College Football 2014 Season

[WSU151]

RE: the never-ending debate on Oregon's brand, here's Phil Knight's take (which I completely agree with):

You don’t need a sign on the Eiffel Tower. When you see the Eiffel Tower, you know that’s the Eiffel Tower. Now when you see the O, that's Oregon.

Color is one piece of visual identity, which is one piece branding. Branding is a collection of an innumerable amount of visuals, sensual experiences, emotions, and interactions. Coke runs an ad with Coke in a Coke glass by itself. Is it a branding fail because there's no red on it? No. You still know this is Coca Cola:

It's more than color. You know the shape of the glass, you know the logo, and that accumulation of condensation on the outside says 'ahhh, refreshing,' which is the exact thing Coke wants you to feel when looking at this (and that's why they play up the carbonation, the sound/visual representation of carbonation, and someone saying 'ahh' in a lot of their advertising). Branding is all about building emotional, psychological, and physical connections with a company and their products.

When you look at the consistency behind Oregon's branding over the years, the fact that the uniforms are varied is such a small piece of the equation. Think about it. Messaging has stayed the same (speed/strength), the on-field product has been solid, the gameday experience is engrossing as ever, the talent level has stayed top-notch, and the team is winning consistently. Sure, the uniforms have changed a bit over the years, but they always include: 1) the O, 2) a visual representation of speed/strength, and lately 3) a wing pattern of some sort. How well these are conveyed is certainly up for debate, but it doesn't trash their entire brand.

To be honest, I think the lack of interaction with the team itself makes people less likely to see this whole picture (if you're not around Oregon enough to understand how miniscule uniforms are in the grand scheme of things, you judge the success of the school's entire brand based on your limited interaction with them every Saturday -- most of which is their uniforms). I also think there's a rampant misunderstanding of what a brand actually is. You can not like the changes that Oregon makes all the time, that's fine. But to say that Oregon has no brand, or that their ever-evolving look is bad for them is foolish.

Look at their enrollment since all of this started with Knight and Moos. The constant change might bother you as a traditionalist, but in all honesty, it's smart business.

Oregon started a trend that is helping other universities capitalize on a revenue stream that was previously untapped -- apparel. Look at the list JPDesign just posted: by my quick count, 20 of the top 25 have recently changed their entire look or participated in a one-off program that produced a ton of extra fan gear and generated buzz around the program. Hard to argue with that.

I'm far from a Nike/Oregon fanboy -- just tired of people using the wrong language in a debate that, IMO, is exhausted

/rant

Nike started making money off of michigan, alabama, penn state, fsu, tosu, usc etc. way before oregon became a top tier nike school. They were one of the last teams in the pac 10 to wear the swoosh on their uniforms. To say that oregon had a role in creating the college apparel merchandising machine is laughable. They eventually became a national player after knight dumped a ton of money into recruiting, coaches, facilities and a rebuilt stadium. People love to say the uniforms played a role but there are much more impactful and fundamental drivers at play here.

Oregon started wearing Nike in 1996. They were one of the first teams in the Pac 10 (along with USC, Washington, and Stanford) to wear Nike. In fact, USC was the first in the Pac 10 to wear Nike football jerseys in 1995, then the other three schools sported the swoosh for the first time on football jerseys in 1996. Oregon definitely had a role in creating college apparel merchandising...in 1999, the O and the color-changing paint were revolutionary. The Joey Harrington uniforms were pretty ground-breaking.

Please stop revising history, especially if you're too young to remember it.

[BrandMooreArt]

just now seeing photos from Eastern Michigan's first home game with a gray field....this is terrible, who allowed this??

It looks like they're shooting a sequel to Pleasantville.

LOL, yea that photo is crazy. its fuxin with my eyes. brain cant decide if its in color, b/w, or one of those then and now photos. keep looking to see Red Grange in there somewhere

[djam2410]

This UTSA - Arizona game is rough uni-wise...

didnt look that good last year either

Well UTSA looks good in the away set, i DO NOT like mono-orange in that dark shade

[WSU151]

One thing I don't get about Arizona's numbers and jersey - the sleeve caps have a red-to-blue gradient, while the numbers are blue-to-red. If they're going for a sunset effect...shouldn't they be consistent?

[colinturner95]

One thing I don't get about Arizona's numbers and jersey - the sleeve caps have a red-to-blue gradient, while the numbers are blue-to-red. If they're going for a sunset effect...shouldn't they be consistent?

As I recall, they wore them for a season, the NCAA passed the rule on single colored numbers, gave Arizona a year to change, and now the numbers are a single color.

[DCarp1231]

Caught a little glimpse of the Grand Valley State - Azuza Pacific game on CBS Sports Network... Man does Grand Valley look rough... Cheap white jerseys and pants that look like they're made out of sweatpants material...

[GriffinM6]

I actually like both of UTSA's uniforms from the Arizona games. I like Arizona's look tonight save for the red facemask (can they please make it blue or white already?). Even though I think UTSA looks nice tonight, I think they need to wear it against a team that doesn't have red on.

just now seeing photos from Eastern Michigan's first home game with a gray field....this is terrible, who allowed this??

It looks like they're shooting a sequel to Pleasantville.

LOL, yea that photo is crazy. its fuxin with my eyes. brain cant decide if its in color, b/w, or one of those then and now photos. keep looking to see Red Grange in there somewhere

Wow. That is terrible. Boise does not have the problem with the players blending in, but for this one it literally looks like the pants blend into the field. And yeah, I feel like they took a field from a black and white photo and placed it under the players.

[Clintau24]

I have to agree, I hate Arizona's red facemask. Talk about over kill.

As for the numbers, you are correct BK. They were already in production when the rule was passed, so they got a pass on it. But we did get confirmation on the ruling we were discussing pages back with Marshall's new uniforms. The numbers don't actually have to be solid, like one wording said. And we saw that tonight with Arizona's white tops having the gradient. They just must contrast completely with the base color of the jersey.

[Billy B]

Illinois is going white-orange-white again Saturday vs. Western Kentucky.

[JayMac]

Illinois is going white-orange-white again Saturday vs. Western Kentucky.

That is a really nice look

[aawagner011]

One of the best modern looks in college ball right now.

[Midway]

Wow that got off the rails quick.

Here's the gist: Leave the supplier experimenting and fun for regular season games. Plenty of opportunities to showcase your multiple combinations for increased exposure in the big fish/little fish college football pond. But when it comes to the national championship game, at least have a ounce of respect for the historical brand of the school you represent. Florida State, Alabama, Auburn, Texas, LSU, USC, and Florida seemed to understand that just fine.

Or am I just crazy to think that a school's visual identity is more important than a corporate juggernaut's need to advertise its volt colored socks?

[Webfooter]

Wow that got off the rails quick.

Here's the gist: Leave the supplier experimenting and fun for regular season games. Plenty of opportunities to showcase your multiple combinations for increased exposure in the big fish/little fish college football pond. But when it comes to the national championship game, at least have a ounce of respect for the historical brand of the school you represent. Florida State, Alabama, Auburn, Texas, LSU, USC, and Florida seemed to understand that just fine.

Or am I just crazy to think that a school's visual identity is more important than a corporate juggernaut's need to advertise its volt colored socks?

You're comparing schools that have a ton of history with a school in Oregon that has only recently built up it's reputation and history. Oregon doesn't really have a traditional brand or look so for them to do what they did at the NCG was par for the course for them.

[Kevin W.]

Then they should pick a brand and stick to it.

[Webfooter]

Then they should pick a brand and stick to it.

Why should they have to? Constantly changing uniforms while winning games has worked alright for them so far so I don't see why they need to become boring and staid to fit in with the traditional blue-bloods of college football.

[WSU151]

One thing I don't get about Arizona's numbers and jersey - the sleeve caps have a red-to-blue gradient, while the numbers are blue-to-red. If they're going for a sunset effect...shouldn't they be consistent?

As I recall, they wore them for a season, the NCAA passed the rule on single colored numbers, gave Arizona a year to change, and now the numbers are a single color.

As Clintau touched on, the numbers on the white jersey are still gradient.

[MGoBlue98]

One thing I don't get about Arizona's numbers and jersey - the sleeve caps have a red-to-blue gradient, while the numbers are blue-to-red. If they're going for a sunset effect...shouldn't they be consistent?

As I recall, they wore them for a season, the NCAA passed the rule on single colored numbers, gave Arizona a year to change, and now the numbers are a single color.

As Clintau touched on, the numbers on the white jersey are still gradient.

They're allowed to be gradient as long as it doesn't match the base color of the jersey (in this case white) and because the numbers change from blue to red it's ok, as long as it's not on a blue jersey (or red).

[hugevolsfan]

New white UAB helmet

I assume they will wear these against Mississippi State on Saturday?

From what I've seen, yes.

Man this would look so much better if it was green thoughout the logo

This UTSA - Arizona game is rough uni-wise...

yes this was the worse game I have seen this year. Watched a few seconds of it said wow what awful uniforms & switched to the NFL game.

The Seahawks look really good in comparison.

[mafiaman]

Caught a little glimpse of the Grand Valley State - Azuza Pacific game on CBS Sports Network... Man does Grand Valley look rough... Cheap white jerseys and pants that look like they're made out of sweatpants material...

I watched a few minutes of that as well - GVSU used to have nice uniforms and a black helmet with a Laker logo on it. Last night's look was JV stuff.

[mafiaman]

http://blog.mlive.com/chronicle/2007/12/GVSU.jpg

GVSU's previous helmet...