Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Blue Pants On The Road.
And no, I didn’t start that. Someone else deserves credit.
Illinois Football Uniforms
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And no, I didn’t start that. Someone else deserves credit.
mattcoldagelli
- Script Illinois Enthusiast
As a *FORMER* slant Illinois hater, I will finally admit that this ILLINOIS helmet is a better look than the regular Block I helmet.
As long as this logo doesn't come back, I'll be happy
As long as this logo doesn't come back, I'll be happy
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Yeah, this logo gives me branding PTSD from my early years as a fan, haha. With the extra outlines and stuff, it doesn't even really have any retro/nostalgic appeal ... it's just kind of Word Arty, and the font of ILLINOIS over the Block I is totally unnecessary. As a fellow former Slant ILLINOIS hater who was SO happy when we finally ditched it during the Zook years, I have to say that another poster once hit the nail on the head about what is different for me with this current throwback iteration and why it works so much better.
If you're going to go with the Slant ILLINOIS look, you HAVE to achieve a retro look. Our current one does this well, but the Slant ILLINOIS I ACTUALLY grew up with was subtly different, and the navy outline causes it to lose all of its retro look and just looks like crap in comparison:
Current Slant ILLINOIS - Honoring our 1989-2004 look
Zook Era Slant ILLINOIS - What we wore from 2005 until it was retired in 2012 or so
Something about the navy outline just pushes it out of the realm of retro but not quite into the realm of objectively stylish ... so it's just boring and weird looking, haha. SUCH a good decision to bring it back with just the plain white font.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Also, I will force myself to stick to my "official" uniform predictions that I made before the season started, so this is what I had us going back to for the upcoming WMU game, which I would not be happy about:
However, I think for each week I will throw a bit of a "wild card guess" out there ... not necessarily what I think will happen, but something I think would be cool and could at least maybe see the staff doing that. So, for this week ... here's my wild card guess for what we (hopefully but probably won't) get to see:
Again ... safe money is a return to the default we wore for the WIU game. However, I could see us roll with the Slant ILLINOIS helmet after a statement win at Duke, and this would be the first time we ever got to see it with the navy uniforms. Also, we have gone with the O/B/B look at least once in each of he past two seasons, and it would be a good look for this being our only guaranteed game under the lights.
However, I think for each week I will throw a bit of a "wild card guess" out there ... not necessarily what I think will happen, but something I think would be cool and could at least maybe see the staff doing that. So, for this week ... here's my wild card guess for what we (hopefully but probably won't) get to see:
Again ... safe money is a return to the default we wore for the WIU game. However, I could see us roll with the Slant ILLINOIS helmet after a statement win at Duke, and this would be the first time we ever got to see it with the navy uniforms. Also, we have gone with the O/B/B look at least once in each of he past two seasons, and it would be a good look for this being our only guaranteed game under the lights.
Idk why but it’s supposed to be over 90 degrees this weekend and I got a feeling this is coming (not my prediction I made, but here we go):
redwingillini11
White and Sixth
- Batavia
1000%. The blue outline makes the white in the letters look a bit more gray, muted, and basically sad. As a top tier ILLINOIS stan, I can fully admit that those era are truly bad. When combined with what was an almost 10 year old Nike template that only FCS and high school teams were still using at the time, we were one of the worst outfitted teams before the Beckman-era rebrand.Yeah, this logo gives me branding PTSD from my early years as a fan, haha. With the extra outlines and stuff, it doesn't even really have any retro/nostalgic appeal ... it's just kind of Word Arty, and the font of ILLINOIS over the Block I is totally unnecessary. As a fellow former Slant ILLINOIS hater who was SO happy when we finally ditched it during the Zook years, I have to say that another poster once hit the nail on the head about what is different for me with this current throwback iteration and why it works so much better.
If you're going to go with the Slant ILLINOIS look, you HAVE to achieve a retro look. Our current one does this well, but the Slant ILLINOIS I ACTUALLY grew up with was subtly different, and the navy outline causes it to lose all of its retro look and just looks like crap in comparison:
Current Slant ILLINOIS - Honoring our 1989-2004 look
Zook Era Slant ILLINOIS - What we wore from 2005 until it was retired in 2012 or so
Something about the navy outline just pushes it out of the realm of retro but not quite into the realm of objectively stylish ... so it's just boring and weird looking, haha. SUCH a good decision to bring it back with just the plain white font.
Instead, the no outline, crisp white-only ILLINOIS just absolutely pops, taps into 80s/90s nostalgia, and gives us a look that is unique in college football. I absolutely love it. Not that there aren't other good helmets for us (arched Illini), but this needs to be a main player in our rotation for the long haul. But, I will also agree, we do not need to have the combined ILLINOIS over the Block I logo back. Definitely too clunky.
mattcoldagelli
- Script Illinois Enthusiast
Also, as the driver of the #BPOTR bus, I feel like I need the appropriate caveat that our current orange numbers on the white top will not look as good with blue pants as the 1990s-era whites (with their blue numbers).
That's ok, of course - it'll simply serve as the clarion call for us to ditch the terrible rebrand number font and get back to basics. No brakes on the aforementioned #BPOTR bus.
That's ok, of course - it'll simply serve as the clarion call for us to ditch the terrible rebrand number font and get back to basics. No brakes on the aforementioned #BPOTR bus.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
^ You might be right, but I actually DID kind of like how the Beckman Era orange numbers looked with the navy pants. 
I actually can't find a single O/W/B picture from the Beckman Era uniforms, though... And with that said, imagining a navy number with orange outline on our current uniform does sound pretty nice...
I actually can't find a single O/W/B picture from the Beckman Era uniforms, though... And with that said, imagining a navy number with orange outline on our current uniform does sound pretty nice...
I think we end up white bottoms and tops to counter what will likely be all red from IU.^ You might be right, but I actually DID kind of like how the Beckman Era orange numbers looked with the navy pants.
I actually can't find a single O/W/B picture from the Beckman Era uniforms, though... And with that said, imagining a navy number with orange outline on our current uniform does sound pretty nice...
Does anyone know where the -whatever color- “Out” started? I think the first I remember seeing or hearing about it was Michigan St. basketball with the “White Out” but I could be wrong.
And by the way, my favorite phrase for the promotion was always “Paint the Hall Orange” But since we don’t call it the Hall anymore I think “Hail to the Orange Out” is a suitable replacement! Way better than Red Out, Blue Out, whatever. Not really any creative thought in just choosing your color followed by “Out”
And by the way, my favorite phrase for the promotion was always “Paint the Hall Orange” But since we don’t call it the Hall anymore I think “Hail to the Orange Out” is a suitable replacement! Way better than Red Out, Blue Out, whatever. Not really any creative thought in just choosing your color followed by “Out”
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
That would be a tragedy, IMO … white pants on the road with a non-white helmet just doesn’t work for me.
mattcoldagelli
- Script Illinois Enthusiast
Plz no
skyIdub
"I can't tell you. Secret."
Beatty Puttin’ On The Rizz
People used to say the old Winnipeg Jets started it (even before Penn State). Not really sure though.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
See, I would still be somewhat against an all-white look since we have two bold, primary colors. HOWEVER, if you are going to go with white jerseys and white pants ... you gotta rock a white helmet. When it comes to the Storm Trooper look, you either commit or you don't! Having an orange helmet on top of the white jersey and white pants just looks too mismatched and weird to me.
OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
For me, it’s pretty simple now.
Arched Illini as the default decal with blue jerseys.
Slant Illinois as the default with white or orange jerseys.
Script Illinois for special occasions (post-season or Orange Out)
My one exception is for the arched Illini as an option when wearing blue pants on the road. But I’d use it sparingly.
Arched Illini as the default decal with blue jerseys.
Slant Illinois as the default with white or orange jerseys.
Script Illinois for special occasions (post-season or Orange Out)
My one exception is for the arched Illini as an option when wearing blue pants on the road. But I’d use it sparingly.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I would be so frustratingly curious to hear what the rationale would be for a DIA person to reject this idea.
I like the shield but I think we're at the point where we need to whittle down options some (looking at you Block I), not add more.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Yeah, Block I is hanging on because of pure stubbornness from someone in the program and/or DIA, lol ... and you can't convince me otherwise. Standing next to the Script, Slant ILLINOIS and Arched ILLINI options, it is simply outclassed. Literally who cares that our main logo is the Block I?
Know what these programs have in common from the list of top 10 winningest programs of all-time?
#1 Michigan
#2 Ohio State
#3 Alabama
#4 Notre Dame
#7 Penn State
#8 Nebraska
#10 USC
None of them have their current primary logo on their helmet. It's not a rule!! Lol.
PizzaHutParkingLot
- Vodice, Croatia
Add this along with the Block I for our buy games (For the DIA folks), and I think it’s a win for everyone.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Another thing RE: The Shield and Block I vs. our other options is what posters have brought up here a lot - "horizontal" tends to look better on a football helmet than "vertical." JMO, but you can really see this with how cool the Slant ILLINOIS and Script look from the front (first two pictures, respectively), where you can see a little bit of the writing that is on the side of the helmet ... whereas the Block I is largely invisible from this angle (third picture being our Wrigley-themed Block I).
More importantly, I think Script and Slant ILLINOIS also just look better from the side than a more vertical logo.
More importantly, I think Script and Slant ILLINOIS also just look better from the side than a more vertical logo.
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