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IT’S TURQUOISE TIME

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After months of speculation and years of Twitter followers asking me to mock up turquoise unis….they are finally here.

A couple months ago after a big Battles End event a few pictures leaked online with the turquoise jerseys in the background or actually on some boosters (about 6 sizes too small in most cases I might add).

Gabriel Isasi (IG: @gabrielisasiv) posted the first picture here with the turquoise jerseys in the background. Stephen Ponder (X: @StephenPonder) from Seminole Boosters then posted a picture in the actual jersey.

The appearance and style of these jerseys is not surprising at all as myself and other prominent FSU Twitter photoshoppers have been guessing this would be the Seminole Heritage look for the football team as soon as the university-wide initiative was announced. If you might recall last fall FSU started its Seminole Heritage campaign. It also released turquoise fan jerseys for purchase similar to the jerseys above.

So with all that – it’s kind of a no brainer that we are going to see the turquoise on the field at some point – I just didn’t think it would be as the non-contact jersey for the spring game! Credit to Seminoles.com, YouTube TV, @MadNole2 and @YouNoleTheVibez on Twitter for the photos below.

You might argue these were a one time thing – but given that these jerseys are all Nike’s Vapor F.U.S.E. template complete with the ACC patch and all I think that’s highly unlikely. I would say the chances we see these on the field this year are upwards of 80%.

A few other highlights from the game with the turquoise jerseys:

Here are a few other turquoise mockups that I’ve done as the Seminole Heritage initiative makes its way into other sports.

And one more thing – get your turquoise get from Fanatics through this link here.

2023 Uniform Update?

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After the controversial uniform & logo change in 2013, many fans have been clamoring for new uniforms (and a new logo but I’m not even going to give that the time of day). Will that day finally come in 2023? A couple reasons why Noles fans are thinking the time may have come:

  • Ingram Smith on the Nolecast a while back stated that (paraphrasing here) would not be surprised if Florida State introduced new uniforms that look more like Oklahoma State in the near future.
  • Seminoles Equipment put out a vague tweet about an announcement coming September 3rd – I think this is just them having fun with fans BUT some people think they would actually release new unis the day of the season opener next year.
  • I have also had a couple “sources” (emphasis of “sources”) that may be completely unreliable DM me that uniforms are coming that look very similar to a concept I put out last year.

What does all of this mean? Maybe nothing, but it’s fun to experiment and think about what that might look like.

First, if we are putting uniforms out that look like OSU and my old concept, those two pieces of information go together. That would likely mean the collar & sleeve patterns are pared down and reduced on a new uni template. This change is something many people have thought of and asked for over the years.

To me this is almost an updated, cleaner version of the 94-96 trim. My only concern is if the pattern is really too busy for the trim to look good, especially on the sleeves. I decided to put together a couple real life examples – that pattern that small is extremely difficult to photoshop but this can at least give you an idea of what it might look like. The pattern would be nonexistent in the picture of Jammie.

This update would be awesome and I really think would satisfy just about everyone on the uniform front. There are some crazies that won’t stop until we have the 2013 uniforms but that isn’t realistically happening.

One thing that I think would be a nice touch is moving the numbers to the sleeves. This just evens out the uniforms a bit so all of the graphics aren’t crammed in the middle in one spot. Some may disagree but I think this would look great if the sleeve caps go away.

What if the Black Uniforms existed in the ’90s?

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I am trying to make sure that all of my best work doesn’t let got lost on Twitter so I really want to make sure I post this stuff on my site as well for easy access in the future.

I had a though the other day – how would the controversial black uniforms have looked with our 90s uniform styles. I had a hunch how it would go but DAMN if the 94-96 version especially doesn’t look incredible. These look so good that the Twitter response was actually pretty decent?

First off – we have the Charlie Ward Era Unis from the late 80s until 1993 (do you think people were pissed in ’94 when they changed unis right after a title? Hmm.)

In my opinion these uniforms are a little too plain for the black to really, really work. It looks decent but I think if anything the Black/Garnet & Black/Gold look better than the all black here.

Next Up is the ’94-’96 unis – in my opinion the best of all the Florida State uniforms. How they only did this striping for 3 years I have no idea.

Honestly if they had done it, this would be the best alternate FSU uniform of all time. Any of the above really. The black looks AWESOME with the vintage crimson & mustard coloring. Unbeknownst to me – they actually made these jerseys for resale at one point!

Safe to say at the very least….if we had worn these in the 90s a lot of the older fans wouldn’t be so petrified of the “bad luck” black uniforms. Of course the record is going to be bad when bad teams are wearing the uniform!!!

Game Preview: Florida State at Boston College

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After a huge win against Miami to stay alive for bowl eligibility the Noles travel up to Chestnut Hill for a sleepy nooner. This game is always interesting from a uniform perspective because BC is basically FSU-lite. Up until 2020, the most common complaint about #IgnitionTradition was “WE LOOK LIKE BOSTON COLLEGE WITH THE GOLD NUMBERS”. Well guess what – BC changed to white numbers this year, so now we look like BC again? Is it time to change back? Many people are asking.

Eagles Uniforms

As I referenced earlier, Boston College rolled out a new set of uniforms this year along with a switch to Adidas as their uniform supplier. With this they switched from a very modern Under Armour uniform to a throwback Adidas set complete with a vintage Boston College logo. This is a little weird to me to go back to a vintage logo set full time without offically changing you logo but what do I know. To me, the BC unis are nice – but they’re almost too plain. It’s tough to pull off the Penn St/Alabama minimalist look and BC kind of does it I guess? They’re fine but nothing spectacular in my opinion.

The coolest uniform thing Boston College does is have its annual red bandana game. The uniforms themselves are not great – but it’s a great cause. The game honors Welles Crowther, a former BC lacrosse player who saved as many as 20 people in the 9/11 attacks, losing his life in the process. It’s an incredible story and if you’re one of the few people reading this you should find more information about it.

FSU at BC History

FSU has played BC every single year since 2005 when Boston College switched from the Big East. They also played in a couple one-offs in 1976 and 1957. In the modern era, FSU hasn’t worn anything but it’s traditional Gold/White/Gold on the road which is not all that surprising. Boston College has worn Gold/Maroon/Gold 5 times, Gold/Maroon/White (a great look) 2 times and broke out their rarely seen maroon pants once way back in 2011.

News & Notes for this weekend

Both of these teams keep things pretty close to the vest. Nothing yet news-wise for this weekend.

My prediction

This probably will not happen but I’m going out on a limb. What better weekend for the Noles to debut the white helmets????? BC will be wearing maroon and gold in some fashion so let’s go nuts and wear the all white. It won’t happen. But maybe it will happen. Would be awesome to see.

I mean how good would this look.

Blast from the Past

Game Preview: Florida State vs Miami (FL) 

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It’s FSU-Miami week everybody. Hurricane flags are up, weather is unbelievable, just imagine if this were actually a big matchup. Nevertheless I can’t wait for the game this weekend, 2.5 point underdogs win all the time so we have a shot even with Vinny Testaverde 2.0 playing QB for the Canes. Maybe he gets shook if Doak is rocking this weekend? We’ll see. Now on to the important stuff, let’s talk uniforms.

Canes Uniforms

Miami has an interesting uniform history. Great uniforms in the 90s, then fell into the 2000s trap of weird Nike templates, unnecessary piping and an overall downgrade to its look. Miami moved to Adidas in the mid-2010s and instantly got the usual Adidas treatment – awful striping, huge lettering, etc. But a few years ago Miami adopted a throwback to the 90s and as much as its pains me to say this – they have a pretty great uniform set (minus the black Miami nights sets they break out here and there). Miami also has a pretty iconic helmet, and there may be no better helmet matchup out there for a rivalry than the Noles & Canes.

Miami did make one change this year, switching its number font to its Miami font rather than block numbers.

Here’s a quick preview of Miami’s standard uni set:

Miami vs FSU History

The Noles have played Miami in Tallahassee every single odd-numbered year since 1973. They also played the Canes twice in the ’50s – 1957 & 1959. In the modern era (1975+) FSU has never worn ANYTHING at home against Miami besides Garnet & Gold. Miami has worn White & Orange 18 times, All White 3 times, Green Pants once, and a Green helmet once way back in the ’70s. I love that FSU always wears garnet & gold against Miami. In my opinion teams should never ever wear alternates for a rivalry game. Sure change the pants up here and there but always stick with your standard uniforms against rivals. I love seeing the garnet and gold out there against green and orange, we don’t need grey or black or god knows what out there in a game like this.

News & Notes for this weekend

Miami has already released it’s uni combo (as it seems every other team in CFB does except the Noles but what do you expect?). It will be wearing white/white/orange, its classic combo against FSU in Tallahassee.

My prediction

If the Noles have gone 23 games in a row against Miami wearing garnet & gold why change now? Let’s get the classic garnet and gold vs white and orange.

Although I would not be opposed to the white pants from the 2004 Orange Bowl a lot of people have been clamoring for this week.

Unoffical Uniform Odds:

Garnet & Gold -800

All Garnet +1500

White Pants +2000

Black Jerseys +2500000

Blast from the Past

Shoutout to the unbelievable archive from Garnet & Great on Flickr for some of the pictures. Check it out here.

People DO NOT like the Black Uniforms

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Yesterday, Florida State played NC State in Tallahassee falling 28-14 to the Wolfpack. Not an entirely unexpected result as the Noles faced issues with the flu all week, lost their starting QB and were likely outmatched anyway.

But the big takeaway from the game that has the Twitter-sphere in a tizzy are the controversial black jerseys the Noles wore with their gold pants and gold lids. There is nothing that fires up a fanbase quite like a bad alternate uniform. Coach Norvell has generally been pretty traditional in his two seasons at the helm, so yesterday was a bit of a change. The only other time FSU wore the black alternates was the weird makeup game against Duke that I’m sure most people have long since forgotten about.

Now, don’t get me wrong – the black/gold is not one of FSU’s better looks. Garnet and gold looks so crisp that I tend to agree there is no need to bring black jerseys/pants into the equation. But they’re not THAT bad. If recruits and players like them every once in a while, fine with me. The way people reacted you would think we decided to roll out something as awful as the olive green alligator jerseys UF wore not that long ago (never forget).

So this morning, Tallahassee radio personality Greg Tish (@Greg_Tish) decided to ask for opinions on the uniforms yesterday. He tagged me and several other prominent FSU Twitter personalities (thanks for the clout Greg #Engagement), and boy have the replies been something. I’ve spent all day reading these tweets in between errant tee shots at the golf course – and I love every single one of them. The fact that there are so many other people out there like myself that are as passionate about something as dumb as FSU’s uniforms is awesome.

Here is a quick ranking of the top 5 “I hate the black uniforms” opinions that were out there today:

***As of 7:55 PM Sunday – I’m sure there will be plenty more hate coming***

#5 – @warddavide remixing the hit single “We’re not Boston College” with an entirely fair point

#4 – I mean using this logic, the way FSU football has looked the last few years maybe they technically should be wearing black for every game?

#3 – A common theme in the black uniform criticism is constant drive-by shots at the Oregon Ducks. Are the Ducks an underrated rival for starting this whole uniform combo mess to begin with? Is this a conspiracy that goes all the way up to the top at Nike?

#2 – Simple. Elegant. And pretty accurate?

#1 – I have been at this for a couple weeks and there is no one more passionate about this stuff than Scalphunter. A great follow for uniform takes – I couldn’t even decide which of his (hers?) was my favorite but the 2013 nostalgia mixed with an Oklahoma porn star reference really does it for me here.

Honorable Mentions:

Game Preview: Florida State vs. NC State

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Coming off a tough 10 point loss to Clemson, the Noles come back home to face the NC State Wolfpack. As always (the two times I’ve written game previews) I provide zero insight into the actual game, but let’s down to a visul preview of what this game might look like.

Wolfpack Uniforms

The Wolfpack have traditionally had a really nice uniform set. Classic Red & White with black trim – historically they’ve had a pretty standard look. However starting in 2018 Adidas must’ve finally worn them down. They added some crazy shoulder stripes, got a brand new Wolfpack font and did make one awesome change – They added the vintage Sailor Wolf logo to the helmets. I’m not a huge fan of these uniforms as a whole – but their helmets are fantastic. NC State also has worn a single alternate uniform this year, a really ugly grey with red helmets linked here.

NC State at FSU History

Since joining the ACC, the Noles and Wolfpack have played in Tallahassee every single odd numbered year since 1993. Prior to that, the two teams played several games in the ’50s and ’60s. In Tallahassee, believe it or not – Florida State has never worn anything but the traditional Gold/Garnet/Gold combo. You’d have to go back to the 1960s when FSU’s standard uniform was white to find something different.

NC State did wear their alternate red helmets one time at FSU in the 90s – I can’t find any great pictures of those but there is a video buried on YouTube.

FSU’s record at home in the modern era – 11-3 in their garnet & gold.

NC State’s record in each set is as follows:

White/White/White: 2-4, .333

White/White/Red: 1-5, .167

Red/White/Red: 0-1, .000

Red/White/White: 0-1, .000

My prediction

There’s no reason to think FSU won’t continue to roll with the garnet and gold here. I think NC State gets some nice contrast and brings their all whites to Tallahassee. Here’s what that might look like:

Blast from the Past

Shoutout to the unbelievable archive from Garnet & Great on Flickr for some of the pictures. Check it out here.

Game Preview: Florida State at Clemson

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Florida State travels up to Clemson Saturday as a +10 dog, which would have seemed unfathomable a couple of months ago. As a Nole it’s great to have this game mean something again. Anyways there’s a million FSU content people out there who do a much better job analyzing the actual game – let’s get down to a visual preview of what this game might look like.

Tigers Uniforms

Clemson has a really nice uniform set – clean and traditional. They have striped pants and a paw on each shoulder and that’s about it. They have orange, white and purple helmets/pants that they pair with an orange helmet. Under Dabo Swinney – Clemson almost always wears an orange jersey at home with white pants UNLESS they are playing for some sort of championship (Atlantic Division, ACC, South Carolina State Title, Bowl Game or National Title). In that case, they wear orange pants – you may have seen a #OrangeBritches hashtag out there on Twitter. Clemson also has worn a purple alternate sparingly under Dabo. Clemson has paired purple with orange or white pants in the past, but I don’t recall anything but mono-purple since at least Tommy Bowden era.

Here’s a quick preview of all Clemson’s current uni options:

Clemson vs FSU History

With the exception of 2020, the Noles have played Clemson every single year since joining the ACC in 1992.

In 16 matchups up at Clemson, Florida State has worn gold helmets and white jerseys in each game (duh) and has worn gold pants 8, garnet 4 and white 4 times apiece. Clemson has worn its all orange 8 times, white pants 7 times and a WTF Purple & Orange combo once in 2005.

The Noles record at Clemson in each combo:

Gold/White/Gold 4-4, .500

Gold/White/Garnet 3-1, .750

Gold/White/White 1-3, .250

News & Notes for this weekend

Clemson plans to honor the late Bobby Bowden with a modified version of the Bobby logo FSU has used all season. Clemson will also have pink lines at the 20 yard line for Clemson’s annual Breast Cancer Awareness game. A preview of the field from Austin Pendergist (@apthirteen on Twitter).

My prediction

This is really boring – but FSU hasn’t worn its gold pants all season, so I think we see them Saturday. Clemson goes Orange, Orange & White while the Noles go Gold, White and Gold.

Go Noles.

Blast from the Past