Sports Illustrated's Top 10 Worst College Unis

[BBTV]

I didn't even have to look at the list and I said Oregon would be #1, how could they not be?! I disagree with Syracuse being #4, and possibly even Clemson being on the list, although when they wear purple pants it is an awful sight!

Oregon certainly belongs at the top, but I disagree with almost all of the others. I assume Delaware is on the list simply because their unis are too similar to Michigan's (probably on everyone's ten best list).

Delaware is a wannabe Michigan/early 90's St. Louis Rams mix with a stock Nike number font. The blue is too blue to go with the wannabe-maize.

Delaware helmets.

The University of Delaware helmet design is familiar to fans nationally, and the Blue Hens' pride in wearing it reflects their strong connection to the development of the history of the game of football. Commonly known as the "Michigan helmet", the Blue and Gold headgear dates not to Ann Arbor but to Princeton in the early 1930s.

During football games at that time, both schools generally wore the same colored uniforms along with leather helmets. Princeton was coached by Fritz Crisler who used a helmet with a wing pattern on it that was manufactured by the MacGregor-Goldsmith Co. To enable his quarterback to distinguish downfield receivers, Crisler had the leather dyed in Princeton's black and orange colors.

When Crisler moved to Michigan in 1938, he used the same helmet but changed the color scheme to Michigan's Maize and Blue.

Crisler had on his team a young man named Dave Nelson who used the same helmet when he became head coach at Hillsdale College in Michigan, changing the color pattern to Blue and White. Nelson then brought the helmet with him to Harvard (in black and crimson) and later to Maine (in blue and white) in 1949.

Nelson arrived in Newark in 1951 and once again with him came the helmet to which he adapted the Blue Hens' blue and gold colors. By 1964, leather helmets were replaced by fiberglass and plastic helmets. Fellow Michigan graduate Tubby Raymond succeeded Nelson as head coach at Delaware in 1966 and continues today to use the same helmet design.

[Billy B]

I didn't even have to look at the list and I said Oregon would be #1, how could they not be?! I disagree with Syracuse being #4, and possibly even Clemson being on the list, although when they wear purple pants it is an awful sight!

Oregon certainly belongs at the top, but I disagree with almost all of the others. I assume Delaware is on the list simply because their unis are too similar to Michigan's (probably on everyone's ten best list).

Delaware is a wannabe Michigan/early 90's St. Louis Rams mix with a stock Nike number font. The blue is too blue to go with the wannabe-maize.

Delaware helmets.

The University of Delaware helmet design is familiar to fans nationally, and the Blue Hens' pride in wearing it reflects their strong connection to the development of the history of the game of football. Commonly known as the "Michigan helmet", the Blue and Gold headgear dates not to Ann Arbor but to Princeton in the early 1930s.

During football games at that time, both schools generally wore the same colored uniforms along with leather helmets. Princeton was coached by Fritz Crisler who used a helmet with a wing pattern on it that was manufactured by the MacGregor-Goldsmith Co. To enable his quarterback to distinguish downfield receivers, Crisler had the leather dyed in Princeton's black and orange colors.

When Crisler moved to Michigan in 1938, he used the same helmet but changed the color scheme to Michigan's Maize and Blue.

Crisler had on his team a young man named Dave Nelson who used the same helmet when he became head coach at Hillsdale College in Michigan, changing the color pattern to Blue and White. Nelson then brought the helmet with him to Harvard (in black and crimson) and later to Maine (in blue and white) in 1949.

Nelson arrived in Newark in 1951 and once again with him came the helmet to which he adapted the Blue Hens' blue and gold colors. By 1964, leather helmets were replaced by fiberglass and plastic helmets. Fellow Michigan graduate Tubby Raymond succeeded Nelson as head coach at Delaware in 1966 and continues today to use the same helmet design.

The reason Delaware is probably on the list is the helmet. So if that is why SI put Delaware on the list, Michigan should be right next to them. This is a very poor list, they don't give any explanation as to why they chose each team and as shown by Delaware, they didn't do any research while putting together this list.

[Delux247]

Theoretically, Oregon could be the worst 10 jerseys in college football. With that 3rd helmet option and numbers of pant/jersey combos, they could own the worst 20-something jerseys.

Having 3 of the worst 10 from the MWC doesn't reflect well on my Cougars' great look.

[Mingjai]

Theoretically, Oregon could be the worst 10 jerseys in college football. With that 3rd helmet option and numbers of pant/jersey combos, they could own the worst 20-something jerseys.

Having 3 of the worst 10 from the MWC doesn't reflect well on my Cougars' great look.

I think Air Force's uniforms of late have been suffering a little in execution, though the colors and lightning bolts look great. Utah's uniforms, on the other hand, have always looked terrible--though that's likely because I'm looking at them through my blue-colored spectacles. If Wyoming got rid of the recent black creep that's been plaguing them lately, they wouldn't look so bad. I give them points for sticking with brown and gold despite them not being the "in" colors.

[AJM]

ND green shouldn't be on here...Delaware unis = High School.

[Proc]

I like the ND greens....

Ten things I don't like about college football uniforms...

10. Clemson's puprle pants. The horror! The horror!

9. Utah, Fresno State, or Rutgers all-red look. Red helmet, jersey, pants...too much red.

8. Wyoming. Brown and Yellow. See Western Michigan on how to pull this off...get a darker brown.

7. Florida State's black jersey. I got nothin'...

6. Ohio State's red jersey. I love the roads, but get some grey back in the home reds.

5. Colorado...school colors are silver and gold, eh? So where does the black they've used for years fit in?

4. Virginia Tech. The maroon and orange just don't go together. Nothing can help this out.

3. Florida A&M. Orange and Green. 'Nuff said.

2. Oregon State. These newbies are an abomination.

1. Quack! Anything Oregon.

[Blue Falcon]

Looks like SI realized they were short on content and some dim bulb in a meeting said "Hey, let's do another one of those Worst Unis list, but let's not even explain why we selected the teams."

[njmeadowlanders]

Pretty poor list, but on all these internet "top 10 best/worst", are any of you really surprised anymore?

[EatSleepJeep]

The top 10 worst college football unis:

1. Oregon

2. Oregon

3. Oregon

4. Oregon

5. Oregon

6. Oregon

7. Oregon

8. Oregon

9. Oregon

10. Oregon

And the two honorable mentions go to Oregon as well

(there are 12 games in a season and it seems like they have that many combinations)

[DDR]

How you gonna put Clemson on the list, but not for the orange jersey with purple pants? Also, of the predominant orange clad teams in the country, I'd say my Illini's Nike Jerseys are far and away much more unappealing than Syracuse's new duds.

[Jezus_Ghoti]

According to this USA Today article, Oregon could have the worst 384 uniforms.

Not really sure how they came up with that number, but I think the point is clear enough.

[AJM]

How did the Cal yellow alt. miss this list?

[powersurge]

I find ZERO credibility in any kind of top ten list that doesn't explain itself in some way shape or form.

[Burkell007]

stuff like this is why ESPN's content is WAY better then SI

[ProvidenceRI]

There are no uniforms worse than these:

Old retro helmet? Check

Quasi new uniform design? Check

Mismatching greens? Check

Black facemask? Check

3 different fonts used for "D"? Check.

[TheStoicPaisano]

No big surprise: Nike is all over the place. Was it 6 or 7 of the 10?

They'd be all over the 10 best uniforms list as well.

Shoot, they probably outfit 60-70% of all D-1 teams.

[powersurge]

There are no uniforms worse than these:

Old retro helmet? Check

Quasi new uniform design? Check

Mismatching greens? Check

Black facemask? Check

3 different fonts used for "D"? Check.

HA HA HA!!!

Let me add:

Green unitard-esque monochomatic jersey? check.

Product of Nike? check.

[Blue Falcon]

According to this USA Today article, Oregon could have the worst 384 uniforms.

Not really sure how they came up with that number, but I think the point is clear enough.

Here's the full text:

The University of Oregon football team is finishing its biggest-ever uniform makeover ? one that will give it a dizzying 384 combinations this season.

With help from Nike, Oregon is in its fourth full uniform redesign since the 1996 Cotton Bowl, giving the team almost as much renown for its garish collection of ever-changing attire as for its success on the field. Ranked 18th this week, the Ducks face more traditionally attired, and No. 11-ranked, Oklahoma at home Saturday.

How will they be dressed? They keep it a secret until game day. Coach Mike Bellotti can choose from four colors of jerseys and pants: green, yellow, white and black. For now, he has only two helmet options: the green one worn since 1999, and a white one the team has not worn yet ? but a yellow helmet is in production. Then there are four colors of socks and two colors of shoes.

The duds are 28% lighter than previous uniforms when dry, team officials say, and 34% lighter under wet conditions.

Last season, Bellotti let his seniors help pick the uniform for each game. This year, he and equipment manager Pat Conrad are deciding. "I haven't talked to them this year," Bellotti says, "because I have 22 seniors, and to get 22 guys to agree on something is tough enough. I have trouble myself."

Conrad predicts the team will repeat some ensembles over the 12-game regular season: "If we get on a roll, the seniors won't want to change."

The Ducks have been called "Team Nike" because of the largess of the Beaverton, Ore.-based athletic giant and its co-founder Phil Knight. He graduated from Oregon and has given tens of millions to the school and its athletic department.

Bellotti says the eclectic uniforms draw national attention and help recruiting efforts.

Paul Lukas, founder of Uni Watch (uniwatchblog.com), a website devoted to athletic uniforms, thinks the Ducks are a fashion disaster.

"This changes the notion of what's a uniform," he says. "They're not very uniform."

Or good-looking, he adds: "There's good design, and there's bad design. This is bad design."

[therocheapproach]

Whenever I see a worst football uni list and either Florida A&M or Columbia University isn't on the list - it's instantly not credible.

[winghaz]

The first thing I look at in a college uniform is the helmet. There are a few in this top 10 that have some really classy helmets, particularly Air Force and Wyoming. (And, yes, you can complain all you want about Wyoming's use of brown and gold, but those are the school colors, gang.)

The only butt-ugly helmet I see in the bunch is Syracuse. The helmet and the whole Syracuse package belong in this top 10 list. Orange and blue do go well together, but you need to add white outlines to make the numbers visible. Plus, there's very little tradition behind this Syracuse uniform. It's awful.

Now, I've actually gotten used to Oregon's helmets. I hated them when they first came out, but I've grown to like them. They say Oregon to me. But, in Oregon's case, the rest of the uniform is so awful that it deserves to be the absolute worst in college football, with nobody anywhere near.

The only recent uniform that I can think of that was worse than Oregon's was BYU's bib jersey look.