Friday, December 29, 2023

Bowl Games 2023-24

The Pac-12 had eight teams play in bowl games which must be a record number. (I have not done the research to verify) 

It's easy to group them into two camps: the pre-New Years and then the 2024 games. The six who played before New Years all had matchups against higher-ranked teams so mostly wearing white. (USC was lower ranked but wore red since—I think—the Holiday bowl alternates home teams, and Oregon was away last year) The results were mixed with the LA schools and Arizona winning and the oither three looking pretty weak.


Jan 1 provided a much better result for the top two teams in the Pac: Oregon and Washington. Both winning and looking good and colorful doing it! 

In the "natty" (Thanks Oregon's Cliff Harris for the term) #2 UW was the road team by one ranking point to Michigan #1, so wore all white to the Wolverines totally all blue.







Saturday, December 2, 2023

Pac 12 Championship Game: Dec. 1, 2023

The LAST Pac-12 Championship Game, and the last Pac-8/10/12 game ever? 

If so, it was a doozy—arguably one of the most consequential conference games in living memory:  #3 vs. #5; winner Washington will most likely end up in the last 4-team playoff; and both QB will be invited to New York for the Heisman Trophy ceremony. Not to mention these two teams jet off to be instant heavyweights in the new Big-10 next season.

Oregon's  green-white-white was the standard road uniform during the early 2000s, but relatively uncommon since. Washington went mono-purple.



Saturday, November 25, 2023

Week 13: November 24-25, 2023

The second half of Rivalry Week and the last regular season Pac-12 games ever! My last week tracking regular season Pac 12! I'm not sure what this blog becomes come January 2024?

Stanford wore their first-ever cardinal helmet with white script logo vs. Notre Dame. WSU also pulled out its script logo on their helmet for the Apple Cup. The Civil War was the only color-on-color matchup this weekend. Colorado pulled out its shiny road whites and Utah went with its almost balckout set.



Saturday, November 18, 2023

Week 12: November 18, 2023



The California schools played their rivals this weekend. UCLA-USC was color on color as is tradition of late. Cal wore its kinda-sorta throwback Roth C logo helmet with normal road combo. IMHO, Rivalry Week should be color-on-color in most PAC-12 matchups. and Cal-Stanford has a good color combo so it's a shame Cal went for white jerseys. 

Arizona wore its annual military appreciation uniform with gray camo numbers and shoulder panels and played like the #2-3 team in the Pac-12! ASU also went for military appreciation, but much more subtle with camo Pat Tillman logo and stripe on the helmet, in looking like the bottom of the Pac.

In the final Pac-12 games in OSU's Reser Stadium and WSU's Martin Stadium, both teams went dark and brooding. Washington State—in a winning battle for the bottom of the Pac— vs. Colorado opted for all-anthracite gray with special WAZZU wordmark helmet. Colorado went mono-white. Oregon State—in a HUGE top-10 game—vs. Washignton wore all black.

Saturday, November 11, 2023

Week 11: November 11, 2023

Being Veterans' Day, it is surprising that more teams did not display military pride or flags as they have in the past. Colorado inserted a flag into their logo and wore all gray and black. Oregon State inserted gray camo into their numbers and beaver logo. Arizona teased a military look early in the season but are saving it for next week's home game. Utah went with their well-worn throwback uniforms for the 3rd time this season.



Saturday, October 28, 2023

Week 9: October 28, 2023





All 12 teams were back in action. You know it's the Saturday before Halloween by the increase in black and other "scary" hijinks and a few "costumes." 

ASU had teased a black & glow-in-the-dark "Ghost Story" uniform earlier in the season, but this weekend's later start and Halloween, make it more appropriate.

Oregon, did all the black it could for being a road team with its rather drab black helmets and black pants.

Even Stanford got into the act, with their second BFBS set of the season, but this time with a "twist" of e white helemt with black logo and red chrome stripe. Oh Cardinal, you are so daring! 

Across the Bay, Cal also threw in a "twist" by  kinda-sorta pulling out its now-annual Joe Roth throwback— It mixed old with new by pairing the Roth-style C lozenge logo and stripe on the helmet, with its normal navy jersey and gold pants. But the twist is that it used a current helmet that has the modern brighter yellow and darker blue instead of the cheerier Roth blue/gold.

Utah brought out a new hand-painted helmet with a "MUSS"  Mighty Utah Student Section theme. 

UCLA—also riding the throwback bandwagon during Homecoming honored its 1954 national championship team (why in 2023 and not 2024??) with very plain powder blue jerseys, and plain gold helmets and pants. All the shades seem to be 25% less saturated than the current blue and gold. Of note is that number font is back to UCLA's serif font which they have used some sort of font every few years.

Colorado—in LaLa land wore a classy black helmet and mono white with shiny gold details. Looked quite nice with UCLA's classy