The Elephant in the Room
What is there to say? The performance put forth was pathetic, the loss was embarrassing, and it has caused a chain reaction that will affect the rest of the season as well as the longer-term direction of the program. A loss to Eastern Michigan was the straw that broke the camel’s back as ASU and Herm Edwards have now cut ties. It was a mutual relinquishment of duties, whatever that means, but the one thing that we know for sure is that Herm is no longer in the building. In focusing on the players, suffering a loss, and then learning the next morning that their head coach would no longer be a part of the program has been a lot to deal with. It was somewhat shocking news as it was widely believed that this kind of move would not happen until the end of the season, regardless of this season’s results. By all accounts, Herm is widely known as a genuinely good human being. I wish he could have been successful here, but that was not the case, and I wish him the best from here on forward.
Turning the page on the season as the Sun Devils enter Pac-12 play with an interim head coach is the only thing to do now. We learned Sunday that interim tag was given to Running Backs coach Shaun Aguano. Aguano is widely respected and well liked throughout the team, staff, and support staff. He has a great pedigree of developing running backs at ASU, as well as a winner of multiple state championships as the head coach of Chandler High School. His introductory press conference Monday was full of genuine pride and joy mixed with class and bittersweet sorrow that his friend had to lose this job for him to have this opportunity. Aguano spoke of recruiting locally as his personal responsibility with great passion and purpose. He stated that he already has ideas to inject into this team and run it his way. After watching the press conference, I went from dejected on Saturday night to optimistic, hopeful, and excited for the interim era of Shaun Aguano and seeing how the next nine games will affect his and Sun Devil Football’s future.
Week in Review
As for the game itself, it was ugly. The Sun Devils were dominated on both sides of the ball by what was an inferior opponent on paper. From the jump, it seemed the Devils never had their feet under them. All that ended in a shocking upset where ASU never truly felt like they were making any headway. It was ugly, and it’s so unfortunate that it was ugly because the uniforms were beautiful. The maroon helmet/maroon jersey/gold pant combo moves to a 2-1 record overall.
Ryan Barker’s debut effort in constructing a helmet was wildly successful. The oversized gold pitchfork and number decals looked amazing on the iridescent maroon shell when matched with the gold facemask. That helmet sitting atop a maroon jersey and gold pants truly highlighted the best of Arizona State’s school colors. Other teams have done it, but no one has done it as good as Ryan Barker, Jerry Neilly, and the student managers on the Sun Devil Football Equipment Staff. The #LetJerryCook moniker must be expanded to also #LetRyanCook. Ryan Barker has been in Tempe less than a year and has already taken ownership of the brand and bought into the program. Let these men cook!
To prove my statement that no one has done the maroon helmet/gold facemask on top of a maroon jersey and gold pants as well as ASU, I present with to following fact: Central Michigan wore the exact same combination last Saturday; however, it was only ASU, not CMU, that received honors from both of the national uniform trackers. UniAuthority ranked it as the 5th best uniform of week 3, and UNISWAG ranked it as the 3rd best uniform of the week. That makes two straight weeks that this incredible equipment staff is being recognized for the outstanding product they put on the field. Let’s hope from here on forward, their work is worn in more wins.
Maroon Helmet with Gold Mask/Maroon/Gold: A
The Week to Come
Uniform
Pac 12 conference play is beginning with the defending conference champs when Utah comes to Tempe. After the Sun Devils dominated the series historically and early into the Pac-12 era, the Utes have had ASU’s number in recent years. The timing of this meeting is not ideal, but things can swing either way with a change in leadership. Things can regress, or it can be a shot in the arm that inspires the team. I believe the fanbase feels a renewed sense of optimism and commitment to the program, which is good timing because this weekend is the ever-popular Blackout game. For this Blackout, the Sun Devils will wear a gold helmet/black jersey/black pant uniform combination. If it looks familiar, that’s because it is. This combination was worn for the 2019 Sun Bowl in a game where the Sun Devils defeated Florida State. The only true difference between this combination and the 2019 Sun Bowl look is the facemask color, which we will cover later.
The heather black jersey features a sublimated Arizona state flag in representing the sunset and the star across the chest. The gold player numbers on the uniforms are outlined in maroon 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 gold Sun Devil Bold font, and above the nameplate is a small, gold “ASU” outlined in maroon. On the front of the jersey, near the left shoulder, is a gold adidas logo. Near the right shoulder is a maroon and gold Pac 12 shield. 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 black pants have a small gold pitchfork with maroon trim near the right hip and a gold adidas logo near the left hip. Running vertically along the side of the left thigh is “Sun Devils” in gold Sun Devil Bold font. There is paneling on the pants that features the darker tonal color, not only providing further dimension to the uniform as a whole but also serving a purpose in providing a greater range of motion.
Helmet
As I said before, this week’s gold helmet is very similar looking to the helmet we saw against Florida State in the 2019 Sun Bowl. In fact, the details are identical to the helmet worn against the Seminoles except for one detail: the color of the facemask. The gold helmet features a black facemask, white chinstrap, and standard-sized gold pitchfork decals with black trim. Against Florida State, the facemask was gold. This helmet also has a center stripe, and just like the other decals, it will be black, making for a bold helmet mixing tradition and innovation.
The black 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 golf border, featuring black text, and has a small, maroon pitchfork with gold trim over Tempe. The decals on the back of the helmet are rounded by the maroon “Sun Devils” text over a tonal white desert landscape silhouette on the helmet’s rear bumper.
Cleats and Socks
The Sun Devils will wear their gold cleats for the second consecutive week. From left to right, there are three different cleats. The first pair is an AdiZero, the next is a Freak mid, and the last is a Nasty Fly. 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).
Beginning with the pair on the left, the AdiZero features a gold base and sole, a gold tongue, gold laces, three maroon adidas stripes near the toe on the outside of the shoe, and a prominent gold AdiZero logo with a digital ghost effect on the instep near the arch. It also has a repeating pattern of the Forks Up hand sign printed in gold throughout the shoe and a gold finger loop on the heel with the phrase “Forks Up” in maroon print.
The Freak Mid pair in the middle has a gold base and translucent gold sole, gold laces, a gold tongue with a maroon Freak logo on it, three reflective maroon adidas stripes on the outside of the cleat near the toe, and a prominent maroon adidas logo on the instep. Like the AdiZero, the Freak Mid has a repeating pattern of the Forks Up hand sign printed in gold throughout the shoe and a gold finger loop on the heel with the phrase “Forks Up” in maroon print.
The Nasty Fly is the final pair on the right. The second to last pair is the Nasty Torsion. It is a heavier duty cleat with a gold base and sole, gold laces, gold eyelets with darker gold accents, a gold 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 gold plate on the arch, and a finger loop that mimics the styling of the lace eyelets with “Forks Up” in maroon print. The repeating pattern of the gold printed Forks Up hand sign is featured prominently on the front half of the shoe.
An additional cleat option will be available to players as well. The gold and white Ultraboost cleat predominantly features 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 black socks to complete the Blackout uniform look.
Gloves
The Sun Devils will wear gold 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 gold gloves feature gold Sun Devils script on the gold palm of each glove. They also have a maroon adidas logo on the back of the hand, a small, tonal gold AdiZero wordmark above the wrist strap, tonal gold striping 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. The adidas Freak gloves have the same gold Sun Devils script 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 and gold striping, and a maroon and goldFreak 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 black on the palm, and along with a gold adidas logo on the back of the hand, they also have maroon accents on the knuckles and wrist-wrap.
Reaction
Put simply; this uniform goes hard. I like this one even more than the 2019 Sun Bowl iteration. The black facemask adds an extra element to the whole uniform. This is possibly the biggest home game of the season which the Blackout game has often been reserved for. It’s nice that the opposing team’s primary color is red as well, as circumstances have sometimes matched up the Blackout game against a primarily black opponent in the past. Also nice, but circumstantial is that the game takes place at night. As a fan, wearing black in broad Arizona daylight is not exactly the most comfortable experience.
Center stripes continue to be prominently featured on any helmet does not have oversized primary decals. I love this development that has taken place over that last four seasons. The center stripe has brought back a stark identifiable feature on ASU helmets since they first started wearing gold helmets as far back as 1950. Altogether, with the black jersey, pants, and socks, the gold helmet, gloves, and shoes really pop. Sure, it’s not a pure Blackout; in fact, we haven’t seen a complete Blackout look since the Devils beat Michigan State in Sun Devil Stadium in 2018.
Let’s level with each other here, guys. If you’ve been reading this column for some time, then you know that I, the author, am a die-hard fan. I’m a huge proponent of the community coming together on Saturdays to cheer this team on, but this Saturday feels like it’s a time when it’s needed more than ever. With the recent moves made this week, it truly feels like interim head coach Shaun Aguano is going to breathe new life into this team. We as a fanbase have an opportunity to truly show the players and new coach that we have their back, and there’s no better time to do so than when they’re facing one of the favorites for the conference championship. I’ll see you all out there. In black. Go Devils!!
What Color ASU Fans Should Wear: Black
#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 @SunDevilDanno on earning a finalist spot last week! And best of luck to @JeffAlbaPHX, @ablomker23, and @marcaltieri in this week’s Twitter poll!
