Week in Review
Heading into the season with a revamped roster, better health, a new quarterback, and low expectations from everyone outside of Tempe, curiosity was piqued as the Sun Devils took the field against Wyoming last Saturday. A win against the Cowboys was largely expected, however, there was a pretty consistent line of thinking that this would be an ugly contest with both teams struggling to find points. It was definitely ugly if you matched your gold with brown on Saturday. However, for those who pair maroon with their gold, that game was a welcome sight. The Devils dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, forced three turnovers, scoring touchdowns on two of those instances, saw consistent quarterback play, and only gave up a touchdown in the waning seconds of the game. It was a beautiful thing to watch for ASU fans. Speaking of beautiful, let’s talk about the uniforms.
One simply cannot go wrong when pairing maroon and gold together, especially when doing so in the uniform color combination that has proven itself to be one of the best-looking and most iconic uniforms in college football. It’s not just the color combination; it’s the finer details. While wearing the traditional color combination for the home opener has been a mainstay since the pitchfork’s debut as the primary logo in 2011, the color correctness and dedication to history have not always been there. Powder yellow matte finish helmets that lacked a maroon center stripe were worn for years. The return to the gloss finish for the gold helmet and returning a maroon center stripe to the helmet makes the team truly look like ASU, despite which logo is on the side of the helmet.
The only criticism I have of this overall uniform is that of the decals. Not necessarily the choice of maroon pitchforks and center stripe, but instead for electing to go with the chrome-like finish rather than a more standard, straightforward colorway. There was also no maroon border around the pitchfork decal’s gold trim, which typically provides some distinction between the helmet and the pitchfork’s accent detail. Other than that, it was a sight for these very sore eyes.
Traditional Gold/Maroon/Gold: A-
The Week to Come
Uniform
When the Sun Devils take the field against Mississippi State, they will do so in the recently released gold strategy jersey. They will wear a white helmet, gold jersey, and gold pants uniform combination.
The gold jersey has maroon numbers with Vegas gold trim on the front and back, as well as on the sleeves atop the shoulder pads. The player numbers on the chest and back are perforated to give a mesh look that provides some nostalgia to when the uniforms themselves were mesh material. There is also a maroon “Arizona State” wordmark with Vegas gold trim written in Sun Devil Bold font.
The Big 12 “XII” logo is Vegas gold with maroon trim near the right shoulder, and the three adidas stripes are Vegas gold near the left shoulder. The black and white PT*42 patch honoring Sun Devil legend Pat Tillman is in its proper place at the base of the collar to round out the details on the front of the jersey.
The gold pants have a large Vegas gold pitchfork with maroon trim on the right thigh and a maroon adidas logo near the left hip.
Helmet
The white helmet features large Sparky face decals on either side of the helmet and no center stripe. The facemask is white, and the front bumper has a white base and maroon wordmark that reads “Arizona State.”.
The decals on the back of the helmet include a white Big 12 logo with a maroon border, a maroon PT*42 shield honoring the legendary Sun Devil, Pat Tillman, a maroon Warning label in the shape of the state of Arizona featuring maroon text, a small, gold pitchfork over Tempe, and an American flag. The decals on the back of the helmet are rounded by the maroon “Arizona State” text and a white base rear bumper.
Cleats and Socks
The Sun Devils will wear white cleats against Mississippi 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 white sole that reaches part way up the heel. They have a textured maroon base that has a bit of a sparkle element to it with three white stripes and an adizero wordmark on the outside of the shoe. The top portion of the cleat is a maroon primeknit and has the white 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 white sole, a white plastic band that reaches up towards the heel on either side of the shoe. The white base has three maroon stripes on the outside of the shoe, while there is a maroon adidas logo on the instep. The maroon laces lead up to the white 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, which are made for more ankle support for heavier linemen. The second to last pair is the adizero Chaos. It features a shiny white plastic sole and a two-tone white and gold colorway on the main body of the shoe. The front half towards the toe is white 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 white 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 cleats as well.
Gloves
The Sun Devils will wear white 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 white adizeros feature a maroon pitchfork with gold trim on the palm of each glove. They also have a maroon adidas logo on the back of the hand, maroon seams around the wrist, and a maroon 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 white adidas Freak gloves feature the same maroon pitchfork palm design as the adizero, maroon seams around the wrist, and a maroon 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 white with black padding on the palm and along with a maroon adidas logo on the back of the hand; they also have gold accents on the knuckles and the black wrist-wrap with a gold strap.
Reaction
This gold jersey is an improvement from the version used in 2021-22. The Vegas gold trim around the maroon text is still not my favorite. It serves the purpose of providing some separation between the maroon numbers and the sunflower gold jersey, but it still clashes a bit when seen up close. That being said, it is a vast improvement over the Vegas gold State of Arizona star and stripes on the maroon-capped sleeves from the previous gold iteration.
I am undecided about the Vegas gold pitchfork on the pants. Of course, it is understood that as an alternate, they want to distinguish these gold pants from the standard gold pants that were worn last week against Wyoming. That being said, this may be the gaudy component that replaces the maroon and Vegas gold sleeves. I will wait and reserve judgment until game day.
When this new gold jersey was revealed before the season, it was paired with a maroon helmet. As I noted in the article about the uniform reveal, it was possible that the helmet pictured would not be the helmet worn for the game. That prognostication was proven correct as the equipment staff has elected to go with a white lid with a large Sparky face decal. My preference is always to have the dark primary color to anchor a uniform when there is a bright-based uniform, but that element is ultimately missing. That being said, I’m not sure I totally dislike this choice. It’s not what I would choose if I was the one making decisions, but because the decal is so large and so bold, it may balance things out more than if the helmet featured a simple pitchfork design. Again, judgment will remain reserved for seeing the uniforms on the field, but I am excited to see how they look!
What Color ASU Fans Should Wear: Gold
#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! 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 @CodyH_AZ, @sparkybmxer, and @TylerHam311 in this week’s Twitter poll!
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