Illinois Football Uniforms

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#352      
Fighter of the Nightman
I’m super excited for this day to change, but it says a lot about my experience as a lifelong Illini fan (30 years old) that I’m more concerned with getting our next uniforms right than making a bowl this year, lol.

The latter is icing on the cake in a long-term rebuild … the former is something we can control immediately and an underrated step toward creating an “Illini identity” that Illinoisans of the next generation (alumni and non-alumni like me!) could grow up having pride in to match states like Iowa or Wisconsin!
 
#353      
Pikeillinifan
While I'm excited about new uniforms, I bet the changes are pretty small based on the new turf since we're using the same fonts. But a nice brighter orange, and maybe outlined numbers, will make a huge difference (in a positive way).

I would have loved to see the cursive script used more broadly, but maybe we'll have an alternate helmet using it like we do on the basketball uniforms.
 
#354      
Mr. Tibbs
my son went to Oklahoma St, and boy would I love it if we were ever looked 1/2 as good as those guys do every weekend. They have like 10 different helmets and what seems like endless combinations of uniform colors .

It seems like Oregon and Okla St set the bar for uni's
 
#355      
altgeld88
Fighter of the Nightman said:
I’m super excited for this day to change, but it says a lot about my experience as a lifelong Illini fan (30 years old) that I’m more concerned with getting our next uniforms right than making a bowl this year, lol.

The latter is icing on the cake in a long-term rebuild … the former is something we can control immediately and an underrated step toward creating an “Illini identity” that Illinoisans of the next generation (alumni and non-alumni like me!) could grow up having pride in to match states like Iowa or Wisconsin!
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Function can indeed follow form.

When Hayden Fry arrived at Iowa in '79, he scrapped the existing uniforms of the entirely mediocre Iowa football program and adopted the (at the time) dynastic Pittsburgh Steelers uniforms from head to toe. He also implemented the stylized Hawkeye profile on the helmet used to this day. At the time it seemed like a shameless rip-off. Within a decade or so it was an iconic college football look. Their uniforms haven't changed in 43 years.

In the BT only OSU, Michigan, Nebraska and Penn State can say that. All programs with longstanding winning lineage, even if the Huskers have declined since Tom Osborne retired. We could do worse, and have. Often.


HISTORY LESSON | "WHY THE IOWA HAWKEYES LOOK LIKE THE PITTSBURGH STEELERS"

Hayden Fry wanted Iowa to 'look like winners' so he copied the Steelers
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
www.post-gazette.com

Hayden Fry wanted Iowa to 'look like winners' so he copied the Steelers

Fry gave Iowa its signature look that has stuck around for 40 years.
www.post-gazette.com www.post-gazette.com

The Post-Gazette article is paywalled but you get the point.
 
#356      
N T A C F
Homecoming 2019 said:
View attachment 18918
Was going down a university beer google rabbit hole, and found the Illini inspired one from 1983 complete with our football schedule. Gotta say, I really dig the ILLINI font here.
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I’ve a six pack of these on my entertainment center. A few years ago one of the cans leaked out the syrupy contents all over the glass shelf. Keep waiting for the next one to go. These and the 1983 Chief Pepsi bottles always get a lot of comments when people come over. I’ve always considered this a bit of a ripoff of the AC/DC font.
 
#359      
ChiefGritty
#361      
Fighter of the Nightman
mattcoldagelli said:
Very lazy and bad, yes
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For some reason, I feel like 90%+ of NFL uniforms are almost "uneditable" due to how they were initially styled ... they're all more gaudy and "busier" than the best college uniforms, and all of these alternates (besides a few cool throwbacks) just look so much worse due to the baseline most NFL programs are working with.
 
#363      
the juiceman cometh
dgcrow said:
The person on this board who suggested that the "C" on the Bears' helmet looks like a toilet seat permanently ruined it for me. ;)
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Harrowing Schitts Creek GIF by CBC
 
#365      
SAVAGE56OL
dgcrow said:
The person on this board who suggested that the "C" on the Bears' helmet looks like a toilet seat permanently ruined it for me. ;)
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Sorry. And these new helmets are beyond lazy. The bear logo is one of the best logos in sports and instead they use the toilet lid seat C, but in a different color. People actually get paid large sums of money to make these stupid decisions
 
#374      
Fighter of the Nightman
Two more quick and random thoughts on uniforms as I wait for a client Zoom to begin (lol, employee of the year!):

1) I still think we should do the classic, cleaned up look with the new orange, some script/'70s font added in, better outlining of the numbers, etc.:

Home: O-B-O
Away: O-W-O
vs. NU: B-B-W at home, B-W-B on the road and B-O-W alternates for a big game or something

All one color or mixing those should be incredibly rare. With that said...

2) If our goal is to sort of "rebrand" for a new era while still nodding to the past, that picture actually got me thinking that we could do some cool stuff with white pants. I could totally get on bored with a scheme similar to those glorious throwbacks we wore in 2008 for the home opener - orange helmet, blue jerseys and white pants, keeping it clean and classic. I am not sure what would look best on the road if we went this route, but I think this scheme would be kind of a cool combo of giving the Illini a "new look" to say goodbye to our tumultuous recent past while also looking traditional. Here is the reference for those who don't remember:

ca43e187d7e4996b4ad87ce965af87f0--illinois-photo-galleries.jpg


Script Illinois on the helmet instead?? Block I?? I'm open to suggestions ... but those look DAMN good!
 
#375      
TheDrinkinLincoln
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Two more quick and random thoughts on uniforms as I wait for a client Zoom to begin (lol, employee of the year!):

1) I still think we should do the classic, cleaned up look with the new orange, some script/'70s font added in, better outlining of the numbers, etc.:

Home: O-B-O
Away: O-W-O
vs. NU: B-B-W at home, B-W-B on the road and B-O-W alternates for a big game or something

All one color or mixing those should be incredibly rare. With that said...

2) If our goal is to sort of "rebrand" for a new era while still nodding to the past, that picture actually got me thinking that we could do some cool stuff with white pants. I could totally get on bored with a scheme similar to those glorious throwbacks we wore in 2008 for the home opener - orange helmet, blue jerseys and white pants, keeping it clean and classic. I am not sure what would look best on the road if we went this route, but I think this scheme would be kind of a cool combo of giving the Illini a "new look" to say goodbye to our tumultuous recent past while also looking traditional. Here is the reference for those who don't remember:

ca43e187d7e4996b4ad87ce965af87f0--illinois-photo-galleries.jpg


Script Illinois on the helmet instead?? Block I?? I'm open to suggestions ... but those look DAMN good!
Click to expand...
That is my dream uniform right there.

Wouldn't mind a smaller block I instead of the numbers, but this is timeless Illinois that brings back our success.
 
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