I always used to think of the blue uniforms as "unlucky," but the
obvious correlation is that we only wear those on the road and you don't win as many road games, lol. It always kind of stuck in my mind, though, that the 2005 squad never ONCE wore blue uniforms. I remember vividly that the first time we wore them again was when the #6-ranked 2006 Illini strolled into Iowa City with a 15-0 record and a
54-game regular season winning streak (and having won 62 of 65 regular season games...), only to get absolutely waxed by Iowa - a game I unfortunately attended. Never really liked the blues since, even if I think they look cool...
However, since I am quite prepared for my last MBA final ever and have quite the free time, I decided to look up our recent record by jersey.
JERSEY - 2021 RECORD - 2020 RECORD - TOTAL RECORD
Regular White: 6-1 ... 7-0 ... 13-1
Regular Orange: 7-1 ... 5-1 ... 12-2
Flyin' Illini Orange: 6-1 ... 4-2 ... 10-3
Script White: 4-1 ... 4-2 ... 8-3
Regular Blue: 0-2 ... 1-5 ... 1-7
There it is, folks - the definitive science behind Illini jerseys and their undeniable impacts on our games. Then again, I could have totally made that all up and no one would even know!
But I really did waste all that time looking this up, so the moral of the story is put those damn blue jerseys in the CLOSET!
P.S. I was kind of hoping we would debut the blue "FIGHTING ILLINI" throwbacks at some point for a big road game ... maybe NCAA Tournament??