College Football 2014 Season

[Cosmic]

Many Ducks fans posted this in response to the criticism:

That's true, but it doesn't mean the "tradition" of Oregon using green and yellow should be disposed of.

Notice they chose green and yellow to use in this picture....

[pianoknight]

Many Ducks fans posted this in response to the criticism:

That's true, but it doesn't mean the "tradition" of Oregon using green and yellow should be disposed of.

Notice they chose green and yellow to use in this picture....

TRADITION WEARS THREE COLORS.

"Pssttt... Hey, OnWis97. We're not wearing enough colors."

[Cosmic]

Many Ducks fans posted this in response to the criticism:

That's true, but it doesn't mean the "tradition" of Oregon using green and yellow should be disposed of.

Notice they chose green and yellow to use in this picture....

TRADITION WEARS THREE COLORS.

"Pssttt... Hey, OnWis97. We're not wearing enough colors."

TRADITION STOPS AT STOP SIGNS

TRADITION WEARS SHOES ON ITS FEET

TRADITION DOESN'T EAT CEREAL WITH A FORK

Some traditions are good ones.

[Kevin W.]

Many Ducks fans posted this in response to the criticism:

Tradition has a scary mascot... like a Buckeye.

Tradition also wears more than three colors. OSU has red, black and gray in addition to white.

[Midway]

At this point, why even have school colors if you're not going to use them? Maybe Texas should wear all black because it's innovative and daring. Maybe Michigan should make their facemasks glow in the dark because it would shake the foundations of college football as we know it.

Or maybe a team like Oregon can honor its school by simply wearing some green and yellow. I promise you, that look will never go out of fashion.

[DPV713]

Was there this much backlash back in 2010 for the Ducks' BCS Title Game jerseys? Because those are much more blasphemous than these.

They chose to wear white, they didn't curse at the dinner table. No need to get so flustered over it guys.

This is their new culture, their tradition--invoking black and gray and forgoing "traditional" uniform values like classic combos and school color adherance. It's to the point where black and gray are de facto school colors and that's fine. They make it work. Whether you love what they do or hate every combo, you're talking about what Oregon's wearing. It's working. And I'd argue that since they installed this new culture, this "our tradition is to break tradition," the program's been exponentially successful than what they were in strictly green and yellow.

[_RH_]

I'm no designer, but when does more contrast between teams NOT look better? If you're going to forsake your own colors (a whole other debate), could you at least not wear the same colors as your opponent?

[CLEstones]

At this point, why even have school colors if you're not going to use them? Maybe Texas should wear all black because it's innovative and daring. Maybe Michigan should make their facemasks glow in the dark because it would shake the foundations of college football as we know it.

Or maybe a team like Oregon can honor its school by simply wearing some green and yellow. I promise you, that look will never go out of fashion.

Be careful what you wish for. Its only a matter of time before Adidas does that for one of the games that they play Notre Dame under the lights.

[j'villejags]

Maybe if everyone expected them to come out in gray scale, they'd actually wear their school colors.

I applaud them for sticking to their guns. The gray, black, carbon, anthracite, chrome, silver, etc. has become part of their identity. I'm a little surprised so many people expected anything different from Oregon. This is what they do.

[WSU151]

Maybe if everyone expected them to come out in gray scale, they'd actually wear their school colors.

I applaud them for sticking to their guns. The gray, black, carbon, anthracite, chrome, silver, etc. has become part of their identity. I'm a little surprised so many people expected anything different from Oregon. This is what they do.

Really? Where was it against Florida State?

[WSU151]

Many Ducks fans posted this in response to the criticism:

That's true, but it doesn't mean the "tradition" of Oregon using green and yellow should be disposed of.

Notice they chose green and yellow to use in this picture....

Notice how most football national champions in the last 30 years wear traditional uniforms.

[j'villejags]

Maybe if everyone expected them to come out in gray scale, they'd actually wear their school colors.

I applaud them for sticking to their guns. The gray, black, carbon, anthracite, chrome, silver, etc. has become part of their identity. I'm a little surprised so many people expected anything different from Oregon. This is what they do.

Really? Where was it against Florida State?

Nowhere to be found. Oregon looked absolutely stunning in that game. The green and yellow was mesmerizing and they looked so much better than they will against Ohio State. Personal preferences aside, they are able to wear a version of their uniform devoid of any official school colors and still be recognized as Oregon. I'd say that's pretty powerful.

[WSU151]

Maybe if everyone expected them to come out in gray scale, they'd actually wear their school colors.

I applaud them for sticking to their guns. The gray, black, carbon, anthracite, chrome, silver, etc. has become part of their identity. I'm a little surprised so many people expected anything different from Oregon. This is what they do.

Really? Where was it against Florida State?

Nowhere to be found. Oregon looked absolutely stunning in that game. The green and yellow was mesmerizing and they looked so much better than they will against Ohio State. Personal preferences aside, they are able to wear a version of their uniform devoid of any official school colors and still be recognized as Oregon. I'd say that's pretty powerful.

Any school could do that. If Alabama wore black helmets and jerseys with white numbers and a chrome center stripe on the helmet, we'd still know they are Alabama, just because we know we are watching Alabama. But they would look like crap (or SICK!!!).

[Sport]

So in the school's greatest athletic moment they won't be wearing a stitch of school color? For the rest of time whenever video and photos of this game are shown they'll be shown in grey and white. I think that's a huge mistake and I wouldn't like it if I was an Oregon alum.

I don't care if their identity is that they constantly change their identity. This moment is too big for that. Wear your colors. It is possible to both wear green and yellow and wear cutting edge uniforms they've never worn before. They've proven that time and again.

McCarthy, are you forgetting that Oregon didn't wear school colors in the 2011 BCS NCG, perhaps the biggest achievement for Oregon at the time. Not wearing school colors in the biggest games is kinda Oregon's thing.

I'm not forgetting what they wore in their only other NCG appearance. I mentioned it earlier in this thread and I thought that was a huge mistake at the time too. Not wearing school colors in the biggest games is kinda Oregon's thing? Really? Hard for something to be a "thing" when they went against that "thing" in their very last game, and this is only the second time they've ever done it.

And the game against Auburn they at least used a color that could sort of pass as yellow. There's nothing even close to that in this uniform. I'll also posit that not wearing school colors didn't really work for them last time. So why do it again?

Don't be confused people. This isn't some grand, high-concept branding strategy by Oregon. This is about Nike selling a second jersey for Oregon and Ohio State.

[TheOldRoman]

what an intelligent rebuttal. i've totally changed my opinion. . . .

I apologize, as I'm normally more verbose. I was rushing to leave work for the day, and felt that my feelings could be summed up in a few short words. Look, the whole "Oregon does what you don't expect them to!" thing is weak. "Doing the unexpected" and "wearing whatever" is not an identity. Other teams might not have the variety of chrome helmets Oregon does, but other teams wear black and gray. At some point in wearing random colors, you stop looking like anything you intended to look like, unless you intend to look like nothing, which is the equivalent of dividing by zero. Black and gray - "that's Oregon." Chrome, charcoal and forest green - "that's Oregon." Black and pink - "that's Oregon." Huh? You can't just wear whatever and have it be iconic to you because you're Nike's toy. I just can't get around the idea that "being consistently different" is considered an identity. It's like talking in a double negative to confuse a dullard. It allots for anything conceivable to be an identity just because one says it's so. "Polka dots? That's SO Oregon. Who else would you expect to wear them?" And no, not all helmets have featured the same design this season. They've had wings and non-winged, chrome, matte and in-between finishes.

The reason I rolled my eyes at your post was largely the last paragraph. You referenced the "traditions never change, champions do" marketing babble, and then threw in your own with "they're here now because they dared to be different." No! They're not here because they wore chrome and yellow helmets and then matte black and pink helmets the next week. They're here because they're a really good football team. Nike pumped a crap load of money into the school to give them top-flight facilities (which top traditional schools also have, mind you). They started winning consistently on the field. USC started its downturn. Those are things which influenced Oregon's rise far more than wearing twelve jerseys spanning six colors.

[oldschoolvikings]

Don't be confused people. This isn't some grand, high-concept branding strategy by Oregon. This is about Nike selling a second jersey for Oregon and Ohio State.

Exactly. That's the bottom line. Tradition doesn't change, but Nike's profit margin does.

[PhlyBoy]

So, if I say that Oregon's tradition is being crazy and I don't mind 100% that their wearing these will I get killed on here? Because in all honesty Oregon is the only school in the nation where their athletic colors go beyond the actual school colors. When I think of Oregon I think of Carbon Fiber, Anthracite, Black, Volt, and chrome just as much as I think of Green and Yellow. On a national stage you want to look 100% you, and in that uniform Oregon looks 100% Oregon. Now with that said I wish they would have went Yellow/white/yellow for some nice contrast. But that's why I don't like that they chose these uniforms, not because of it not being school colors, but because there will be minimal contrast in this game. Oregon has unofficially adopted those colors as their own and use them across all sports. This is Oregon people.

[Sport]

Normally I'm on board with most of what Oregon does, but not in this moment. Wear whatever fancy uniform you want to wear, but it should be green and yellow.

Also, I'll argue that since Oregon started the whole multiple combinations, different helmet every game, never look the same, wear colors outside your usual spectrum thing, other schools have started doing it as well. That worked for a little while, but it isn't as strong when so many other schools are now doing the same thing.

[JPDesign]

I think a lot of people are getting too hung up by color. It's not like Oregon's uniform design changes every week. It's not like they're not coming out for the national championship wearing black and grey shoulder loops. Doesn't matter what color comes out, you see wings, you know it's Oregon.

It's like freaking out at Apple for releasing different colored iPhones. "But but but! How will anyone know it's an iPhone if it's gold?! This is their flagship product, it should be black and silver!"

Sports teams have their color schemes, and by and large that's been a primary way of identifying them for a long time. But to say that black and grey are NOT part of Oregon's color scheme is to be ignorant of the past 5-10 years. Yes, green and yellow are their official school colors but you can't deny that what they're wearing in the National Championship game is not definitively Oregon-esque.

[PhlyBoy]

I think a lot of people are getting too hung up by color. It's not like Oregon's uniform design changes every week. It's not like they're not coming out for the national championship wearing black and grey shoulder loops. Doesn't matter what color comes out, you see wings, you know it's Oregon.

It's like freaking out at Apple for releasing different colored iPhones. "But but but! How will anyone know it's an iPhone if it's gold?! This is their flagship product, it should be black and silver!"

Sports teams have their color schemes, and by and large that's been a primary way of identifying them for a long time. But to say that black and grey are NOT part of Oregon's color scheme is to be ignorant of the past 5-10 years. Yes, green and yellow are their official school colors but you can't deny that what they're wearing in the National Championship game is not definitively Oregon-esque.

100% agree. nailed it