Week 9: October 31, 2015

On Thursday's #pac12afterdark, Oregon finally got a win in a variation of their silver/white uniform! But boy, howdy, was it a hard-fought victory, against a throwback-clad Arizona State, which went all-Tillman.

And for Halloween we got....Blackout in Seattle and Salt Lake City, Blueout in Berkeley, and Crimsonout in Pullman. And lots of white elsewhere: the aforementioned Ducks; Arizona's full "ghost" Whiteout for the first time this season; Colorado going mostly white and OSU and Stanford's traditional road whites.

Week 8: October 24, 2015

With Oregon and Arizona State off this weekend (They being the most non-traditional fashionistas this year), the Pac-12 had the potential to have a pretty traditional uniform landscape. Think of it as a late "Back-to-the Future Day." But alas UCLA threw a monkey wrench into that scenario. They pulled out their "City" BFBS uniforms for the Thursday Night game. I'm not an alternate uniform hater, so these are actually kinda stylish in my book. But they were matched up against their instate public school rival Cal. That matchup could have been  beautiful celebration of all that is UC blue/gold/yellow, but it just ended up looking rather dark, especially at night. Cal's blue is really dark, bordering on black, and UCLA's blue helmet logo on black just disappeared on camera.

Pair that with Oregon State wearing black shirts for the first time since week one, Colorado going gold and white, Wazzu getting "Icey" for the second time, and you get a relatively low key affair out west.

Week 7: October 17, 2015

Week 6: October 10, 2015

Looking for some black and white games this week? The Pac 12 was your place then! Colorado visiting Arizona State looked like an old black and white movie, with the Sun Devils going full "Black Out" and the Buffaloes going white-white-black. If only the Buffs had gone "White Out" like they did in week 3. Oregon went all gray/silver at home contrasted nicely with the all-crimson WSU Cougars. Oregon State did their normal black-white-black on the road.

ESPN College GameDay was on hand for Utah to pull out its throwback uniforms with old UU logo and rounded numerals vs a normally dressed Cal.

Oregon did what it does best and unveiled its "Pioneer" Oregon-Trail inspired uniforms, which honestly looked more space-age cartoon to me. And on TV, the map that was supposed to add texture to the jersey looked like it got dysentery on the trail and died, which sums up Oregon's season so far.  See my fuller writeup on the DuckTracker here. This combo is a bit too much like its "Big-game-loss" uniforms which are also discussed on the DuckTracker here.

Week 5: October 3, 2015

Last week's gridiron had a lot of mono-dominate colors, but this week was much more sedate, with several of the more fashion-forward teams on the road wearing white, at the home stadiums of more traditional-uniformed teams.

One third of the Pac were off this week as well.

The only mini trend was gray. Both ASU and Colorado pulled out their smoky uniforms. The Sun Devils debuted parts of their "Dessert Hammer" look, while the Buffaloes dressed in black and "silver." The Buff's look was nice, especially since Colorado's official colors are silver and gold. Ironically the only other team with gray as one of its official colors—Washington State—went all white.

The Ducks, a bit gun-shy after last week's all green debacle, went for a proven winner in lightning yellow, which was appropriate since the game was delayed by lightning until practically Sunday on the east coast.

When are we going to see some Pink this month?

It was a patriotic looking clash in Palo Alto. The usual white/red/white Cardinal went up against the blue/white/white Wildcats.

Week 4: September 26, 2015

The Northwest was a technicolor dream with the three active school's going mono-dominant color. The Ducks went full-Apple Green (like—but unlike—the 2015 Rose Bowl); the Beavers went full-Pumpkin Orange (and it's not even October yet); and the Huskies went almost-full Grape Purple. I'm a sucker for these three secondary colors so thought this was a real nice look, especially since these three colors are unique to their schools in the Pac-12!

Not to be left out of the mono-dominant weekend though, were the two Arizona schools that did a Wildcat "Red-out" and a Sun Devil "Maroon-out." The Wildcats debuted a pretty cool red chrome helmet.

That left the more traditional schools to wear their normal road jerseys and Utah to go for a white out victory in Eugene.

The Duck from Puddles to Disney to Nike...

Since Oregon was one of the teams that started the whole uniform-as-canvas trend in the late 1990s (They rebranded for the 1999 season and have not been the same since), they have matured their multiple looks and now are branching out into alternate logos as well as color schemes.

2015 has seen the birth of Combat Duck as the newest member of the Oregon logo family. Here is a little history on the evolution. Check out links at the bottom for an much more exhaustive look at this topic!

Puddles vs. The Duck

According to GoDucks.com, Puddles was a live duck mascot from the 1920s when Oregon was known as the Webfoots. The current iteration of the live costumed mascot beloved by Lee Corso is usually called The Duck.

Donald Duck

Disney became involved during the 1940s when Walt Disney and Oregon AD Leo Harris shook hands on an an agreement to use a likeness of Donald Duck as Oregon's mascot. The agreement limited when and where the Donald version could be used and also limited the appearance of the costumed mascot.

Walt Disney and Oregon AD Leo Harris

Image above from http://www.benzduck.com

"Fighting Duck"

Above images from http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/The_Oregon_Duck

Fighting Duck and the Nike O

In a premonition of this year's Combat Duck, football coach Jerry Frei (1967-71) wanted the duck logo to have teeth to better personify the nickname "Fighting Ducks". In 1999, with the help of Nike, The University moved away from using Donald Duck or interlocking UO as its primary logo, and shifted to the sleeker O which is said to represent Hayward Field and Autzen Stadium.

Above image from https://blogs.uoregon.edu/scua/2014/12/31/the-oregon-mascot-part-2-becoming-the-ducks/

Robo Duck AKA "Mandrake"

Because of the limitations on the use of the Disney-derived duck, UO decided to shake things up a bit and introduce an additional live mascot in 2002. While officials claimed that this was not a replacement for the beloved—and much cuter—The Duck, the Oregon flock did not take this very well and he was retired.

Above image from http://www.dailyemerald.com/2002/11/15/one-duckor-two-part-1/

Nike "Fighting Duck"

For at least a decade in the early 2000s, The Duck as logo was underused in the era of the O and winged shoulders/helmet. Perhaps that was a hangover from the Robo Duck? But nostalgia began to creep back in. In 2010 Disney agreed that the costumed mascot "Duck" and Donald were not the same and that Oregon could use the mascot as it liked. The limits still seemingly pertained to printed logos though, which led to Oregon and Nike making a newer graphic that would  appear on uniforms and merchandise. At the 2011 Oregon-Cal game, the uniform's throwback shoulders sported a new version of the duck. This time it was less Disney and more like a carefree version of the costumed mascot. At this game, the players wore The Duck on their shoulders, but The Duck had a "Chip"on its shoulder!

Image above from http://www.sportslogos.net/logos/view/79742572013/Oregon_Ducks/2013/Alternate_Logo

Image above from http://www.examiner.com/slideshow/in-pictures-lamichael-james-historic-career-with-the-oregon-ducks

Combat Duck

Making it's debut on Sept. 12, 2015 vs. Michigan Sate, the Combat Duck looks a bit like the Nike Duck but with a meaner look and chapped lips. Like Mark Helfrich and discussing injuries, The UO is a bit mum about discussing the newer duck logos. Craig Pintens, Senior Associate Athletic Director for Marketing & Public Relations, is helpful in tweeting images of Nike's newest creations, but said that they will not discuss the design. I guess that makes it even more mysterious!

Images above from Twitter feed Oregon Football @WinTheDay

The University of Oregon has an even more historical article on this topic

Fish Duck has a great chronicle as well

Links:

• http://www.businessinsider.com/history-oregon-ducks-football-uniforms-2011-12?op=1
• http://www.benzduck.com/journal/2011/3/21/the-oregon-uniform-1950-1999.html
• http://saturdayblitz.com/2012/08/24/grading-oregon-uniforms-from-1994-to-2013/
• http://photos.oregonlive.com/4450/gallery/the_evolution_of_oregon_ducks_football_uniforms/index.html#/16
• http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=153778
• http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/The_Oregon_Duck
• http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/14/sports/ncaafootball/at-oregon-the-longtime-mascot-is-anything-but-mickey-mouse.html?_r=0