Week in Review
An early kickoff in Cincinnati began with a bang when the Sun Devils forced a three-and-out, scored a touchdown, and intercepted the Bearcats in the first three consecutive possessions of the game. The momentum quickly turned when the Devils fumbled away the turnover they’d just forced, which led to a Cincinnati touchdown. Some head-scratching decisions to go for it on fourth downs contributed to Arizona State falling into a deeper hole that they were never able to climb out of.
While it was an uphill battle to go into this game without starting quarterback Sam Leavitt, there seemed to be an opportunity to exploit Cincy’s poor rushing defense with a one-two punch attack of Cam Skattebo and ASU’s athletic backup quarterback, Jeff Sims. The game plan, however, showed no effort to adjust to the talent on the field and instead tried to shoehorn a quarterback with a different skill set into a game plan that had been implemented all season long. That led to struggles to move the ball and convert on third downs all game long. It wasn’t pretty to watch, but one thing that did look good was the uniforms.
The maroon helmets with white pitchfork decals and white facemasks showed well atop the white jerseys and pants. Because there is a presence of maroon on both the jerseys and pants, the maroon helmet complemented them well. It also satisfied the dark element often required to anchor a uniform of primarily lighter-colored material, in this case, white. The helmet’s white decals also played well off the primarily white elements within the uniform combination. There was nothing especially eye-grabbing about this uniform, but it had a solid midseason look.
Maroon/White/White: B+
The Week to Come
Uniform
Arizona State had already lost heading into a bye week earlier this season, and they came out strong by winning two straight before losing again leading into this most recent bye week. They have an opportunity yet again to come out of the bye week strong, having used the time to heal up and work on getting better. They’ll do so against an Oklahoma State team that is not playing as well as expected leading into the season. In the history of ASU Football, playing on the road is never an easy task, regardless of the supposed strength or weakness of the opponent, but in this upcoming week, there is still an opportunity to win a Big 12 road game in Stillwater. When the Sun Devils take the field against the Cowboys, they will be wearing a maroon helmet, white jersey, and maroon pant uniform combination.
The white jersey features the Arizona state flag as a stripe feature on either side of the uniform. It is a darker tonal white with the rays leading up and fading into the armpit, the star around the base of the rib cage, and the river block running downward and eventually fading towards the waist. In a move towards an even more simplified design, adidas has opted not to include any identifying letter or wordmark on the jersey. The jersey also has a maroon cuff around the sleeves.
The white jerseys feature maroon player numbers outlined in gold on both the front and back of the jersey, as well as the TV numbers on the sleeves. Though it may be hard to see, the numbers on the front and back of the jerseys have a subtle, tonal flame pattern within the maroon.
The nameplate on the back of the jersey utilizes the maroon Sun Devil Bold font. On the front of the jersey, near the left shoulder, is a maroon adidas logo. Near the right shoulder is a maroon and white Big 12 logo. 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 maroon pants have a large gold pitchfork with white trim on the right thigh and a gold adidas logo near the left hip.
Helmet
The maroon color shift helmet features a blend of elements from both weeks 6 and 8. It features standard white pitchfork decals with gold trim and a thin maroon border. There is also a three-tone center stripe which matches the color pattern of the pitchforks working from the inside out with a bold white center, then skinnier gold stripes, and finished off with thin maroon border stripes. The facemask is white, and the front bumper has a maroon base and white “Arizona State” text. The pitchfork decal is the same as in weeks 6 and 8, making this the third time it is being used on a maroon helmet this season; however, the center stripe is borrowed from week 6, and the white facemask from week 8.
The decals on the back of the helmet include a maroon Big 12 logo with a white border, a white PT*42 shield honoring the legendary Sun Devil, Pat Tillman, a white Warning label in the shape of the state of Arizona, featuring white text, a small maroon pitchfork with gold trim over Tempe, and an American flag. The decals on the back of the helmet are rounded by the white “Sun Devils” text on a maroon base rear bumper.
Cleats and Socks
The Sun Devils will wear maroon cleats against Oklahoma State. From left to right, there are four different types of cleats. The first two pairs are lighter cleats and are typically worn by speed position players (wide receivers and defensive backs), while the last two pairs are worn by heavier players (linemen).
From left to right, the pair furthest to the left is the adizero Electric. It features a maroon gold sole with the maroon occupying the front half of the sole while the gold takes up the back half and reaches partway up the heel. They have a textured maroon base that has a bit of a sparkle element to it, with three gold stripes and an adizero wordmark on the outside of the shoe. The top portion of the cleat is a primeknit and has the adidas logo near the instep. It has maroon laces and a maroon finger loop on the heel. The next pair is the adizero Impact. It features a gold sole and a gold plastic band that reaches up towards the heel on either side of the shoe. The maroon base has three gold stripes on the outside of the shoe, while there is a gold adidas logo on the instep. The maroon laces lead up to the gold adizero wordmark on the tongue, and the cleat also has a maroon finger loop on the heel.
The final two pairs are adizero Chaos models, made for more ankle support for heavier linemen. The second to last pair is the adizero Chaos. It features a shiny gold plastic sole and a two-tone maroon and gold colorway on the main body of the shoe. The front half towards the toe is gold and features three maroon stripes on the outside of the foot, while the back half towards the heel is maroon. The cleat also features maroon laces with a maroon finger loop on the heel. The fourth and final pair is the adizero Chaos Torsion. It shares almost all of the major color characteristics as the Chaos. The main difference is that the sole is a gold rubberized material designed for better grip on the grass and it also features a small plastic maroon plate on the instep of the sole.
White socks will be worn to match the jersey as well.
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 adizeros feature a maroon pitchfork with gold trim on the palm of each glove. They also have a gold adidas logo on the back of the hand, gold seams around the wrist, and a gold adizero word mark on the pointer finger. 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, and a gold adidas logo on the back of the hand. 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 black wrist wrap with a gold strap.
Reaction
This is now the fourth consecutive game in which Arizona State has been wearing a maroon helmet. After alternating gold, white, gold, and white in the first four games before the first bye week, ASU has worn a maroon helmet in every game since, including this weekend’s upcoming game against Oklahoma State. This is also the third time out of those four games that the white pitchfork decals are being worn; the lone time that they were not was for the Maroon Eclipse game against Utah. I don’t mind some redundancy throughout the season, but for a team that has become well-known for its variety over more than a decade, it would be preferred if it was spread out rather than clustered all together. It would have been nice to see a primarily gold decal buildout to break up a bit of the monotony as well. I have to imagine that the equipment room has some plans for the final four games of the season, so I look forward to that coming to fruition in the final third of the schedule.
That being said, I love maroon/white/maroon as an away combo. It provides plenty of bold, identifiable color with the heavier presence of maroon and the complement of the gold accents on the helmet, jersey, and especially the pants. The last time the Sun Devils wore this color combination was last season at the Rose Bowl as the Sun Devils defeated UCLA while centering their game plan around the swinging gate formation on offense. So, it has had some success in its very recent history. Let’s see if that can be carried forth into Stillwater this weekend.
What Color #Faniform Travelling ASU Fans Should Wear: Gold
Honorary #Faniform
Arizona State Athletic Director Graham Rossini continues to join in the fun of submitting a #faniform each week. While it is still a #faniform, anything submitted from Rossini will never be eligible for the #faniforms presented by Cactus Sports contest. However, we would still love to highlight his participation and how well-dressed he is. Last game, Rossini wore a gold Activate the Valley shirt with a maroon “Go Devils” print and featured a gold pitchfork with maroon trim underneath the text. He wore that shirt under a maroon polo that has a maroon pitchfork with gold trim on the left chest and a gold adidas logo on the left chest. He wore a white quarter zip that has a gold pitchfork with maroon trim on the left chest and a maroon adidas logo on the left chest. He wore a dark gold pair of Stance socks with maroon and black stripes. He rounded everything off with a pair of white ASU Centennial shoes.
#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 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! 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!
Congratulations to @swooshgolf18 on earning a finalist spot last week! And best of luck to @Dan_Moreno_13, @andrewtaylor09, and @ProducerWes in this week’s Twitter and Instagram poll!
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