Week in Review
The first week of college football is in the books, and it was a feast for the hungry college football-loving public. There were great games all weekend long, peaking with incredible competition all day during the Saturday buffet. The Sun Devils provided the perfect appetizer to set up the rest of the weekend with a vanilla but dominant 40-3 win over NAU.
We didn’t know what to expect from the 2022 Sun Devil team, and perhaps we still don’t, completely, and perhaps that’s by design. In a game where the offensive playbook was not very deeply opened up, and the defense dominated a much lesser opponent, there is reason for much optimism. Very little was asked of quarterback Emory Jones, but he showed flashes of speed, accuracy, and arm strength. The running game again looks like the strength of the team, and the passing game showed some promise, considering the limited opportunity it was given.
One thing that undoubtedly looked great was the uniform. It’s hard to beat the classic colors, especially when there’s a maroon center stripe on the helmet. The chromed decals had a great shine from them and had a much stronger color match to the helmet compared to the decals used for the home opener last year. This year’s team has a much better feel to it as well. They fill out the uniforms well. It felt great to look down upon them from the crowd and see them grow together as a squad for this home opener.
I look forward to the rest of this season to see what kind of success this team will achieve and, of course, what other uniforms they’ll wear.
Traditional Gold/Maroon/Gold: A
The Week to Come
Uniform
The Devils have a huge test ahead of them when they travel to Stillwater this Saturday to take on Oklahoma State in a road contest against a ranked nonconference opponent. This is a big game for the Sun Devils to prove themselves as well as for the Pac 12 after a rough showing as a conference in the first weekend of the season. As they take the field against the Cowboys, the Sun Devils will be wearing a gold Sparky face helmet/white jersey/gold 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 gold pants match the style of the pants worn by the 1996 Pac 10 Championship team. They are mostly gold but have a small Sparky near the left hip and a maroon adidas logo near the right hip.
Helmet
For the second straight year, I am happy to report big news on the gold helmet that has to do with Sparky. Until last season’s large Sparky decal, there had been no alternative to the standard-sized Sparky decals we all know and love. The Sparky face will finally be used as the decals on ASU’s football helmets. The decals will occupy the majority of the space on either side of the gloss gold shell. This helmet does not feature a center stripe as the oversized Sparky face decal is the primary focus. The facemask is white, and the front bumper has a gold base and maroon 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 gold rays rising from it in a subtle detail.
The maroon decals on the back of the helmet include the Pac 12 shield, the Warning label, which is in the shape of the state of Arizona, featured maroon text, and has a small maroon pitchfork over Tempe. The decals on the back of the helmet are rounded by the maroon “Sun Devils” text over a desert landscape silhouette on the helmet’s rear bumper.
Cleats and Socks
White cleats will be worn for this week 2 matchup. 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 are 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.
An additional cleat option will be available to players as well. The gold and white Ultraboost cleat predominantly feature a gold and white knit weave with a white heel, tongue, and sole. The tongue has a maroon adidas patch at the top, and the heel has a maroon Ultraboost logo on the outside part of the heel. The adidas three stripes are each a two-tone maroon and white and appear on either side of the shoe. Towards the toe on the outside of the shoe is a tonal gold “1885” detail which is an homage to the founding year of the school. To wrap up all the details, the inside of the sole features the flame Sparky logo.
The Sun Devils will wear white socks this week to match the rest of the uniform.
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 gloves have a white palm that features a maroon pitchfork with gold trim on each glove. They also have a maroon adidas logo on the back of the hand, a small, maroon AdiZero wordmark above the wrist strap, maroon striping 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 white base and maroon pitchfork with gold 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, 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 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
It’s about time. It is seriously about time. Sun Devil Hockey and Softball and both leveraged this decal in incredible ways and have more than proven that it can be done well. I’m so happy to see a common sense decision was finally made to allow this incredible equipment staff the opportunity to make this helmet a reality.
Folks, we have ourselves an early contender for the best uniform of the year. I typically like to see a dark element to anchor the uniform, but this gold/white/gold away look is a classic, especially when Sparky makes an appearance on both the helmet and the pants.
This invokes excitement as we take a step deeper into the 2022 season. The optimism I implored upon all of you in last week’s article was very present last week as this team stormed the field and put on a strong performance. The chemistry that’s been spoken about in the weeks approaching the opening game was on full display. The vibe in the stadium was different. That vibe will travel to Stillwater this weekend along with a collection of players who believe they can win this game and are playing for each other. This uniform is something of a breakthrough for the equipment staff, for the team, and for the fans. I believe that it represents this year’s version of the Sun Devils. Can they fulfill that breakthrough potential? We will find out on Saturday.
What Color Traveling ASU Fans Should Wear: Maroon or 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 $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!
Best of luck to @matt_joanes, @TylerHam311, and @Cawley_TV in this week’s Twitter poll!
