2021 Uniformity – Week 3: Sun Devils Bringing Black to Provo

Week in Review

Another slow start for the Sun Devils ended in a relatively lopsided score. The defense was the story, giving up 145 yards of offense on UNLV’s first two drives, then essentially locking the Rebel defense down and shutting them out the rest of the game. Offensively, the Devils are anything but balanced, but with a strong rushing attack to draw the defense close to the line of scrimmage, there is hope that QB Jayden Daniels and his young receiving corps will be able to put it all together soon. What began as a low scoring affair in the first half ended in a 37-10 victory for the Sun Devils, who move to 2-0 on the season. The biggest winner of the night was the uniform, specifically, the return of the maroon helmet.

I’ll address the uniform as a whole in a moment, but first, can we just appreciate how incredible this helmet is together? A beautiful maroon helmet that shifts to gold when direct light hits it. Talk about our colors outshining all others. I will shout that and echo it from the buttes until I have no voice. Last week’s white decals and facemask combination made for good first usage of this helmet. It was a little unconventional, and whether intentional or not, it was also a nice nod to the white helmet giving way to the maroon helmet. From afar at the stadium, the candy finish paint is a great looking maroon with small but noticeable bright spots of gold that smoothly transitioned across the helmet as the lights hit it from different angles. Up close and on TV, the color shift is poetry in motion. These helmets are entrancing as you find yourself not wanting to take your eyes off of them so you can catch the color shift in action.

The uniform as a whole was a very sharp look. I’m slow to come around on white being showcased, but in this case, it worked. I heard a few rumblings from fans that loved the look but weren’t too hot on how the gold numbers seemed to clash with the maroon and white color theme. I appreciate this take and believe it has true credence, especially when looking at the uniform on a mannequin or in a hype video with only two players wearing the uniform. However, on the gridiron, with an entire team decked out in the same uniform, the gold numbers worked to tie everything together and showcase the gold in a uniform combination that otherwise kept it hidden away. The fact that the game was played at home with a large gold pitchfork and a couple of Sparky logos on the field made the whole look more cohesive. This set the bar high for the rest of the season, and if this is the quality of work that we have to look forward to, then we’re all in for a feast for the eyes in 2021.

Maroon Helmet/Maroon Jersey/White Pants: A

The Week to Come

Uniform

In a relatively rare occurrence, the Sun Devils will wear colors on the road as BYU has announced that they will be wearing a whiteout. Outside of the color game played in the Territorial Cup game last year, this will be the first time Arizona State will wear color jerseys on the road since they did so in Lubbock on September 16, 2017 when Texas Tech wore a whiteout uniform at home against the Devils. In rebuttal to the Cougars’ whiteout, ASU will bring the black with a gold helmet/black jersey/black pant uniform combination

The heather black jersey features a sublimated Arizona state flag in representing the sunset and the star across the chest. The gold player numbers on the uniforms are outlined in maroon on both the front and back of the jersey, as are the TV numbers on the sleeves.

The nameplate on the back of the jersey utilizes the gold Sun Devil Bold font and above the nameplate is a small, gold “ASU” outlined in maroon. On the front of the jersey, near the left shoulder, is a gold adidas logo. Near the right shoulder is a maroon and gold Pac 12 shield. Last, but not least, at the base of the collar is the black PT*42 shield in honor of ASU Football legend, Pat Tillman.

The black pants have a small gold pitchfork with maroon trim near the right hip and a gold adidas logo near the left hip. Running vertically along the side of the left thigh is “Sun Devils” in gold Sun Devil Bold font. There is paneling on the pants that features the darker tonal color, not only providing further dimension to the uniform as a whole but also serving a purpose in providing a greater range of motion.

Helmet

Gold helmets and brand spanking new decals are the name of the game for this week’s lids. The gloss, gold helmet will feature standard-sized black pitchfork decals with white trim. There is also a two-tone center stripe which boasts a bold black center outlined by thin strips of white. The facemask is black, and the front bumper has a chrome gold base and metallic maroon font that reads PT*42, also honoring the legendary Sun Devil, Pat Tillman. An added element to the PT*42 front bumper decal is that the star separating the PT and 42 doubles as the star in the Arizona state flag, with tonal gold rays rising from it in subtle detail. This ties together well with the sublimated state flag on the jersey, lending to more continuity in the overall uniform.

The decals on the back of the helmet include a black Pac 12 shield, a black Warning label which is in the shape of the state of Arizona, featuring black text, and has a small, gold pitchfork with maroon trim over Tempe. The decals on the back of the helmet are rounded by the maroon “Sun Devils” text on the helmet’s rear bumper.

Cleats and Socks

The Sun Devils will wear their third different color of cleats in as many weeks when they debut this year’s gold cleats. From left to right, there are three different cleats. The first pair is an AdiZero, the next is a Freak mid, and the last is a Nasty Fly. The AdiZero cleats are typically worn by speed position players (wide receivers and defensive backs), while the Freaks have a hybrid element and can be worn by mid-size players (fullbacks, linebackers, and tight ends), and the Nasty cleats worn by heavier players (linemen).

Beginning with the pair on the left, the AdiZero features a gold base and sole, a gold tongue, gold laces, three maroon adidas stripes near the toe on the outside of the shoe, and a prominent gold AdiZero logo with a digital ghost effect on the instep near the arch. It also has a repeating pattern of the Forks Up hand sign printed in gold throughout the shoe and a gold finger loop on the heel with the phrase “Forks Up” in maroon print.

The Freak Mid pair in the middle has a gold base and translucent gold sole, gold laces, a gold tongue with a maroon Freak logo on it, three reflective maroon adidas stripes on the outside of the cleat near the toe, and a prominent maroon adidas logo on the instep. Like the AdiZero, the Freak Mid has a repeating pattern of the Forks Up hand sign printed in gold throughout the shoe and a gold finger loop on the heel with the phrase “Forks Up” in maroon print.

The Nasty Fly is the final pair on the right. The second to last pair is the Nasty Torsion. It is a heavier duty cleat with a gold base and sole, gold laces, gold eyelets with darker gold accents, a gold tongue with a maroon Nasty logo on it, three maroon adidas stripes on the outside of the cleat, a maroon adidas logo on the inside of the cleat near the heel, a small plastic gold plate on the arch, and a finger loop that mimics the styling of the lace eyelets with “Forks Up” in maroon print. The repeating pattern of the gold printed Forks Up hand sign is featured prominently on the front half of the shoe.

The Sun Devils will wear black socks to match the rest of the uniform.

Gloves

The Sun Devils will wear gold and black gloves, and as with the cleats, there are different gloves for different positions. The gloves on the top are AdiZeros, typically worn by speed position players like wide receivers and defensive backs. The gold gloves feature a gold pitchfork with maroon trim on the palm of each glove. They also have a maroon adidas logo on the back of the hand, maroon striping and a small “Z” AdiZero letter mark on the wrist strap, and maroon stitching along the wrist strap. The gloves in the middle are adidas Freaks, worn by larger skill position players such as linebackers and tight ends.

The adidas Freak gloves have the same gold pitchfork with maroon trim on the palm of each glove as the AdiZero gloves. On the back of the glove, the adidas Freaks also have some extra padding, a maroon adidas logo, and maroon striping, and the Freak logo on the wrist strap. Finally, for linemen, the gloves on the bottom are adidas Freak-Max, which boast extra padding on the heel of the palm meant to withstand all of the contact that linemen endure throughout the course of a game. They are plain black and black two-tone on the palm, and along with a gold adidas logo on the back of the hand; they also have maroon accents on the knuckles and a gold accent on the wrist-wrap.

Reaction

Uniform combinations are a solid 2 for 2 for the Sun Devils so far this season. Heading into this weekend with black jerseys and pants to rebut the opponent’s home whiteout is a great response and sets up a candidate for another successful uniform combination. The classic gloss, gold helmet with black and white decals and a black facemask all sitting atop the black jersey and pants brings a dynamic and aggressive look to an away game.

These are all new decals, so while my initial reaction is that they are very sharp, it will definitely be interesting to see how they look on the field. It’s awesome to see the center stripe continuing to be utilized as it truly completes the helmet. Obviously, the black decals tie all of the uniform elements together, but the white trim is something new. The white trim on the decals pops off the helmet and brings more weight to the standard-sized pitchforks, which sometimes tend to get lost on the side of the helmet.

In week 1, I know I’m going to love the uniform. The classic color combination is undefeated as a crowd-pleaser. Every week thereafter is where the anticipation of new elements and surprise reveals captivates this writer and the Uniformity community as a whole. BYU’s whiteout announcement immediately got people talking about what the Sun Devils would wear in response. I love it. I love that you are all so invested in this program that you’re excited about everything from how the players perform to the color of their shoelaces. It’s that passion that makes this column so rewarding to write, and makes this gold helmet/black jersey/black pant combination one that I think will fire up the contingency of Sun Devils that travel to this away game.

What Color Traveling ASU Fans Should Wear: Gold. Or Black… or Maroon. And a Rowdy Demeanor. Like, Be Really, Really Loud.

#Faniforms Presented by Cactus Sports

Welcome back to #Faniforms Presented by Cactus Sports! Uniformity loves to highlight your best gameday #faniforms that you wear to support the Sun Devils each week. As a reminder, with Uniformity’s new partnership with Cactus Sports, three #faniforms will be chosen at random each week, just like in the past, but this season, there will be a weekly Twitter poll to vote for which of those three #faniforms will become a contest finalist. At the end of the regular season, all of the finalists will be entered into a final vote, with the grand prize being a $100 gift card to Cactus Sports! Remember, when posting to Twitter, remember to use the hashtag #faniform and tag the Uniformity Twitter account @ASU_Uniformity. Here are this week’s selections! Keep an eye out on Twitter for the fan vote! Cast your vote for the best #faniform each week!

Congratulations to @SunDevilSpark on becoming the first finalist! And best of luck to @Cawley_TV, @CraftyCreative, and @Will_jasper24 in this week’s Twitter poll!