Auburn Football: 5 Ways the Tigers Should Shake Up Their Uniforms

Every year the topic of uniform changes floats around about every major college football team. Auburn is no stranger to design concepts, but few Tigers fans are behind major uniform changes. Regardless of the initial pushback, there are ways the Tigers could shake up their uniforms that would receive open arms from fans. 

Auburn has witnessed minor tweaks to the uniforms in recent history with the changes that Under Armour made this past season and the Terry Bowden shadow number years. Overall, major changes have been frowned upon.

During the Tuberville era, the Tigers wore throwbacks in 2007 season to honor the 1957 championship team. That shows that the Tigers aren’t totally against making changes, but it is very rare. 

The Auburn Family appears to be moving slowly in the direction of a few changes, and the new designs that seem to pop up consistently have added fuel to the fire. Here are the five changes that the Tigers should make to shake up the uniforms this fall. 

Go Back One Year

Last season the Tigers made some pretty big changes to the uniforms that made a lot of fans unhappy. 

For starters, the name size on the back of the jersey has driven people absolutely nuts. It seems small, but it has made enough noise that there may be a change in the works before the season starts. 

Another change that fans saw was a change in the stripe on the pants leg. The stripe came to a point last season, instead of the full stripe look that was seen previously. That too received its fair share of bad reviews. 

The final straw that fans seemingly drew was the overall size of the numbers. They seemed to be smaller than in years past. Actually, the overall jersey seemed smaller. It was almost as if the jersey was a size too small. 

All three changes were pretty bad, taking it back one year to the uniforms worn in the national title game and the folks at Under Armour would have a winning jersey. Auburn people would rejoice. 

Orange Masks, Orange Jersey’s

The Tigers have donned orange jerseys and oranges masks at least six times in known history according to this Paul Lukas piece on ESPN.com. The Tigers have a 3-3 record in the orange tops.

The Tigers have a huge lineup of new uniform options that are popping up all over, but few make it to the possible drawing board. This option should be on the table. 

The Tigers have worn the combo before, so it really isn’t a major change in the sense of keeping with tradition.

In fact, it would be arguable that wearing the orange combo would be keeping up tradition. Orange masks and tops need to be in the future plan for game-day changes. 

True Blue

After a pep rally held by Gene Chizik for the students in 2010 urged fans to be draped in blue for the Clemson game, rumors began to swirl about blue helmets and uniforms for the game. WarBlogle.com released this piece showing a blue Auburn helmet that made the rumors hit a boiling point. 

The Tigers ran out of the tunnel in their normal uniforms and the rumor was squashed. Since then, new designs have come out showing what the Tigers could look like in an all blue uniform. 

The all blue uniforms would be a set that has never been worn, and would bring a unique look to the Tigers sideline. Of all the concepts, this seems to be the least likely to occur. If anything, finding an old-school throwback to blame on the idea appears to be a pre-requisite for Auburn uniform shake-ups. 

That is unless you are Terry Bowden. Then shadowing the numbers 90’s style takes over. 

Throwbacks for Traditionalists

One change that has been welcomed previously is the throwback uniform. During the 2007 season, the Tigers donned uniforms that mimicked the 1957 squad to honor the national title that was won. 

As early as the 1920’s, the Tigers had a Tigers emblem on the front of the jersey. In the 1960’s, Auburn wore numbers on the sides of the helmet instead of the now traditional AU logo. 

Of course the 1950’s brought the plain white helmet with the current middle stripe design that was on display during the 2007 throwback experiment. 

Stranger than Fiction Concepts

While there may be some real opportunity in the future to see the Tigers tweak their uniforms a bit, there are some really outlandish looks that will never see the light of day. 

Some of the most unique designs have come from two places, craigjoe.com and Charles Sollars Flickr account. 

While some of the designs could gather some steam, others are really out there with the looks that are brought. Everything from a Bengals looking helmet design to logos on the front of the jersey. 

It would be an interesting change to see Auburn shake up the uniforms a bit, but extreme won’t be the description used for the changes. 

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