College Football Article on SI.com

[hjwii]

My link

You may have seen this; it may have been posted elsewhere already. It's a story about the trend in college football's "bold and hip" new unis.

What I find most interesting is that one player claims "80 percent of the Ducks play there because they were drawn by the uniforms". Not because of the coaching staff. Not because of the opportunity. Certainly not because of the education. But because they get to wear 6 different color jerseys.

Anyways, short article, interesting reading...

[Joe Kane]

I mean, ehh....if anyone has ever played before, once the whistle blows the last thing you're thinking about is what you're wearing.

I was always a uniform geek, but it would have never determined where I played. That's just dumb.

[gdu]

"drawn to." Don't read mroe into it than is there. All the uniforms do is get tehm interested enough to take a visit. That leads to them meeting the coaches, seeing the facilities, learning about the school and then using that information to decide where to go.

[Guest]

I play football and I'm of the age that would be recruited. We've talked in the locker room and while guys will say "Yeah those new Oregon unis are cool" they don't really affect an entire decision. As long as your jerseys are nice and of good quality,players won't notice them during the game as long as they're in decent colors. Our school colors are cardinal and white like Stanford and we got new jerseys this year. Only seniors got to see them before our first game and all summer there was a really cool buzz anytime someone would mention uniforms, so much so that instead of our usual shirt and tie, our coach allowed us to wear the jerseys to school. So to say that the uniform means nothing to a high school athlete is ignorant, but it's also ignorant to say it would decide a choice of where to play

[phutmasterflex]

Not a surprise at all. Fashion attracts the young crowd and if they are on the fence about a school, it helps that what they're wearing is something they like

[Kevin W.]

If that's the direction college football is going in, then all hope is lost. We might as well just throw all tradition out the window since the kids with short attention spans should be allowed to dictate how everything is done.

[oddball]

There's only so much you can believe. If a school has cool uniforms and sucks, do you really think any top-nothc talent is going to visit that school, let alone play for them? Nope. As much as people want to say athletes are attracted to a school by cool uniforms, the truth of the matter is there are two things that attract top talent, winning and setting yourself up for the NFL. Do you really think the top talent is going to Oregon because of the uniforms? No. They are going there because the Ducks win and the players are exposed to the NFL. If it was really about uniforms, there would be no talent at Texas and Oklahoma and all the traditional winning schools.

[Billy B]

If you're a traditional powerhouse like Texas, Alabama, or USC, you have no reason to go with modern uniforms. A recruit already knows who you are and doesn't need something material like a uniform to get a kid to notice. The kids already know that schools like those will almost always be national title contenders and always put a lot of players into the NFL.

The teams that are going with all the multiple combinations and modern designs are teams without any real football history. Oregon developing into a top team began with the Joey Harrington era which happens to be around the time they started wearing the Nike O logo and having the most modern uniforms in the country. There are some recruits that might not have even thought about visiting Oregon if they didn't come out with different uniforms every three years that a lot of recruits thought were cool. These recruits might give Oregon a chance because of the uniforms, go on a visit to Eugene, and come back really impressed with the coaches, facilities, and recent success. These schools that aren't traditional powers need something to get noticed to try and break through the traditional powers that dominate college football.

[phutmasterflex]

If you're a traditional powerhouse like Texas, Alabama, or USC, you have no reason to go with modern uniforms. A recruit already knows who you are and doesn't need something material like a uniform to get a kid to notice. The kids already know that schools like those will almost always be national title contenders and always put a lot of players into the NFL.

The teams that are going with all the multiple combinations and modern designs are teams without any real football history. Oregon developing into a top team began with the Joey Harrington era which happens to be around the time they started wearing the Nike O logo and having the most modern uniforms in the country. There are some recruits that might not have even thought about visiting Oregon if they didn't come out with different uniforms every three years that a lot of recruits thought were cool. These recruits might give Oregon a chance because of the uniforms, go on a visit to Eugene, and come back really impressed with the coaches, facilities, and recent success. These schools that aren't traditional powers need something to get noticed to try and break through the traditional powers that dominate college football.

This.

Uniforms are a factor, but not the main factor. Ultimately, it's about the actual program.

[Lights Out]

Exactly. Uniforms are promotional tools for the school, just like facilities, slogans, ads, etc. If a school has an idea that makes them stand out, and it involves uniforms, more power to them.

[drdougfresh]

Just like LO said, they're a marketing tool. Two major purposes of marketing/advertising are to create awareness and generate money. The money thing is obvious, as we are the people that buy the products. The awareness building is not only for us as durable good consumers, but for other consumers as well (student athletes). If you look 'meh' on the field, no one is going to take note. If you look 'good' (again, there are varying opinions on this definition), people recognize the school because an impression was made. It's effectively the same psychology behind making a purchase decision in your every day life-- you're going to buy brands you're familiar with 9/10 times.

I wouldn't read into this too much... Though I know it inevitably will be blown out of proportion.

[infrared41]

Moos took those ideas to Washington State and made it a top priority when he got there in 2010. Moos wanted to "honor the past, live the present and create the future" so he built a uniform "that appeals to that 17-year-old high school football player."

As a point of reference, when I was 17, this is what people thought was a great look.

A 17 year old in 1983 thought this was the

And so on...

My point being that today, we look back at that stuff as ridiculous. A few of these new looks will survive and evolve. As for the rest? We'll be back here in five years asking "what the were we thinking?" Yeah, I know all you young folk are thinking "infrared is just some old dude who doesn't get it." Trust me, it will happen. Just ask my old three piece denim suit.

[OnWis97]

My point being that today, we look back at that stuff as ridiculous. A few of these new looks will survive and evolve. As for the rest? We'll be back here in five years asking "what the were we thinking?" Yeah, I know all you young folk are thinking "infrared is just some old dude who doesn't get it." Trust me, it will happen. Just ask my old three piece denim suit.

That line is worthless without pictures.

Anyway, I tend to agree with this.

While I admit that I am starting to be sold that uniforms can play a role in a recruit considering a non-traditional school and that they may be key to Oregon, many of these will be thought of as we now think of "rainbow guts" Astros. Oregon's "O" is great and I think it'll stick, but we are already thinking negatively about the diamondplate era, and I really, really, really, hope we're thinking that way, soon, about dumping school colors.