Best College Football Uniforms: 10/20/21 – 10/23/21

Best College Football Uniforms: Week 8

The best college football uniforms of the week are back to their winning ways. The members of my list from Week 8 put together a record of 6-2, and the only two losses came with some special circumstances. That’s right, we had two Uni Bowls this week – the first two of the year. Schools are stepping up their uniform game as the season heads into the home stretch. Week 8 had an outer space theme, blackouts, dots, and Adidas taking a page out of Nike’s book. Read the best college football uniforms article from Week 7 here. Who made the list this week?

Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (2^nd Appearance) & Appalachian State Mountaineers (1^st Appearance)

It took until Week 8, but we finally had the first Uni Bowl! Coastal Carolina and Appalachian State brought the absolute heat on…wait. Wednesday night? Whoever made the #14 team in the country play on a Wednesday night – and on the road – needs to be fired. You might as well just start scheduling games for Mondays and Tuesdays. There’s no wonder why the Chanticleers lost their first game of the season and subsequently dropped down ten spots in the AP poll. It looks like their New Year’s Six dreams are over.

Anyway, just look at this uniform matchup. When Appalachian State announced that they would be going with blackout uniforms, it was expected of Coastal to go all white. Instead, the Chantis mixed it up, using teal helmets and pants white with their white jerseys. What looks best for me was the white facemasks. It completes the alternating colors from head to toe. The Mountaineers wore the same black uniforms we have seen a bunch over their years as an FBS school. However, they threw in a kink regarding their helmet logo. Inside the block ‘A’ sat a pink ribbon as an ode to October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Week 8 marked the fifth time Appalachian State rocked the pink ribbon helmet logo. Apart from 2020, they have worn it for their last October game in each season since 2016.

Memphis Tigers (1^st Appearance) & Central Florida Knights (1^st Appearance

Another Uni Bowl? In the same week?! Memphis and UCF wore some pretty fun uniforms for the Knights’ 24-7 win on Friday night. UCF loves outer space, and Friday was their fifth annual Space Game. Because of the nearby Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the Knights like to pay homage to their alumni who have contributed to man’s conquest of the infinite world beyond Earth. A few things on their white uniforms from last week included:

• Over 100 names of alumni, faculty, and fans who worked on the space shuttle program in a compact design to make up the silver helmet stripe
• “Discovery” on the left sleeve of the jersey, which was the name of the shuttle taken into space by Nicole Stott, a Central Florida alum
• A unique rectangular stripe down the pant legs that mimic the pattern on the wings of the Discovery shuttle

Memphis, on the other hand, got to wear dark uniforms on the road for a change. First can we all agree that any team named the Tigers needs to wear helmets that have tiger stripes on them? I’m looking at you, LSU, Clemson, and Auburn. Could you imagine a purple and yellow version of them down in Baton Rouge? Getting back to Memphis, their Week 8 uniforms were a two-color set, with their helmets, jerseys, and pants being blue with white highlights. The white tiger stripes on the shoulders kind of look dumb only because they don’t travel on the same axis as the ones on the helmet. Other than that, these uniforms are beautiful, and like the Chanticleers, the Tigers used a white facemask that looks so good under the lights.

Oregon Ducks (2^nd Appearance)

Oregon continued its uniform dominance Saturday against UCLA. Their white Eggshell uniforms debuted against the Bruins, and they couldn’t be cooler. The jerseys, pants, helmet logo, and accessories featured speckled dots that used inspiration from the speckled eggs that certain ducks lay. The helmets and numbers appear to be grey or black, but are actually “nightmare green,” and the green really comes through when the light hits it a certain way. The wings on the side of the helmet were a dark chrome, too. These jaw-droppers get the Ryan Schwager stamp of approval and are taking home the crown for the best college football uniforms of Week 8.

Louisville Cardinals (1^st Appearance)

You can do a lot of things with red, black, and white. Louisville decided to shake things up against Boston College last week. The red helmet (with white Cardinal logo) with red facemask was an interesting choice considering their jerseys were black. But the pants saved this combination. It sandwiches the black tops, which had an Oregon-inspired touch on the shoulders with a silver outlining of wings. Football has always been considered a copycat game, but now the uniforms are being copied too. What makes this more of a deal is that this is Adidas trying to be like Nike. I’m sure Nike noticed. How will they respond?

Miami Hurricanes (1^st Appearance)

Miami damaged NC State’s chances to win the ACC’s Atlantic division with a 31-30 home win in their new blackout uniforms. Instead of trying to implement their primary dark green color onto a black backdrop, the Hurricanes ditched the color entirely this season, and came out with this two-color set instead. Maybe they were celebrating Halloween a week early, because Miami went with orange and black for their final home game of October. It was simple and effective. It’s always nice to bust out all-blacks for big conference games against ranked opponents.

Oklahoma Sooners (2^nd Appearance)

The Spencer Rattler days appear to be no more as Caleb Williams has officially taken over the starting quarterback job for the Sooners. It wasn’t until the second half, however, until Williams started working his magic. On Saturday afternoon, the Sooners were shut out in the first half by the Jayhawks for the first time since 1962, but they eventually righted the ship in their Jordan branded jerseys and won 35-23. Oklahoma wore a similar uniform to the ones they wore back in Week 4 against West Virginia. In fact, this set was just the flipped version. They once again swapped out white for cream and implemented a hardwood pattern on their crimson collars and shoulders. The main color on the jersey was cream, while the helmet and pants were crimson. I love the cream stripe down the center of the helmet and also enjoyed the black accessories the Sooners used. Usually, I like white accessories, but since there was no white anywhere in the actual uniform, black shoes, socks, and undershirts looked really nice.

Which school do you think had the best college football uniforms from week 8?

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