This Week's Football Threads

Per usual, we've got a good menu of alternate uniforms featured in this weekend's college football games. Anytime the topic of collge football alternate uniform's is brought up, Oregon immediately comes to mind because, well, every uniform of theirs is an alternate. This week the Ducks are going with a throwback alternate, which features their old mascot the "Webfoots." Oregon wore versions of these uniforms in their spring game.

This look really defines the term "throwback," as the Webfoots last wore these threads a century ago in 1916. Sure, this setup doesn't have the university's school colors on display, but I can get on board with that because the Ducks never really seem to do that as of late. I'd rather see a lack of school colors for the sake of a retro look as opposed to adding neon/chrome/matte grey/antyhing else they've ever added to their uniforms. I really dig the state flag on the helmet, and the vintage "UO" logo on the shoulders. Speaking of the shoulders, the stripes on there are easily my favorite part of the look. Within the stripes are the words to Oregon's fight song. Typically I'm not really on board with all of Oregon's crazy uniforms, especially when they imply way more bark than bite, but I'm all in on these. Unfortunately for the Ducks/Webfoots, they'll be rocking these as No. 5 Washington comes into town, which should be a blowout. Usually alternate uniforms can give underdogs some momentum against a superior opponent, but that factor does not come into play with the fashionably versatile Ducks.

These Pitt throwbacks were unveiled back in August, but the Panthers will finally be sporting these beauties in their homecoming game against Georgia Tech on Saturday. The Yellow Jackets' defenders might want to avoid any contact with Pitt players because these uniforms are HOT. I think Pitt's standard navy blue/gold combination is a bit bland. Not hideous by any means, but the royal blue/goldish yellow one-two punch just pops more. I'm all about the retro look of grey facemasks too, so these things are good in my book as a whole.

Boston College will be rocking their fantastic Red Bandana alternates in honor of BC alum Welles Crowther, the selfless hero who displayed incredible courage on 9/11. If you somehow don't know the story of the Man in the Red Bandana, you need to watch it right this second.

Now, I'm not the biggest BC guy by any means, but these are the most respectable alternate uniforms in college football. I do like the fact that the alterations are subtle, with the red and white paisley making an appearance only on the helmet stripe, cleats, and gloves. The Eagles will be wearing these threads on Friday night as No. 3 Clemson makes a visit to Chestnut Hill. The combo of these uniforms and a matchup against a top 10 team triggers memories from the 2014 season when BC upset No. 9 USC while wearing their Red Bandana uniforms. If these phenomenal uniforms can work their magic against Deshaun Watson and the Tigers, it will be the Eagles' first ACC win since they beat Syracuse on November 29, 2014. 

Switching things up from college football to the NFL, let's take a look at this Thursday's Color Rush uniforms. Thursday Night Football features the Arizona Cardinals and the San Francisco 49ers this week.

The 49ers will be sporting their all black uniforms below the neck. Typically I love blacked out setups, but the NFL's one-helmet per team rule really ruins these uniforms for me. For starters, the 49ers don't even have black as part of their team colors. So the helmet features three other colors, with no black. Just like the entire Color Rush marketing strategy, these uniforms just seem forced. The Cardinals color rush uniforms looked essentially identical to San Fran's, and their white helmets would pose the same problem. But since the 49ers are wearing all black, Arizona will be rocking their traditional white-on-white road uniforms. Why even release a team's color rush uniform if they're not even going to wear it? I understand that there's plenty of cash flow in it for the league, but it seems like a bit of a tease. I guess I'll just have to choose my battles and be happy that San Francisco won't be in all gold on Thursday. Either way, I won't be watching because Thursday Night Football is trash.

As a little bonus uniform for this post, I randomly stumbled upon Nicholls State's tribute to some of their local heros, the Thibodaux, Louisiana Fire Department.

Nicholls State is by no means a relevant program, and their game against Stephen F. Austin on Saturday is not one that I have the desire nor ability to tune into, but it's always cool to see a team pay tribute to those who put their life on the line for the safety of the community. It's not often that you see firefighters get a tribute like this, so I thought it was worth mentioning.