A Week in Review

In football, it is often said that the greatest improvement is shown from week 1 to week 2. That adage may not have held true this last week and the Sun Devils struggled against FCS Division Sacramento State. There were a couple of calls that could have affected the score had they gone in ASU’s favor, but despite those, the dominance that one would hope for was absent. For all intents and purposes, it was an ugly win. However, let’s shift the focus to something that was far from ugly: the uniforms.

The Sun Devils wore a white helmet/maroon jersey/maroon pant uniform combination, and it looked very sharp. The last time this color combination was worn was for senior day in 2014 against Washington State, however, the helmet had a different look to it on Saturday than it did nearly 5 years ago. For that game, standard-sized maroon pitchforks with gold trim were used. But, for this past Saturday’s game, a large maroon pitchfork with gold trim and gold player numbers with a maroon outline graced the helmets. Match those decals with a maroon facemask, and it was a winning combination on top of maroon jerseys and pants.

White Helmet/Maroon Jersey/Maroon Pants: A-

The Week to Come

Uniform

In 2018, the uniform choice against Michigan State was an easy one. Blackout. Some of ASU’s biggest games and best performances over the years have taken place in the black monochromatic uniforms, and the 2018 edition proved to be just the same. Now, the Sun Devils must visit Michigan State in their home, facing an alternate uniform from Michigan State complete with highlighter lettering more indicative of an Oregon team. So, what will Arizona State wear against the Spartans?

Ever since the release of the all-white “Selfless” sustainable uniforms, fans have prognosticated that they would be worn against Michigan State. Both the equipment staff and I have publicly let folks know that would not be the case, and we can finally see now what the Sun Devils will, in fact, be wearing in East Lansing. The Sun Devils will wear a white 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 in lieu of identifying text which is now on the back of the jersey. The maroon player numbers on the uniforms being worn this Thursday 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 the 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, as well as a white and gray “150” patch signifying the 150th season of college football. 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 gold pants have a small gold pitchfork with black trim near the right hip and a maroon adidas logo near the left hip. Running vertically along the side of the left thigh is maroon “Sun Devils” in Sun Devil Bold font. There is paneling on the pants that features the darker tonal gold, not only providing further dimension to the uniform as a whole but also serving a purpose in providing a greater range of motion.

Helmet

Last week, the white helmet featured a never-before-seen decal combination. That is not the case this week’s as the decals on the helmet were worn for the first time against San Diego State last year. However, there is one very noticeable new element as part of the helmet this week. For the first time ever, the Sun Devils will have gold facemasks on their helmets. Gold facemasks are part of the creativity being implemented to make the binary helmet choices more interesting throughout the course of the 2019 season. As far as the aforementioned decals, the helmet will have a large gold pitchfork with maroon trim on the right side of the helmet and maroon player numbers with a gold outline on the left side of the helmet to match the player numbers on the uniform. As mentioned, the facemask is gold, and the front bumpers will be both 2D and 3D with a white base and maroon font that reads PT*42, also honoring the legendary Sun Devil, Pat Tillman.

The maroon decals on the back of the helmet include the Pac 12 shield, the outline of the state of Arizona with a small pitchfork over Tempe, and even the text in the Warning label. The decals on the back of the helmet are rounded out by small Sparky decals on either side of the helmet’s rear bumper.

Cleats & Socks

For a second consecutive week, ASU will wear white 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 white base and white sole, a white tongue with maroon accents, white laces, three maroon adidas stripes near the toe on the outside of the shoe, and a prominent maroon adidas logo on the instep near the arch. The Adi-Zero in the middle is a standard low-top Adi-Zero Primeknit with all the same features. The pair on the far right is a mid-top Adi-Zero Primeknit and has the same features as well, but the white opening rises higher up on the ankle.

The pairs of adidas Freaks on the left and in the middle also feature a white base and sole, with three maroon 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 white tongue and white laces. The Freak low-top is on the far left and Freak mid-top is in the middle, rising higher up the ankle. The Freak Torsion on the far right has a white base and sole. It also has three white adidas stripes on the outside of the shoe. There is a very large maroon adidas logo on the inside of the shoe. The tongue and large shoelaces are both white, and a small, maroon adidas “Freak” logo can be found on the white heel loop.

Along with the white cleats, the Sun Devils will also be wearing gold socks.

Gloves

The Sun Devils will wear both gold and white gloves, and as with the cleats, there are different gloves for different positions. The gold gloves on the top are Adi-Zeros which are typically worn by speed position players like wide receivers and defensive backs. It has been trendy across football that when the palms of gloves are placed together, the two hands create a complete image. This year’s edition of Adi-Zero gloves strays away from that trend. Instead, they feature a gold pitchfork with maroon trim on the palm of each glove.

They also have a white adidas logo on the back of the hand. The same gold on the palm of the glove is the base color on the back of the glove, along with a heavy dose of lighter gold detailing. 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 a pattern of small, repeating adidas logos that are gold in color on the palm, along with a large maroon adidas logo that is completed when the palms are placed together.

The adidas Freaks also have 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 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

This week’s uniform combination is almost a carbon copy compared to last season in terms of timing and major base elements. During the 2018 season, the Sun Devils had their first road game in week 3 and wore this white helmet/white jersey/gold pant uniform combination with the same helmet decal kit. The only aesthetic difference is a very noticeable one, and that is the gold facemask.

The gold facemask gives the helmet, and really the whole uniform, a completely new element. The uniform worn against San Diego State last year was innovative with the new decals and how they popped as an away combination, but the use of brand new gold facemasks really gives the Sun Devils a unique identity, especially when paired with this week's decal kit. Michigan State is going to have a different uniform look when the Sun Devils come to town, but clearly, ASU has something up their sleeves as well.

What Color Traveling ASU Fans Should Wear: Gold