Weekend Debate: Uniforms

Last week's results: Cody Bruns won the hard fought battle with 37% of the votes, while Kevin Smith came in a very close second place with 33% of the votes. I am a bit surprised that Kevin Smith, coming of an ACL injury, did so well in the polls. I have no doubt that a healthy Kevin Smith would have won easily, but an ACL injury is very tough to fully recover from in just 9 months.

This Weekend's Debate: How do you feel about the uniform combinations being used by Coach Sark? This is a topic many of us have discussed before, but I thought it was worthwhile to get everyone's opinion on this one, far more people will vote, than will add comments in the comment section.

Multiple uniform combinations is a rapidly growing trend in college football. You have the teams like Oregon who pride themselves in never wearing the same uniform combination twice, then you have the USC's that stick with the same uniform that has worked for decades. It's easy to stereotype the two different camps, the "we are the new kids on the block and want your attention" group (Oregon), and the "we've been successful doing it this way since your grandparents went to school here" group (USC). That being said, there are highly successful programs that are joining in the uniform fun, Florida State is the first to come to mind.

The question remains, where do we, the University of Washington, fit into the mix? Or more importantly, where do we as fans want the UW to go with the uniforms? Which is more important, keeping with tradtions, or catering to recruits? Is it possible to have the best of both worlds? After the jump is my take on the situation, make sure to vote and let us know how you feel about the subject!

I tend to be rather old fashioned for a 34 year old man, I like traditions and I think that we are blessed to have over 100 years of great football history at Washington. That being said, I do enjoy having some fun with uniforms, but I feel somethings should be off limits. Here's a break down to help spell out how I feel:

Helmets: Don't mess the the helmet, it is the foundation of the uniform, it is the symbol of Washington football. I was all for the patriotic helmet to celebrate the 10th anniversary of September 11th, but I absolutely hated the white helmet worn at the Alamo Bowl. I know the purple helmet of the Jim Lambright years was not popular, but I'd much rather have a purple helmet once a year than the white helmet. Our school colors are Purple and Gold, NOT white.

Home Uniforms: I love the good ol' purple tops and gold pants, it's tradition, it's the school colors, it works, if it ain't broke don't fix it! That being said, I do enjoy the all black uniforms, it's trendy and can be a fun change for a big game. What I can't stand are the purple tops and the white pants, the combination looks cheap. As I said before, stick to the school colors, I don't mind new combinations, as long as they are our school colors (black is the only exception). I'd love to see us wear an all purple combination, yes I know we did it once and we lost. Get over it! How many times have we got blown out wearing all white?! In summary, I would like to see Purple and Gold at 5 out of the 6 home games, with one game a year being the all black or all purple look.

Road Uniforms: This is where I don't mind if the coaches have more fun. My favorite is the purple pants, I like the gold pants, and I don't mind the all white as long as the helmets are gold. I really wouldn't care if the coaches had six different options, one for each road game of the year, just leave the helmets alone! Now that I think about it, I wouldn't mind purple helmets once a year on the road, but we should NEVER have a white helmet.

In Conclusion: Stick to the school colors, Purple and Gold. Have fun on the road, but mostly stick to tradition at home. I really don't mind using more purple, or more gold, or any combination of the two, but I can't stand removing a school color and replacing it with white!