Six teams in the Big 12 introduced at least one new uniform over the off-season, including West Virginia’s entire new set.
Let’s go over what each team did, and I’ll give my thoughts on each set as well:
Baylor
Baylor revealed four new uniform sets for the foreseeable future, featuring green, white, yellow, and anthracite.
They’re sleek. They’re modern. They’re… a little underwhelming? The only major additions besides the new anthracite uniforms is the striping along the shoulders and pants. It all comes together to make a solid uniform set. Personally, I would have liked to see a modernization of their iconic 2010 redesign, which many remember quarterback Robert Griffin III wearing.
BYU
BYU introduced one new uniform set for this upcoming season, a throwback set paying homage to their 14-1 campaign in 1996.
With the block numbering combined with the drop shadow, I originally thought that these were just a color swap of the San Francisco 49ers’ throwback uniforms. However, this uniform set has plenty of history along side it’s good looks.
In 1996, BYU went 12-1 in their regular season games. It was typical at the time to only play 11 games on your schedule, but BYU scheduled a designated “kickoff” game and a game against Hawaii with neither counting towards their allowed game total. They then played in the WAC Championship and the Cotton Bowl, defeating Wyoming and Kansas State respectively.
To pay homage to their historic season, BYU will wear this uniform set against Kansas State when they meet on September 21st.
Iowa State
Iowa State unveiled four new uniform sets for their team, comprising of one cardinal red set, a white and red set, a black and white set and a white and black set. The white and black set was shown off over a month after the initial reveal.
Overall, the set looks very solid, but leaves me asking questions. Why is the Iowa State word-mark so small on the chest? Why introduce a white and black set and not a yellow and red set? Regardless, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Iowa State announce a blackout and whiteout for two upcoming games this season. I’m also looking forward to the combinations that the Cyclones decide to use, as this set brings plenty of flexibility.
TCU
TCU introduced three new uniform sets for their football team, featuring their iconic purple, white and black color scheme.
Let’s start with the good, TCU continues to put out some of the best helmets in college football. They’re clean, interchangeable, and the black one resembles the scaling of a horned frog. The new uniform set will also make it easy to mix and match color sets.
Now onto the bad. These uniforms are way too simple. TCU’s old look, revealed in 2019, felt like the perfect look for the team.
The horned frog spiked collar was the cherry on top of an iconic look. My only nitpick with the old uniforms is that the helmets look a little dated from some angles. But the new ones? There’s nothing that pops out on the jersey or pants anymore. No new striping, nothing new with the pants either. To me, TCU went with a straight downgrade.
Texas Tech
Texas Tech introduced three new uniform sets in their classic red white and black color scheme. The redesign came after the university began a new partnership with Adidas over the off-season.
The Red Raiders look sharp entering the 2024 football season. Their word-mark on each of their jerseys is bigger and thus more visible. Their numbers are larger as well. They’ve introduced new stripes on the shoulders and pants, giving the entire set a clean look. No complaints here – Texas Tech knocked it out of the park.
West Virginia
West Virginia took inspiration from past uniform sets when they revealed their new blue, gold and white looks at the Spring Game. They also introduced a fourth black uniform set, donned with the “Coal Rush” moniker.
Call it bias, but I’m a big fan of West Virginia’s new look as well. Rejecting the modern trend of minimalism and simplicity in sports uniforms was the perfect call for the Mountaineers. They brought back the shoulder arches, the flying WV’s on the shoulders, and the Nehlen era pant stripes. West Virginia also added word-marks to all four of their uniforms, with the blue and gold reading “Mountaineers” and the white and black reading “West Virginia”.
The Coal Rush alternate uniforms especially stand out, given that the Mountaineers used grey as their fourth color for a while. They introduced grey in 2012, but didn’t use the color again until 2019. Given their low use of the uniform set I understand the removal, but I had a soft spot for them. Regardless, the all-black Coal Rush set looks to quickly be a fan favorite.
My only real nitpick with this set is that I think every jersey should read “West Virginia” on the front. It makes the white uniform my favorite of the four, at least until we see the Coal Rush in action. Otherwise, the Mountaineers will be in style for the foreseeable future.
I love the new WVU Mountaineers Football uniforms and helmets!!! They are right up my alley!