A Week in Review

Another week has gone by, and another instance of catching a glimpse of what this team is capable of. Only one week after stunning #3 Oregon, Stanford came to town with some momentum, but the Sun Devils put a hasty end to that after taking a 21-7 lead into halftime. Arizona State’s offense stalled in the second half, but the defense came to play, allowing only 3 points while producing 7 points of their own on the spectacular Jack Jones to Deandre Pierce “Pitch Six.” The offense easily left another 14 to 17 points on the board with a missed field goal and stalled drives in Stanford territory. This team is earning success while still showing that it is not completely reaching its full capability. If and when this team is able to put it all together, the sky is the limit. Speaking of the sky, a Maroon Monsoon descended on Tempe last Friday, and it was a beautiful sight to behold.

The return of the Maroon Monsoon in its true form last Friday was a welcome sight. The team wearing maroon in Sun Devil Stadium is always great to see, and the colors genuinely outshine all others. The extra flair added to the look by the maroon color shift helmets enhances the overall look as it brings more gold into the mix. Add to that the ASU alumni designed Hispanic Heritage “Sparky Tail” helmet stripe with gold sateen pitchforks that caught the stadium lights, and you have yourself a great uniform.

Aside from the gold Valley Heat uniform from the Week 4 game against Colorado, this past weekend’s Maroon Monsoon received the most positive response from readers and the general ASU public that I’ve seen of any combination in a long time. It checked all the boxes for traditionalists and modern/new era uniform lovers all the same.

ASU found its way into the UNISWAG weekly top 10 for the third consecutive week, settling in at #7 in that countdown, while another uniform tracking service, UniAuthority, rated them the #4 look in their own weekly top 10 countdown. The Sun Devil Football equipment staff caught the eyes of the nation and of Sun Devil Nation yet again in another very impressive effort. This was a fantastic overall look!

Maroon Monsoon: A

The Week to Come

Uniform

Arizona State is now 3-0 in conference play ahead of a trip to Salt Lake City for a night game against Utah, who is the only other team undefeated in Pac 12 play at 2-0. Rice-Eccles Stadium is already an imposing place to play for visitors, but it will also be a chilly night, expected to be in the 40s at kickoff. The Devils earned a win in a tough Pac 12 South road test against UCLA two weeks ago and beat a Pac 12 foe coming off an impressive win when they beat Stanford last week. Now they’ll have to do both this weekend, with Utah coming off a blowout win over USC in the Coliseum. When they travel to Salt Lake, the Devils will do so wearing a maroon helmet/white jersey/maroon pant uniform combination.

The white jersey features a sublimated Arizona state flag in representing the sunset and the star across the chest. The star and stripes of the flag are a tonal gray. The maroon player numbers are outlined in gold 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 black Sun Devil Bold font, and above the nameplate is a small, maroon “ASU” outlined in gold. On the front of the jersey near the left shoulder is a black adidas logo, near the right shoulder, is a maroon and gold Pac 12 shield, and 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 small gold pitchfork with black trim near the right hip and a black gold logo near the left hip. “Sun Devils” is stitched in gold Sun Devil Bold running vertically along the side of the left thigh. There is paneling on the pants that features the darker tonal maroon, not only providing further dimension to the uniform as a whole but also serving a purpose in providing a greater range of motion.

Helmet

The maroon helmet uses a candy finish color shift paint job. The surface of the helmet directly in front of the eye will appear as the candy maroon finish, but the angles from which light hits the helmet will shift to gold. The left side of the maroon color shift helmet will have a large gold pitchfork decal with white trim that has a sateen finish, while the opposite side will have sateen gold player numbers with white trim. The facemask is white, and the front bumper has a maroon base and gold font that reads PT*42 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 maroon rays rising from it in subtle detail.

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

For a more dynamic look at the maroon helmet, see the video below for an example of the color shift from maroon to gold in different angles of light.

Cleats and Socks

White cleats will be worn for the game this Saturday. From left to right, there are three different types of cleats. The first six pairs are a mix of AdiZero and Freaks, and the last two are Nastys. 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).

From left to right, the pair furthest to the left is the Freak Ultra Laceless. It features a white sole and white base with a maroon pixel gradient pattern around the bottom of the shoe and a primeknit center outlined by a maroon-lined starburst pattern. As the name suggests, this cleat does not have any laces but instead has three maroon adidas stripes where the laces would usually be. It is rounded out with a maroon Freak logo on the heel of the cleat. The next pair is an AdiZero which features a white base and sole, a maroon tongue, maroon laces, three maroon adidas stripes near the toe on the outside of the shoe, and a prominent maroon AdiZero logo with a digital ghost effect on the instep near the arch. It also has a maroon finger loop on the heel. The third is the AdiZero Scorch which is a Primeknit mid-top. It is white on the outside of the shoe and on the sole, but more prominently maroon on the instep and throughout the rest of the top of the shoe. The maroon instep features a maroon tonal AdiZero logo with a digital ghost effect and a maroon finger loop on the heel.

There are two more pairs of adidas Freaks in the middle of the group of cleats. The Freak pair on the left is the Freak mid. It has a white base and maroon sole, white laces, a white tongue with a maroon Freak logo on it, three maroon adidas stripes on the outside of the cleat near the toe, and a prominent maroon adidas logo on the instep. The Freak pair on the right is the Freak Ultra. It features all of the major base aesthetics as the Freak Mid but also features some gray primeknit material, maroon stitch detailing around the lace eyelets, and a maroon finger loop on the heel. The next pair is the third AdiZero pair. All of the major elements of this pair of cleats are white except for the three maroon adidas stripes on the outside of the shoe near the toe and the maroon adidas log on the instep.

The final two pairs on the right are Nasty cleats. The second to last pair is the Nasty Torsion. It is a heavier duty cleat with a white base and sole, white laces, white eyelets with maroon accents, a white 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 maroon plate on the arch, and a maroon and gold finger loop that mimics the styling of the lace eyelets. The far right pair is the Nasty Fly. It essentially shares all the same major details as the Nasty Torsion; however, it is not as heavy duty, and instead of a white sole, it features a metallic maroon sole.

White socks will be worn to complement the jersey as well.

Gloves

The Sun Devils will wear maroon and 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 maroon gloves feature a palm design so that when the palms are placed together, it completes the image of the gold ASU Sunburst made famous by the 1975 undefeated Sun Devil team. They also have a white adidas logo on the back of the hand, maroon and gold detailing and a small “Z” AdiZero letter mark on the wrist strap, and gold 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. Like the AdiZero, the adidas Freak gloves feature a palm design so that when the palms are placed together, there is the image of the 1975 gold ASU Sunburst. On the back of the glove, the adidas Freaks also have some extra padding, a white adidas logo, and maroon and white 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 white and black two-tone 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 wrist-wrap.

Reaction

One week after ushering in a new era of the Maroon Monsoon with the color shift helmet, another classic rebrand uniform combination is set to make its return. The maroon/white/maroon look has been one of the best base combinations since the dawning of the pitchfork rebrand in 2011, and I’m pleased to see it return. As far as away uniforms go, this has long been one of my favorites of the last decade.

The color shift nature of the maroon helmet, along with its candy paint finish, make it tricky to pair with standard decals, so, as a result, the creative juices have been flowing in the Sun Devil Football equipment room this season. This has shown in some creative ombré color designs on the pitchfork as well as implementing a sateen finish on ASU’s traditional collegiate, sunflower gold. That has made for some iconic looks in the relatively young life of this new helmet. This week’s decals hit the mark emphatically. The white trim on the pitchfork and number decals match and complement the white facemask and away jersey, and the gold gives the overall helmet a dynamic look that utilizes the school colors exceptionally well.

Football uniforms, in general, tend to be more pleasing to the eye when the helmet and pant color match while the jersey is the complementary color in the equation. With maroon on top and bottom of this combination, the dark color anchors are well in place. The decals and facemask on the helmet provide the finishing touch in bringing maroon and gold to the forefront while also making the white away elements a significant player in the overall look. I think this is an incredibly innovative way of creating a uniform that highlights tradition while remaining modern. I can’t wait to see this on the field in Rice-Eccles Stadium. The Devils are going to look great!

What Color Traveling ASU Fans Should Wear: Gold or Maroon

#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! 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 @lilbobby28 on earning a finalist spot last week! And best of luck to @asunutgirl, @jwbreadfan, and @secretlifeofzp in this week’s Twitter poll!