USC Football: Should the Trojans Change Their Uniforms?

Every week, college football fans let out a collective gasp when the Oregon Ducks unveil their weekly fashion show. Even Oregon Asst. Athletic Director Andy McNamara (a must-follow on Twitter) tweets a sneak preview.

Has this uniform madness gotten out of control? For some teams, yes. Maryland sported some uniforms that looked like QR codes while Virginia Tech donned helmets with footprints on them. 

Oregon, however, has managed to be flashy, trendy and innovative without offending the senses—for the most part. The school has also managed to poach some highly-touted players who had USC as a high-interest school during their recruiting process. 

Could Oregon's fashion-forward thinking be the reason why Lane Kiffin is losing highly coveted recruits and why he needs to recruit better? 

If you survey any Trojan fan over the age of 50, you're going to get a adamant "No" when asked if USC should have trendier uniforms. And most of those over-50 fans are donating big bucks to the school. The school will listen to them. 

USC has addressed this matter before. Last year, Kiffin nixed a uniform change, saying, "We always want to be cutting-edge as far as materials, but not as far as the colors." 

And maybe he has a point. USC is a traditional football school just as Alabama, Oklahoma, Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State and Nebraska are. Those schools stick with the same uniform and make slight changes as the years go on. Very slight. Until this year.

Penn State finally decided to move forward and put players' names on the back of their jerseys. The message boards erupted. The change appeared to be part of a distancing from the Paterno era after the Sandusky scandal changed the landscape of Happy Valley. 

Out with the old, in with the new.

Not all Penn State fans probably approved. Some probably went along with it as a signal of change.

But what about USC? It too has had some skeletons in its closet during the BCS era. Why not make one change like a candy-apple red helmet?

It's not a huge change, but it would cause some excitement in the ranks and maybe even get some recruits' attention. 

Kids like flash. Neon. High-tech stuff. New uniforms do help get those coveted recruits' attention.

Then again, so does having a winning program.