Bowl Season 2015-16

A record 10 Pac teams made a bowl game this year and it was looking like they might all play some good games...that is until Jan. 2  when both the Ducks and Sun Devils lost heartbreakers to give the conference a 6-4 record.

Only three of the 10 teams wore "home" uniforms, so that left the majority in white. And the only team to introduce anything majorly new (beyond Utah's all-silver helmet logo) was—of course—Oregon, who's helmet was a reprise of the "Galaxy White" sparkly hat, but with a  "beveled" O logo. The understated all-white uniforms harkened back to the last time the Ducks were in the Alamo Bowl, but with a bit less apple green, and some new almost-invisible shoulder "wings" and reworked numbers. Unfortunately for them the result was not like last time, and more like a few of their other more heralded white/gray bowl loses.

What's in your closet?

While Oregon is known to pick a new combo EVERY week, much of the Pac-12 has adapted that closet-busting strategy as well. Ironically the California schools were the least fashion-forward!

Here's a rundown of how many different combos each team has worn this season. 

The max is 12 since there are twelve regular-season games (except Colorado had 13 due to Hawaii game) and I'm not counting the bowls since you already know that teams like Oregon, ASU and Arizona will come up with a  new gown for the ball. I'm also not counting helmets that are the same color but just chromed like USC and UW.

Fashion mavens (how many logo variations can you have?):

Oregon: 12  (never repeated a helmet configuration and had six different colored hats)
Arizona State: 12 (five games with head-to-toe mono look)
Colorado: 12 (four helmet colors was most except for UO)
Arizona: 11  (only repeat was "blueout")
Utah: 10  (good use of the school colors without needed gray, silver, etc)
Oregon State: 10 (removed logo from helmet a few times)

Mix and match (a few pants, jerseys and hats add up quick):

Washington State: 8 (since gray is a school color, one of the few teams to wear it well)
Washington: 8 (used their 3 colors to good advantage)
Cal: 6 (only one helmet variation)
UCLA: 3 (four if you count the helmet sticker with the "bone frog")

Stalwart traditionalists (home and road, what else do you need?):

USC: 2 (I'd vote for chrome red helmets all the time)
Stanford: 2 (no BFBS this year)


All teams except for USC, Stanford, Cal did some sort of "blackout" or whiteout"

All 12 of the Duck helmets this year:

ASU looked good in mono-color this year, but why not mono-yellow?

Colorado gets the award for the "Best Use of a Simple Color Pallete." Their school colors of gold, silver, black and white made them look ready for the red carpet! And they only repeated a combo once! Fashionable, but on a  budget!

Week 13: November 28, 2015

Thanksgiving and Rivalry Week gave us a colorful bunch of uniforms.

Oregon finally pulled out its green and yellow combo. (click here for more info) while the other home teams obliged with a good use of their primary colors. OSU pulled out its whiteout combo for the second time this season. Like the Beaver's, WSU repeated its week five whiteout while playing at UW. The Huskies wore their "practice helmets" as a nod to the work that the seniors have put in at UW. Both Cal and Stanford were home so in their blue and red.

Utah went mostly-mono-red for the first time since week one. In snowy conditions in Salt Lake City, Colorado blended into the scenery with its mono-white combo with silver helmets. Arizona State played it traditional since the Sun Devils had already played their rivalry game.  And the clash in LA was in its beautiful traditional color on color.

Week 12: November 21, 2015

It's getting down to the last couple games for some of these teams, and thus we have the beginning of rivalry weeks. That usually means that the teams dress up in their finest and most colorful to entertain their bitter rivals. This often means color vs. color, but not this week, which looked like an old black-and-white movie!

Ten of the Pac-12 wore either white, gray or black jerseys, since several of the home teams opted for BFBS instead of color. The only colored jerseys were WSU and Stanford's in  lookalike reds!
Oregon State came to the blackout party which is odd since black IS one of its colors! And just down the road Oregon finally paired its black jersey with its "angry duck" black helmet for its first ninja look, which is a common theme when they host USC.

The two rivalry games this week were Cal-Stanford and Arizona-Arizona State. Speaking of the Territorial Cup, ASU donned its "Dessert Hammer" gray mono look against a mostly-white-clad Arizona. The Big Game in Palo Alto was a traditional affair with neither team pulling out any uniform tricks.

Week 11: November 14, 2015

Darkness descended upon much of the Pac-12 south this week! Half the bunch seemed to be jumping on the BFBS look, and it's already two weeks past Halloween! Both Colorado and UCLA went mono black. UCLA combined its much-maligned "Black Ops" BFBS with military honoring, by sporting a "Bone Frog" helmet logo that honors the Navy Seals. Adding to the darkness was ASU and its black jersey and helmet from week 6 and Arizona's "Blueout" which is a repeat of week 2 and almost identical to weeks 6 and 8.

The north was much more traditional with the Bay Area teams sporting classic home looks while hosting the Oregon schools, and WSU dressing in its classic scarlet, white and gray. Oregon was the only black in the north with its helmets and pants, which even if they had not been playing Stanford, is a relatively unlucky combo for them. But they pulled out a victory on the Farm!

Week 10: November 7, 2015

For the majority of the Pac-12 this week was business as usual in the uniform realm. Plenty of traditional road uniforms with a decent mix of mono-white and 7 teams sporting white pants! The only mono-color was WSU in their gray getup, which is excusable for them since gray is a school color. Colorado looked like it's old self in traditional gold and black, even though their school colors include silver. Washington and UCLA honored vets with a flag logo. Oregon brought back the angry Duck with sparkly white helmets.

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.