includes the darker colored undersides (or back of the uniforms, in this case), and custom numbering. 

 

Thank all for the support! Comments and feedback welcome, I'd love to hear what you think. 

 

[walkerws]

On 2/15/2022 at 9:45 PM, mahnkej said:

Air Force Falcons

 

Final team up for this series is the US Air Force Academy; going forward, any new concept(s) will be on a new thread that I plan on making for Group of Five/Independent schools. 

 

Air Force is definitely a team close to my heart, having served in the USAF from 2010-2012. So admittedly, I probably spent a little extra time on these than I ordinarily would for a school. After playing around w/ a couple different looks, I ended up going with a modern take on their current set, plus two new alternates. 

 

For the primary look, I added in outlined lightning bolts to the uniform shoulders, a la the L.A. Chargers. I feel like it really helps fill the uniforms out in a clean and unique way. I also used a lighter shade of silver as an accent color, as I think royal blue and white should be the main colors. Additionally, I added in a silver helmet and pants to give them more options. 

 

1st alternate look is one I made based on the A-10 warthog. Whole set is dark gray, to match the paint color that the USAF paints their operational jets. Numbering and names are done in black, with minimal accents, to match the subdued look. Helmet mimics the A-10 nose art, with shark teeth/eyes to give the set a menacing look. 

 

2nd alternate is based on the Air Force Thunderbirds flight team. Helmet paint scheme and details match the Thunderbirds pilots' helmets, while the uniforms are made to match the paint scheme on the jets themselves. This includes the darker colored undersides (or backs in this case), and custom numbering. 

 

Thanks ya'll for the support, comments/feedback welcome! 

 

A move up or down the pants with the colors should work, but the white front, blue back on the Thunderbirds, is a little confusing. Especially if they played a team that has a blue home set. 

[mahnkej]

On 2/18/2022 at 10:18 AM, walkerws said:

A move up or down the pants with the colors should work, but the white front, blue back on the Thunderbirds, is a little confusing. Especially if they played a team that has a blue home set. 

The reason I did what I did, was to mimic the paint job on the T-Birds F-16's. 

 

Obviously, this style wouldn't be ideal when they were playing another team w/ similar colors. I meant it as more of a special edition, like for example their annual game against Army or Navy. If you were going for a more versatile look, it might look something like this: