Illinois Football Uniforms

#176      
OrangeBlue98
Not really much I can add, as most of what I agree with has already been posted. I will say that we should NOT overdo the all-orange look. Keep it for big night games, as the orange did look really sharp under the lights. Also, as other have said, the same stripes on all three uniform elements and the same shade of orange made this work. Even if only the pants had no stripes, I’m not sure this would have looked as good as it did. I was pleasantly surprised by the all orange.
 
#177      
OrangeBlue98
Since this weekend is the 1980s era arched Illini helmet, we almost have to go with a uniform combo from one of these two games to remember the 1983 season.

1) O/B/O (wore during that year’s Iowa game)
2) O/B/B (wore during the Michigan game)

My preference is 1) given my feelings for Iowa and the beat down put on them that game. But I fully accept if 2) is the pick given it’s Michigan and the meaning of that 1983 game.
 
#178      
Mr. Tibbs
OrangeBlue98 said:
Since this weekend is the 1980s era arched Illini helmet, we almost have to go with a uniform combo from one of these two games to remember the 1983 season.

1) O/B/O (wore during that year’s Iowa game)
2) O/B/B (wore during the Michigan game)

My preference is 1) given my feelings for Iowa and the beat down put on them that game. But I fully accept if 2) is the pick given it’s Michigan and the meaning of that 1983 game.
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wasnt it last year when they said the Blue jerseys had a production issue ?
you wonder if they ever made it onto that freighter out of Jakarta finally
 
#179      
OrangeBlue98
Whoops-the photo on the article I read about the Iowa game showed a Jack Trudeau photo from the Rose Bowl. Further research showed we wore navy pants against Iowa, too.

Makes that pretty easy-O/B/B for Saturday!
 
#180      
Fighter of the Nightman
OrangeBlue98 said:
Since this weekend is the 1980s era arched Illini helmet, we almost have to go with a uniform combo from one of these two games to remember the 1983 season.

1) O/B/O (wore during that year’s Iowa game)
2) O/B/B (wore during the Michigan game)

My preference is 1) given my feelings for Iowa and the beat down put on them that game. But I fully accept if 2) is the pick given it’s Michigan and the meaning of that 1983 game.
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I think you almost have to go with #2 ... at least I would! O/B/O is worn so frequently - both now and with every uniform combo we have had since the 1980s - that I feel like I associate the O/B/B look WAY more uniquely with old photos I have seen of that Rose Bowl season.

EDIT: Your follow-up post caught my eye right as I was typing this, so I guess we are all in agreement. :ROFLMAO: However, I could totally see the perspective where they think they have to honor the O/B/O look on Homecoming? If you put me in charge of the jerseys, I would rock these the rest of the way. I put the special throwback helmets in orange italic font to make those games stand out.

vs. Central Michigan: O/B/B ... honor the 1980s arched ILLINI helmets with an iconic look from that era.
at Nebraska: O/W/O ... regular road combo to emphasize it as a business trip for a winnable game.
at Penn State: O/W/O ... wear the same combo that got us the win the last time we visited Happy Valley, as well as sticking with what worked in Lincoln!
vs. Purdue: O/B/W ... hear me out! This is the game where we wear the 1960s star/number helmets, and I think we wore this combo a lot in that era. Plus, I at least want to SEE what the white pants and navy jersey combo looks like ... could honestly look really sharp, even if I do not support it being used regularly.
vs. Michigan: Red Grange Throwbacks ... duh/already announced.
at Oregon: O/W/B ... it's time for #BPOTR. Not only would this combination look mighty slick, but this sort of calls back to our 1999 upset win at the Big House. We obviously wore this combo during that win, and I think many fans probably still associate it with that epic game. Plus, it occurred at almost the exact same time of year as this Oregon game.
vs. Minnesota: O/B/O ... I think the military appreciation helmet we are wearing probably just goes best with the standard uniform set.
vs. Michigan State: O/B/O ... regular home game vs. a team we need to beat, so we dress in our usual getup. Revenge for 2022.
at Rutgers: O/W/O ... default road uniform for a default road game, especially for an Illini team that is 11-0. :cool:
vs. Northwestern (Wrigley): O/O/O ... I'm operating under the assumption that Northwestern as the home team wears their all black "Gothic uniforms" but they also allow us to wear orange to mark it as (A) a cool neutral site game and (B) a cool rivalry game ... think of how UCLA and USC wear their home uniforms for that game no matter where they play. So, we wear all orange again to emphasize the contrast, but we flip the script a tiny bit and bust back out the arched ILLINI helmets for some extra flair.

For any postseason play, from the Big Ten Championship to a crappy bowl in Detroit to the College Football Playoff, I say keep it classic. O/B/O or O/W/O. We want the millions of viewers to remember Illini football!

P.S. Someone theorized that whoever is in charge of picking our uniforms seems overly concerned about making the "tri-stripes" match on as many layers of our uniform as possible. I think this especially explains why we have seen WAY too much O/W/W (by far my least favorite combo, no idea what they are thinking here, haha), as it has our shoulder stripes match our pants stripes. It also explains why we have seen the navy pants multiple times at home for O/B/B (same as the O/W/W but reversed) and of course the all orange. Lastly, it leaves us with a solid (if disappointing) explanation of why we still have not seen O/W/B for we #BPOTR loyalists.
 
#181      
redwingillini11
Fighter of the Nightman said:
I think you almost have to go with #2 ... at least I would! O/B/O is worn so frequently - both now and with every uniform combo we have had since the 1980s - that I feel like I associate the O/B/B look WAY more uniquely with old photos I have seen of that Rose Bowl season.

EDIT: Your follow-up post caught my eye right as I was typing this, so I guess we are all in agreement. :ROFLMAO: However, I could totally see the perspective where they think they have to honor the O/B/O look on Homecoming? If you put me in charge of the jerseys, I would rock these the rest of the way. I put the special throwback helmets in orange italic font to make those games stand out.

vs. Central Michigan: O/B/B ... honor the 1980s arched ILLINI helmets with an iconic look from that era.
at Nebraska: O/W/O ... regular road combo to emphasize it as a business trip for a winnable game.
at Penn State: O/W/O ... wear the same combo that got us the win the last time we visited Happy Valley, as well as sticking with what worked in Lincoln!
vs. Purdue: O/B/W ... hear me out! This is the game where we wear the 1960s star/number helmets, and I think we wore this combo a lot in that era. Plus, I at least want to SEE what the white pants and navy jersey combo looks like ... could honestly look really sharp, even if I do not support it being used regularly.
vs. Michigan: Red Grange Throwbacks ... duh/already announced.
at Oregon: O/W/B ... it's time for #BPOTR. Not only would this combination look mighty slick, but this sort of calls back to our 1999 upset win at the Big House. We obviously wore this combo during that win, and I think many fans probably still associate it with that epic game. Plus, it occurred at almost the exact same time of year as this Oregon game.
vs. Minnesota: O/B/O ... I think the military appreciation helmet we are wearing probably just goes best with the standard uniform set.
vs. Michigan State: O/B/O ... regular home game vs. a team we need to beat, so we dress in our usual getup. Revenge for 2022.
at Rutgers: O/W/O ... default road uniform for a default road game, especially for an Illini team that is 11-0. :cool:
vs. Northwestern (Wrigley): O/O/O ... I'm operating under the assumption that Northwestern as the home team wears their all black "Gothic uniforms" but they also allow us to wear orange to mark it as (A) a cool neutral site game and (B) a cool rivalry game ... think of how UCLA and USC wear their home uniforms for that game no matter where they play. So, we wear all orange again to emphasize the contrast, but we flip the script a tiny bit and bust back out the arched ILLINI helmets for some extra flair.

For any postseason play, from the Big Ten Championship to a crappy bowl in Detroit to the College Football Playoff, I say keep it classic. O/B/O or O/W/O. We want the millions of viewers to remember Illini football!

P.S. Someone theorized that whoever is in charge of picking our uniforms seems overly concerned about making the "tri-stripes" match on as many layers of our uniform as possible. I think this especially explains why we have seen WAY too much O/W/W (by far my least favorite combo, no idea what they are thinking here, haha), as it has our shoulder stripes match our pants stripes. It also explains why we have seen the navy pants multiple times at home for O/B/B (same as the O/W/W but reversed) and of course the all orange. Lastly, it leaves us with a solid (if disappointing) explanation of why we still have not seen O/W/B for we #BPOTR loyalists.
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In this hypothetical uniform schedule, for the game at Wrigley why not wear a helmet that has a history of demolishing the cats in that very building? ;)
 
#182      
Fighter of the Nightman
redwingillini11 said:
In this hypothetical uniform schedule, for the game at Wrigley why not wear a helmet that has a history of demolishing the cats in that very building? ;)
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Lol, well we'd have to go with my least favorite O/W/W combo if we really wanted to try to recapture that juju... :ROFLMAO: ;) However, I would not be opposed to it for this reason.

Another plug for that game, by the way ... I was there in 2010, and I cannot describe how cool it was. To anyone who is even considering going, go. Period. It was so much fun. And this time, there won't be insane ticket-concealing games* to keep Illini fans out, and I think the place will be painted orange!!

* For those who don't remember, Northwestern limited Illinois to its standard 3,000 allotted tickets for a visiting team (roughly 7-8% of the crowd at Wrigley), and they actually required you to have a Northwestern season ticket to attend the game! So, the only way any Illini fans got into that stadium was either by purchasing an NU season ticket (which a hilarious number of Illini fans did, lol) or by paying a lot of money for a ticket on StubHub (which was not as prominent as it is today, IIRC). At the end of the day, I was SUPER impressed by the number of Illini fans who found a way to be there. What "should" have been a crowd of 7% Illini fans was actually well over 50% when you consider a lot of them were wearing navy, which looks like purple:

r136630_1296x729_16-9.jpg

There was also a hilarious visual of the NU student section in the right field bleachers decked out in purple and all of the rooftops (which had tickets just sold normally) being completely full of Illini fans. :ROFLMAO:
wrigley1-jumbo.jpg
 
#183      
Dan
"As part of the team's season-long celebration of the 100th Anniversary of Memorial Stadium, Illinois will wear Arched Illini helmets on Saturday. The program wore the Arched Illini helmets from 1971-87. Facemasks, helmet stripes, and decal sizing varied throughout the period. The 2024 edition will feature gray facemasks and a blue-white-orange-white-blue center stripe cadence." via
 
#184      
Fighter of the Nightman
Here's to hoping that on Saturday we honor this color combo...

b392d3d9d0aa30b47e807f0f8ccbefc7.jpg


... with this color combo (plus the arched ILLINI helmet, of course)!

90


It's really unfortunate our only two outings in the O/B/B look last year were a terrifyingly close call vs. FAU and an EXTREMELY disheartening home loss to Nebraska ... because it's honestly my favorite look from an aesthetic point.
 
#185      
Ander1345
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Here's to hoping that on Saturday we honor this color combo...

b392d3d9d0aa30b47e807f0f8ccbefc7.jpg


... with this color combo (plus the arched ILLINI helmet, of course)!

90


It's really unfortunate our only two outings in the O/B/B look last year were a terrifyingly close call vs. FAU and an EXTREMELY disheartening home loss to Nebraska ... because it's honestly my favorite look from an aesthetic point.
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They confirmed the arched Illini for this game. I assume we'll also go with blue and blue.
 
#186      
GrayGhost77
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Here's to hoping that on Saturday we honor this color combo...

b392d3d9d0aa30b47e807f0f8ccbefc7.jpg


... with this color combo (plus the arched ILLINI helmet, of course)!

90


It's really unfortunate our only two outings in the O/B/B look last year were a terrifyingly close call vs. FAU and an EXTREMELY disheartening home loss to Nebraska ... because it's honestly my favorite look from an aesthetic point.
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I'd be down with that but also wouldn't mind seeing O/B/O for this game. I guess we'll find out what it will be soon enough.
 
#187      
band camp
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Here's to hoping that on Saturday we honor this color combo...

b392d3d9d0aa30b47e807f0f8ccbefc7.jpg


... with this color combo (plus the arched ILLINI helmet, of course)!

90


It's really unfortunate our only two outings in the O/B/B look last year were a terrifyingly close call vs. FAU and an EXTREMELY disheartening home loss to Nebraska ... because it's honestly my favorite look from an aesthetic point.
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Me too Fighter.
 
#197      
AZILL
Surprised no one has commented on the stripes not matching. Shouldn't the stripes on the orange helmet at least match the stripes on the orange pants? 1st thing I noticed...... I like the O/B/O look though.
 
#198      
BlueFlag
AZILL said:
Surprised no one has commented on the stripes not matching. Shouldn't the stripes on the orange helmet at least match the stripes on the orange pants? 1st thing I noticed...... I like the O/B/O look though.
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The stripes did match on last week's all-orange uniforms worn against Kansas. The three stripe pattern was 2 blue stripes on the outside with 1 white strip inside. This stripe pattern was the same on the pants, jersey shoulders, and helmets. A very nice look.

But, the blue-white-blue stripes pattern doesn't work on blue pants or jerseys. (I think BB wants to keep a consistent orange helmet color as much as possible.)

On the Homecoming uniform JC Davis is modeling above, the blue jersey shoulder stripes pattern is switched to the orange-white-orange pattern. The stripes on the arched Illini helmet is just an older helmet stripe design.

Its can be hard to match stripe patterns when the "background color" of the pants, jerseys and/or helmets don't match.
 
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#200      
AZILL
I get why the striping on the jersey and pants are the way they are, they 'match' in the sense that they have the opposite color as the framing stripe with white in the middle. Without looking back, perhaps the helmet striping is what it was when those were our primary helmets back in the day and they just decided not to mess with it....🤷‍♂️ I was just mainly being a bit sarcastic because I know the whole striping consistency thing was a bone of contention for a lot of folks on here, lol.
 
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