Ranking the football uniforms: No. 1

Photo Attribution: USATSI

Uniform No. 1: Carbon fiber-white-orange
Worn: at Baylor
Result: Loss, 41-34

I guess we’ve established that I like the white jersey-orange pants combination. This is the same combo as OSU wore at Iowa State but with what I consider to be the superior helmet (though I have zero problems with the black one being considered the best — just a personal preference).

The top two for me are really pretty interchangeable. I thought I might get my house burned down if I picked the Iowa State unis in my top slot so I just went with these instead. These from late last season are one of the few combinations that when I saw them in the pregame made me say “whoa!” out loud.

They just looked so clean and classy together — like they were specifically put together for OSU. That’s the thing sometimes about the all blacks or all whites or even a lot of the gray stuff — It’s like, yeah they look great, but who can’t do all black? Everybody has done it and a team has likely already done it better than you have.

But not these, and not the Iowa State ones. Those two are uniquely Oklahoma State in the same way nearly all of Oregon’s uniforms are unique to Oregon. I think that matters when going through and trying to sort all of this out. A uniform has to look good, sure, but does it really embody who you are as a school and is it unique to your uniform tradition or have 15 other teams tried to do it as well?

One thing that really bothers me is uniform templates. Like these uniforms Baylor used to wear — that’s a template, 10 other teams had that little design pattern on the shoulder pads. That’s not unique to you.

OSU has, for the most part, done things their way and been unique with the designs and color schemes. Now if we can just do something about whitening up those white helmets….[1. Carson talks to me in the podcast today about how OSU’s white helmets look like cue balls (he’s right!). That’s what color they are. We also talked about how they need to be whitened up a little bit with maybe a matte finish like these Mississippi State ones Carson sent me last night. Worth discussing.]

I hope you’ve enjoyed the rankings. Maybe we’ll do it again after we get eight or nine (or more?) new combos in 2013.

Previous rankings

22. Orange-Orange-Orange
21. Black-Orange-Orange
20. Black-Gray-Gray
19. White-Gray-White
18. Gray-Orange-Gray
17. Gray-White-Gray
16. White-Orange-White
15. Gray-Black-Gray
14. Black-Black-Black
13. Orange-Orange-White
12. White-Black-Black
11. Orange-White-Orange
10. Black-Black-Black
9. Carbon fiber-White-Gray
8. White-White-White
7. Black-White-Black
6. Black-Black-Orange
5. White-White-Gray
4. Black-Orange-Black
3. White-White-Black
2. Black-White-Orange

You can read the full 2013 football preview here.