Week in Review
The first week of college football has come and gone, and it brought five straight days of upsets, great catches, blowouts, and the general weirdness that makes us all love this sport so much. The Sun Devils kicked off the weirdness by enduring a weather delay of over two and a half hours due to one of the bigger dust and lightning storms to hit the Valley in a long time. The game’s outcome lent to the weirdness as the Devils struggled to get back into any rhythm after the halftime storm and went from leading Southern Utah 21-7 at the break to surviving with a 24-21 win.
We didn’t know what to expect from the 2023 Sun Devil team, and we definitely still don’t. In Kenny Dillingham’s first game as a head coach and true freshman Jaden Rashada’s first game as a starting college quarterback, there were flashes of the good things to come. The defense still struggled against the run or to muster any kind of fearsome pass rush. On the offensive side of the ball, Jalin Conyers showed his big play capability, the wide receivers did a good job of getting open, and despite a rough second half, Jaden Rashada showed off his exquisite arm talent with some masterful deep passes. There is a lot of improvement needed on both sides of the ball if ASU wants to achieve its goal of proving to be thorns in the sides of teams with high aspirations this season, but there is faith and hope that those strides will be made as Kenny, Jaden, and the rest of the team continue to work hard and build that chemistry.
The future remains a question that is yet to be answered, but one thing we know for sure is that the Sun Devils looked good. The lack of a word mark on the chest is the sole glaring negative takeaway about this uniform, but the switch to white outlined numbers on the maroon jersey was a huge success. The 15-year run of black-outlined numbers is thankfully over, and the ASU really looked like ASU out there. Another feature contributing to the Sun Devils looking like their classic selves was the continued use of a maroon center stripe with pitchfork decals. The stylization of the center stripe may change, but as long as it’s there, the helmets will look better than they ever did without it. The pitchfork decals reverted back to a more classic finish, which was refreshing to see as well. The chrome pitchforks were beginning to feel a bit overplayed. Now that the classic maroon and gold look has happened in week 1, I can’t wait to see what Ryan Barker and his Equipment crew have in store for the rest of the season.
Traditional Gold/Maroon/Gold: A
The Week to Come
Uniform
The Devils have a litmus test ahead of them when Oklahoma State comes to Tempe this Saturday. This is a big game for the Sun Devils to see how much they’ve grown from week 1 to week 2 after a very strange first game. Oklahoma State was not exactly impressive against Central Arkansas in their opener, so both teams are coming in with something to prove and could end up being evenly matched. As they take the field against the Cowboys, the Sun Devils’ Blackout uniform will feature a maroon helmet/black jersey/black pant uniform combination.
You may notice something familiar about this weekend’s uniform, and that is because it is the last dance of the state flag chest uniform. The black Ghost Story uniforms were introduced before the season began and will be worn as this year’s “alternate” uniform on October 7th when Colorado comes to town. Because the Ghost Story is considered an alternate, that then opens the opportunity to get one last shot to enjoy the state flag uniforms that we’ve grown to love the previous five seasons.
The heather black jersey features a sublimated Arizona state flag 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
In keeping with the Blackout theme, the Sun Devils have chosen to go dark on dark in their helmet choice. Since there is still no black helmet option for ASU, the maroon helmet keeps consistent the dark shade theme, especially when you add in the decals. The Devils will have black standard-sized pitchforks with gold trim on either side of the helmet and a black center stripe with a gold trim outline to match. The facemask is black, and the front bumper has a black base and gold font that reads “Arizona State.”
The decals on the back of the helmet include an American flag, a black Pac 12 shield, a black PT*42 shield honoring the legendary Sun Devil, Pat Tillman, and a black Warning label which is in the shape of the state of Arizona, featured maroon text, and has a small, black silhouette pitchfork over Tempe. The decals on the back of the helmet are rounded out by the gold “Sun Devils” text over a black base on the helmet’s rear bumper.
Cleats and Socks
For the first time this season, ASU will wear black cleats. The two sets of cleats pictured below feature the adidas Adi-Zero cleats on the top row and adidas Freaks on the bottom. The Adi-Zeroes are typically worn by speed position players (wide receivers and defensive backs), while the Freaks are typically worn by heavier players (linebackers and linemen).
Beginning with the top row, the Adi-Zero on the left features a black base and black sole, a black tongue, black laces, three white adidas stripes near the toe on the outside of the shoe, and a prominent white adidas logo on the instep near the arch. The Adi-Zero in the middle is a standard low-top Adi-Zero Primeknit. It boasts all the same basic features but has some great accents near the toe. The pair on the far right is a mid-top Adi-Zero Primeknit and has all the same features as Primknit low, but the black opening rises higher up on the ankle.
The pairs of adidas Freaks on the left and in the middle also feature a black base and sole, with three white adidas stripes near the ankle on the outside of the shoes and three maroon adidas stripes near the arch on the instep. They both also have a black tongue and black laces. The Freak low-top is on the far left, and the Freak mid-top is in the middle, rising higher up the ankle. The pair of cleats second to the right is the Freak Ultra Primeknit. The black cleat also has three white adidas stripes near the ankle on the outside of the shoe and has a textured black pattern on the inside of the shoe.
The Freak Torsion on the far right has a black base and sole. It also has three white adidas stripes on the outside of the shoe. There is a very large white adidas logo on the inside of the shoe. The tongue and large shoelaces are both black, and a small, black adidas “Freak” logo can be found on the white heel loop.
The Sun Devils will wear black socks this week to match the rest of the uniform.
Gloves
The Sun Devils will wear maroon and black gloves, and as with the cleats, there are different gloves for different positions. The gloves on the top are AdiZeros, which are typically worn by speed position players like wide receivers and defensive backs. The maroon gloves feature a maroon pitchfork with gold trim on the palm of each glove. They also have gold vent specks and a gold adidas logo on the back of the hand, gold seams around the wrist, and gold lining around the maroon wrist strap, which features the AdiZero word mark and a gold arrow. The gloves in the middle are adidas Freaks, worn by larger skill position players such as linebackers and tight ends. The maroon adidas Freak gloves feature the same maroon pitchfork palm design as the AdiZero, gold seams around the wrist, a gold adidas logo on the back of the hand, and a maroon mesh with small gold holes.
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 with black padding on the palm and along with a gold adidas logo on the back of the hand; they also have white accents on the knuckles and a gold accent on the black wrist-wrap.
Reaction
Say what you want about the “cardigan sweater” black uniforms; they have been a favorite of recruits and players as long as they’ve been in use. I do not disagree that their time is up, and, especially after this swan-song game, it’s definitely time to move on, but I’ve enjoyed watching games that the Sun Devils wear these in. They appear black from afar, which provides the desired Blackout effect but allows for the sublimated state flag to really come through in close-up camera shots.
While I think it odd that adidas has not provided a current, up to date Blackout option with the new uniform template outside of the Ghost Story alternates, the nostalgic side of me is happy to see the state flag generation uniform take the field one last time. It symbolically also marks the transition from the old era to the new, with Kenny at the helm and a new QB1 wearing number 5. A bit of a uniform handshake between the old and the new as we move forward into the new era of ASU Football beyond this week.
Maroon helmets on black uniforms are not always a top choice; however, the gold-trimmed decals will make a big difference in allowing the decals to pop off the helmet rather than getting lost because of there being too much dark on dark. I actually have high hopes that this will look good under the lights against the Oklahoma State team that will likely be wearing primarily white with orange accents. I’m in support of finding creativity wherever it may be utilized, and the gold-trimmed pitchfork is the key to this uniform. I can’t wait to see it on the field and am incredibly grateful that this Blackout game is taking place after the sun is set. Here’s to hoping the Devils can send the state flag chest uniforms out with a win.
What Color Traveling ASU Fans Should Wear: Black
#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 $125 gift card to Cactus Sports!
As a reminder, 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!
Best of luck to @StrangersAstory, @Skyisthelimit22, and @timagne in this week’s Twitter poll!
