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When did alternate jerseys get introduced to college football?


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1 hour ago, the_grateful_ted said:

I guess we can chat about all college sports, but specifically curious about football 🤔

I guess technically speaking, when games started getting broadcasted on TV and teams started wearing white jerseys to help tell teams apart on black and white screens.  But I think the late 1980's would probably be the best place to start looking for a consistent alternate jersey. Navy wore an alternate uniform in  the 1960's with the BEAT ARMY lettering on the shoulders 

Army-Navy Rivalry Led to Friendship for Staubach and Stichweh - The New  York Times

Navy - HELMET HISTORY

I seem to remember they had a BEAT ARMY jersey too, but in 1962, Beat Army was placed on the helmets. Maybe Mandela effect kicking in? They also wore these in the 1963 game as they won the fifth straight game that year. 

Roger Staubach, Navy QB and Heisman Trophy winner. | College football  players, Nfl football players, Navy football

The jerseys were gold as well, so Navy had alternates as early as 1960, if not earlier.

Wayne Hardin, Hall of Fame Football Coach at Navy, Dies at 91 - The New  York Times

 

Ohio State wore plain white or red

jerseys to the Rose Bowl during Woody Hayes' tenure, going with fishnet jerseys over there heavier Durene jerseys that they wore during the regular season.

Ohio State football and its history in the Rose Bowl | Buckeyes Wire

Ohio State football history: Buckeyes best Ducks in the 1958 Rose Bowl -  Land-Grant Holy Land

Ohio State football and its history in the Rose Bowl | Buckeyes Wire

1973 may have been the first year they wore their regular jerseys to the Rose Bowl Game during the Woody Hayes era.

 

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I guess you could go back to Notre Dame's occasional use of green jerseys, which began in the 1920s and was originally done when their opponents also wore dark blue.  Oddly enough, when the Irish began wearing road whites in 1950, the home jerseys were green (and wouldn't change back to blue until 1959).

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Similar to the Navy jerseys, Lafayette wore "Beal Lehigh" jerseys in the late '60s.

 

Otherwise, I definitely remember the Notre Dame green jerseys being used in the late 70s.  In particular, I remember them playing USC in 1977(?), warming up in blue jerseys, then putting on green jerseys after going back into the locker room before the game.

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  • 11 months later...
On 1/18/2023 at 5:38 PM, MJWalker45 said:

I guess technically speaking, when games started getting broadcasted on TV and teams started wearing white jerseys to help tell teams apart on black and white screens.  But I think the late 1980's would probably be the best place to start looking for a consistent alternate jersey. Navy wore an alternate uniform in  the 1960's with the BEAT ARMY lettering on the shoulders 

Army-Navy Rivalry Led to Friendship for Staubach and Stichweh - The New  York Times

Navy - HELMET HISTORY

I seem to remember they had a BEAT ARMY jersey too, but in 1962, Beat Army was placed on the helmets. Maybe Mandela effect kicking in? They also wore these in the 1963 game as they won the fifth straight game that year. 

Roger Staubach, Navy QB and Heisman Trophy winner. | College football  players, Nfl football players, Navy football

The jerseys were gold as well, so Navy had alternates as early as 1960, if not earlier.

Wayne Hardin, Hall of Fame Football Coach at Navy, Dies at 91 - The New  York Times

 

Ohio State wore plain white or red
Alternate jerseys in college football have become popular in recent decades. This trend began to take off in the 2000s as teams began introducing new designs and styles to attract attention and support from fans. I studied this question and chose it among many research paper topics, found topics for a research paper in high school here. These alternate uniforms give teams more creative freedom in choosing colors, graphics, and overall visual style. As a result, college football programs have adopted alternative uniforms as a way to highlight their individuality. This is it in a nutshell!

jerseys to the Rose Bowl during Woody Hayes' tenure, going with fishnet jerseys over there heavier Durene jerseys that they wore during the regular season.

Ohio State football and its history in the Rose Bowl | Buckeyes Wire

Ohio State football history: Buckeyes best Ducks in the 1958 Rose Bowl -  Land-Grant Holy Land

Ohio State football and its history in the Rose Bowl | Buckeyes Wire

1973 may have been the first year they wore their regular jerseys to the Rose Bowl Game during the Woody Hayes era.

 

Didn't they start gaining popularity in the 2000s?

Edited by sabrina5zunoi
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1 hour ago, sabrina5zunoi said:

Didn't they start gaining popularity in the 2000s?

Army-Navy started doing alternates in the early 2000's. Nike used them to promote the Pro Combat templates that were coming out at that time. When Navy moved to UA, that's when both teams dug into selecting one unit for the game. I miss players wearing patches for multiple units on both sides. 2015 was the last time there were a mix of brigade or higher patches for the Army. Since then, if more than one patch was offered, it was a choice of three units subordinate to the unit being honored at that time. 

gettyimages-534985142.jpg

An article on the recent uniforms.

https://uni-watch.com/2023/12/09/army-navy-special-rivalry-uniforms-through-the-years/

2011

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2015

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2016

81ecd83d7eb7d4be79a806ebd07ca4a7

636169947951076232-USP-NCAA-FOOTBALL-ARM

2017

ARMY.jpg

2022

USATSI_19600662_168381516_lowres.jpg?ito

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If we're talking modern times, I seem to recall Miami having alternate green jerseys in the latter part of the '90s alongside their orange primaries.

 

EDIT: yep, they did. Jarrett Payton circa 1997:

 

ghows-LK-5f243134-ec4e-4d4f-95a0-e6f1b4e

 

Fake afteredit: now that I think about it, Northwestern may have also had alternate jerseys during that timeframe, as well. It would have been around the time of Darnell Autry and Damien Anderson if they did, but I don't feel like looking right now...

 

 

 

 

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On 1/21/2023 at 10:16 PM, Discrim said:

I guess you could go back to Notre Dame's occasional use of green jerseys,

 

This was my first introduction to alts in college sports back when I watched.

 

I know they had been doing it for decades, but the '91 Sugar Bowl was my first sight of it on live TV.

 

I also recall seeing lots of old photos of Joe Montana in them, which made little-Vet wonder how it was allowed to have a totally different uniform to wear only some times (oh, how the world has changed:)

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  • 2 months later...
On 12/27/2023 at 7:57 PM, tBBP said:

If we're talking modern times, I seem to recall Miami having alternate green jerseys in the latter part of the '90s alongside their orange primaries.

 

EDIT: yep, they did. Jarrett Payton circa 1997:

 

ghows-LK-5f243134-ec4e-4d4f-95a0-e6f1b4e

 

Fake afteredit: now that I think about it, Northwestern may have also had alternate jerseys during that timeframe, as well. It would have been around the time of Darnell Autry and Damien Anderson if they did, but I don't feel like looking right now...

 

 

 

 

they had switched to black jerseys for almost the entirety of the 1990's

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 12/27/2023 at 7:57 PM, tBBP said:

If we're talking modern times, I seem to recall Miami having alternate green jerseys in the latter part of the '90s alongside their orange primaries.

 

EDIT: yep, they did. Jarrett Payton circa 1997:

 

ghows-LK-5f243134-ec4e-4d4f-95a0-e6f1b4e

 

Fake afteredit: now that I think about it, Northwestern may have also had alternate jerseys during that timeframe, as well. It would have been around the time of Darnell Autry and Damien Anderson if they did, but I don't feel like looking right now...

 

 

 

 

Who is Miami playing against in that photo? It's hard to tell without seeing any visible logos.

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