Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
You might be on to something here with the feather being a common feature for both!
Illinois Football Uniforms
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Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Oh just to reiterate, this is NOT what I want, haha ... merely what I am predicting based on social media, past preferences, total guesses, etc. It's probably changed since my last go at this, but this would be my lineup if you put me in charge of this (my dream job, lol) and made me pick all 12 games today:
vs. Western Illinois: O/B/O & Script Helmet ... I don't buy the Script being reserved for the postseason whatsoever, lol. It's both cool AND not a throwback, so it should absolutely be the standard helmet. Countless great programs do not have their logo on their helmet ... retire the Block I. Also, this provides continuity with the Citrus Bowl win last year to kick off the season.
at Duke: O/W/O & Slant ILLINOIS Helmet ... I've warmed up to the idea of this as our go-to road look, and it did get us those thrilling road wins at Nebraska and Rutgers last year.
vs. Western Michigan: O/B/O & Script Helmet ... Again, this should be the default home look, period.
at Indiana: O/W/B & Arched ILLINI Helmet ... At the risk of offending anyone, there has literally never been a more obvious uniform decision, lol. Hugely hyped road game vs. a team whose color is red (i.e., #BPOTR provides a way better contrast)?? Come ON, Bret, I need this!!
vs. USC: O/B/O & Script Helmet ... Just feels wrong to wear anything other than O/B/O on Homecoming, and the Script is my standard at home once again.
at Purdue: O/W/O & Slant ILLINOIS Helmet ... Default road look for a default road game.
vs. Ohio State (Orange Out): O/O/W & Script Helmet ... This might be one of my least popular picks since (A) many seem to love the Slant ILLINOIS with the orange look and (B) many people seem to think we should at least rock an all-orange look for an "Orange Out" game ... what can I say?? Going back to the Zook years, I have always thought the orange jersey/white pants was such a slick look to use sparingly, and it's ten times better with our current white pants. Also, I personally think the Script helmet would look best of all our helmet options with the orange. I could totally live with all orange and Slant ILLINOIS like last year, as it really did look great ... but I'm givin' old Slant a lot of love on the road and will rock it for the Veterans Day game.
at Washington: O/W/O & Slant ILLINOIS Helmet ... I was tempted to switch up the helmet here, but I am already doing that for the Indiana and Wisconsin road games.
vs. Rutgers (Dads Day): O/B/B & Arched ILLINI Helmet ... I really wanted the navy pants at home at least once, and I think Dads Day is the choice. Something about O/B/B and that Arched ILLINI helmet just screams 1980s success to me when it comes to Illini football.
vs. Maryland (Veterans Day): O/B/O & Slant ILLINOIS V-Day Helmet ... I know we've worn orange for the Veterans Day weekend game the past two years, but I am not a fan. I think our orange jerseys should be a rare occurrence and only used for these two specific occasions - (1) Our annual "Orange Out" game and (2) our game vs. Missouri every single year, whether home, away or neutral. The latter is part of my desperate desire for Illini/Mizzou games to ALWAYS be "color rush" games (like how USC and UCLA wear their home jerseys every year no matter where the game is), in both football and for Braggin' Rights. With orange, navy, gold and black to work with, there are a couple combinations that can work and it would add a cool aspect to the rivalry. Anyway:
at Wisconsin: O/W/B & Arched ILLINI Helmet ... I'm sure many think #BPOTR should be reserved for "big games," but (A) I think this IS a huge game given Bret's history with UW and possible CFP implications at this time of the year and (B) I think we should just generally always rock the navy pants when the home team wears red. It's a much better contrast than orange.
vs. Northwestern: O/B/O & Script Helmet ... See previous comments about uniforms on Homecoming and apply to Senior Day.
Postseason Home: O/B/O & Helmet ... You do not mess with this after the magic of the Citrus Bowl win last year!!
Postseason Away: O/W/B & Script Helmet ... While I don't think the Script should ONLY be used in the postseason, I do like the idea of sticking with it once we get there. However, GOTTA rock #BPOTR for any game of this magnitude where we have to wear white!!!
General/summarized uniform thoughts:
1. Retire the Block I helmet ... sorry, not sorry. Use the Script as the "usual" helmet at home, Slant ILLINOIS as the "usual" helmet on the road and sprinkle in Arched ILLINI at an appropriately rare rate.
2. Orange pants should be the default, and we should only deviate for a specific reason. Examples include #BPOTR for big road games, navy pants at home for a rare game every once in a while (ideally a big night game under the lights!) and white pants with the rare orange jersey. White pants should N-E-V-E-R be worn with our white jersey unless we are going to bust out a white helmet. "Almost all-white!" is the lamest uniform look, IMO. I also don't generally support white pants with the navy jersey at home, but if/when the 2007 team comes back for an anniversary celebration in 2027, we absolutely have to rock O/B/W and Slant ILLINOIS for that game to properly honor their look.
3. As previously stated, the Mizzou game should always be a color rush game as a nod to our shared history in St. Louis and the city's importance as a bit of a neutral ground for our programs/rivalry. If Mizzou wears black, we wear orange. If Mizzou wears gold, we can wear either orange or navy. No team should ever wear white!
3.
SuperMetroid
- Evanston
Replace "Block I" with "slant ILLINOIS" in that sentence and i'm on board. Half Block I, half arched Illini...toss in the Script for big games.
OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
I posted this in the Week 1 thread, but Virginia Tech in orange (white helmets) vs an all-black South Carolina is a GREAT visual on TV.
We really should have done this in the bowl game, with us either in all-orange or O/O/W vs all-black South Carolina.
We really should have done this in the bowl game, with us either in all-orange or O/O/W vs all-black South Carolina.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
And, as I’ve suggested a lot, EVERY year vs. Mizzou!! The colors lend themselves to this so naturally!
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Well, I was bummed to be 1-0 in my predictions for the Western Illinois game, because I am on the bandwagon to retire the Block I helmet. However, I wouldn't mind at all if my prediction for the Duke game is correct!!
And I am cautiously optimistic this is indeed what we will go with. Going back through last season, the only times we deviated from this on the road were (A) at Oregon when we reverted to the white pants and wore the Block I helmet and (B) vs. Northwestern at Wrigley when we wore the special Wrigley-themed Block I helmet (but still wore orange pants). I'm hopeful that the Oregon beat down retired the white pants on the road.
And I am cautiously optimistic this is indeed what we will go with. Going back through last season, the only times we deviated from this on the road were (A) at Oregon when we reverted to the white pants and wore the Block I helmet and (B) vs. Northwestern at Wrigley when we wore the special Wrigley-themed Block I helmet (but still wore orange pants). I'm hopeful that the Oregon beat down retired the white pants on the road.
redwingillini11
White and Sixth
- Batavia
Well this is a pretty earth shattering move in the college apparel world. Maybe it's not Ohio State, Texas, Alabama, or Georgia leaving Nike, but it's about as close as it gets. It's like when Michigan switched back in the 2000s. If I had to speculate what school might make this type of move, I would have never guessed Penn State. But now that Adidas has really stepped up its game in the past 5 years, it may be a really smart move.
This is what makes me speculate that maybe an Illinois move to Adidas is not as far fetched as I have believed in the past. Despite long term partnerships, we live in the era where going with the highest bidder is necessary. Still, thinking realistically, we are probably not a major target for Adidas in the same way Penn State and Tennessee likely were.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I generally don't wear any jerseys except for soccer ones (they're pretty stylish compared to most sports and objectively like the most comfortable type of shirt, haha...), but I that has started to change for hoops. I have actually started wearing my Ayo Script jersey to some games, but I always feel bad that it's not orange, so I more often rock my Flyin' Illini one. Haven't made the jump to wearing football ones yet!
I wear the 90’s/00’s home jersey. Like, the original one, not the new ones with the ginormous numbers I’ve seen for sale lately.
No name on the back. I don’t necessarily care if someone does (though it seems more common in basketball than football) but I will say in football it seems like people rocking a name on the back typically have some relation to the player unless it’s Luke or something.
meh, mine is just kinda generic
but if I did get one personalized, it would say Grange or Butkus on the back with # 77 or #50 as the case may be
All orange will always be the coldest.
Funny you should ask. My kids bought me a Johnny Newton jersey (current navy jersey) that I wear to Illini football games. I asked my son and his buddies, juniors at Illinois, if it was acceptable for someone my age to wear a college jersey and they saw no issue. Outside of SEC country, it appears to be far more popular/socially acceptable to wear NFL jerseys than college jerseys
Battle89
- Cary-Grove, the better Trojan team
Genuinely curious / confused as to why this could be an issue at all. Wear whatever jersey you like, name on back or not.
I only have a Juice jersey (which funny enough I wore for WIU, but that was just in my living room). Not much beats the high of that OSU game...
My usual when attending games is to rock some 30-year old gear that includes the Chief; if I look like an old fart so be it. The Chief will live as long as I do.
Big Mullet Energy is something else lol
Last year it seemed like they gave hints about uniform stuff the day or two before each game. Seems like that’s not happening this year so far.
I’m just gonna take a guess that if we see the block tomorrow, we can assume we’ll probably only have these alternates:
1. Slant/Underline, orange jerseys and pants against Ohio State
2. Probably an orange jersey and the military appreciation helmet on military appreciation day against Maryland.
And I’m gonna guess that’s it.
I’m just gonna take a guess that if we see the block tomorrow, we can assume we’ll probably only have these alternates:
1. Slant/Underline, orange jerseys and pants against Ohio State
2. Probably an orange jersey and the military appreciation helmet on military appreciation day against Maryland.
And I’m gonna guess that’s it.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
^ I hate to say I agree. We wore the Slant ILLINOIS helmet for our big road games at Nebraska and at PSU last year, and if we don't go back to that look for this one ... I do fear that some (bozo!!) person in charge has determined we "need to" return to the Block I. Let's hope it was just a stupid regression for the WIU game, though.
We wore the Slant ILLINOIS helmet for our big road games at Nebraska and at PSU last year, and if we don't go back to that look for this one ... I do fear that some (bozo!!) person in charge has determined we "need to" return to the Block I. Let's hope it was just a stupid regression for the WIU game, though. This would be disappointing, but I could see it. I convinced myself Bielema was a slant guy because of last season, but pre-2024 says otherwise.^ I hate to say I agree.
Krombopulos_Michael
- Aurora, Illinois (that’s a suburb of Chicago)
^ I hate to say I agree.
Username sorta checks out
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
TBF, I don't think we can judge 2023 choices, as I think ONLY the Block I was available. I posted this on a previous page, but these games were "taken" last year as designated and/or pre-announced games where a specific helmet was to be worn. If you will remember, we actually had a social media video put out where players got to guess which games were for which helmets, so we know this was decided ahead of time. Also, it seems obvious that they had plans for the Wrigley-themed helmet vs. Northwestern and the Script to be debuted for the Citrus Bowl, so I'm adding them:
vs. Kansas: Slant ILLINOIS
vs. Central Michigan: Arched ILLINI
vs. Purdue: Butkus Era
vs. Michigan: Grange Era
vs. Michigan State: Block I
vs. Northwestern: Wrigley/Ivy Block I
vs. South Carolina: Script
That means, we "chose" the following helmets for these open games:
Block I vs. Eastern Illinois
Slant ILLINOIS at Nebraska
Slant ILLINOIS at Penn State
Block I at Oregon
Slant ILLINOIS Veterans Day vs. Minnesota
Slant ILLINOIS at Rutgers
So we wore some version of Slant ILLINOIS in 4 of our 6 open games, and we made a conscious choice to replace our American flag Block I helmet with a Slant ILLINOIS Veterans Day helmet, too. I think it was definitely reasonable to assume Bret had sort of adopted Slant ILLINOIS as his favorite, especially when you also look at a lot of the apparel he wears. I'm frankly surprised we aren't riding the momentum of how popular the throwback helmets are, and needless to say I find it to be a bewildering, short-sighted and really dumb mistake, haha.
Who knows, though?? Maybe it's packed and already in Durham. I will say I am now growing really pessimistic that we ever see Arched ILLINI this year, and I was probably always dreaming that we would finally get #BPOTR.
However, I still feel pretty confident that we will get to see what Slant ILLINOIS looks like at home with the navy jerseys (maybe Homecoming vs. USC) and that we will see the Script again, even if not (unfortunately) until the postseason.I have to give a rare disagreement with Fighter on this one, but I’m gonna use your comment to couch it in.
I get where you’re coming from but I try to keep in mind that Bielema seems very intentional about every single piece of his program, AND that it took him over 2 years of work to get this uniform approved and produced. I think every single piece of that uniform was Brett-breathed.
With that assumption, I think he is the driver of the bus on the Block I. Helmet decals, hardware, and Jersey/pants patches can be changed without much approval. He popped the inverse helmet stripe, outlined Block I, and white facemask on year one, and also added a patch to the pants immediately. At no point in 2021, 2022 or 2023 did he “try things out” with logos on the helmet. That outlined Block I has been a staple from game one of his first season.
In 2024, the team leaned into swapping things, publicly stating it was to honor past teams. That was year 100 of memorial stadium. That doesn’t really seem to be lip service anymore, and I think the alternate logos on the road was more “hey we’re playing with it anyway and we’ve got some good juju in these so let’s keep it going.”
I think a lot of us hoped it was a tryout of other logos or maybe a shift to switching more, but I think we’ll have a much clearer picture of that this weekend. At this point, though, I kinda think the Block I is here to stay, and Brett really, truly wants it. I was hopeful that last year changed his mind (as he’s deviated from his prior decisions in the past with the helmet inverse striping) but that seems sorta doubtful.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
^ All fair points. I guess my main reason for thinking Slant ILLINOIS might be here to stay is that it was the ONLY throwback helmet that was ever worn again, and we wore it FOUR more times after its designated debut. Compare that to never seeing Butkus Era or Arched ILLINI ever again in any of the "open games," and it just felt like the staff clearly had a unique fondness for Slant ILLINOIS that went beyond a one-year gimmick.
For real, though, I think this game will tell a lot. It's a big road test that could help to define this season, and it will be on national TV, directly following gameday. Even people who pretend this stuff doesn't matter would agree that our choice here is somewhat of a good indication of things going forward. If we rock the Block I, I think we can be pretty sure we are reverting back, and last year was just a special one-off, with us MAYBE using one of those already-produced throwbacks for one game per year or something. However, if we come out tomorrow with Slant ILLINOIS, then I think the Block I vs. WIU was more of a "we really should wear the default!" line of thinking, and we will still get to see the other helmets at least semi-frequently.
For real, though, I think this game will tell a lot. It's a big road test that could help to define this season, and it will be on national TV, directly following gameday. Even people who pretend this stuff doesn't matter would agree that our choice here is somewhat of a good indication of things going forward. If we rock the Block I, I think we can be pretty sure we are reverting back, and last year was just a special one-off, with us MAYBE using one of those already-produced throwbacks for one game per year or something. However, if we come out tomorrow with Slant ILLINOIS, then I think the Block I vs. WIU was more of a "we really should wear the default!" line of thinking, and we will still get to see the other helmets at least semi-frequently.
redwingillini11
White and Sixth
- Batavia
Are we going to be the only school in the country that doesn't announce its jersey combos ahead of time?
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