College Football Uniforms Report Card from Week 4

This week's uniform report card will see some familiar teams as well as a few new faces.

As the season progresses, (can you believe we're one quarter of the way through the regular season already?) we're still seeing new combinations of uniforms.  Must be time for another report card!

So who's making the grade this week, and who's trying to intercept the mail before mom and dad see the report card?

(Check out our first two reports cards for the season here for weeks one and two, and here for week three).

Maryland

Maryland has been all over the place this season when it comes to uniform selections.

While they haven't always received rave reviews in terms of fashion, the Terps have been winning consistently on the field.

Until this weekend, that is.

Maryland was absolutely lambasted by a visiting MAC team, Temple, 38-7.

Any mojo the Terps had been getting from their new threads has apparently run out.

The matte black helmets are still a stylish choice, but this weekend, the eye instantly went to the yellow-dominated jersey.

While yellow works well with a number of teams, like West Virginia, most football fans don't associate Maryland with yellow.  Red comes to mind more often than yellow, with black highlights.  This week, Maryland went yellow with black highlights, and red was only a secondary highlight—almost an afterthought.

Maryland's uniform choice this week, like their play on the field, left us scratching our heads.

Uniform Grade: C+

Arizona State

If you didn't stay up late enough to see Arizona State beat USC, we don't blame you.

If you did, you saw a pretty good football game, and you also saw yet another uniform combination from the Sun Devils.

A more traditional color-scheme was the uniform of the day for Arizona State, along with a gloss helmet with the pitchfork secondary logo.

All in all, a good basic uniform for ASU.  There's nothing flashy about it.  It's simple and gets the point across.  But it also has a tinge of uniqueness about it.  It's not the old run-of-the-mill football uniform we see from other Pac-12 schools like, say, USC.

It seems ASU beat USC in more ways than one late Saturday night.

Uniform Grade: B-

Oklahoma State

The Cowboys rolled into College Station, Texas this week in another variant of the away uniform, this time sporting grey pants and a grey helmet.

The "Fighting Gundies" survived a top ten test from Texas A&M, outlasting the Aggies, 30-29.

The Cowboys looked good in their win over A&M in more ways than one.  The subtle use of colors on the jersey seems to work very well when juxtaposed to the ash-gray of the pants and helmets Okie State used this weekend.

If their uniforms continue to be nearly as good as their play on the field, we should be in for a treat down the stretch.

Uniform Grade: B+

Michigan State

Before everyone goes nuts with comments about "this is what MSU usually wears," we already understand that.

The point here is that Michigan State has announced—but not worn—a new home uniform.  Like so many other programs across the country, Sparty has gotten their hands on new, custom Nike Pro Combat uniforms.

We're grading Michigan State here as a baseline comparison to the new uniforms, if and when MSU ever chooses to wear them.

Michigan State uses a basic green and white color scheme, but somehow it doesn't look washed out like so many other green uniforms do.

The solid, unassuming green uniforms with white stylized block numbers with no outline also add to the—if you'll excuse the pun—spartan layout of the jersey.

It's also nice that MSU has stuck with the classic Spartans logo.  MSU moved from the block "S" on the helmets years ago, and two years back, MSU toyed around with a new logo.  The university announced the change, and within three days issued a "my bad" press release, stating they would be changing the logo back to the original.

We're anxious to see Sparty's new duds.  But for the time being, Michigan State is sticking with their classy, tried-and-true uniforms.

Uniform Grade: B+

Oregon

If there's one thing you can count on from Oregon, it's new uniforms.

While they may not always look new, the combinations and subtle color scheme changes usually are from week to week.

Week 4 was no different.

For their road trip to Arizona, the Ducks went with white jerseys, gloss green helmets, green pants, black socks, and white shoes with green highlights.

All in all, the uniform was well put together, and there wasn't a single part of the uniform that immediately drew the eye in distraction.  We've been pretty hard on Oregon when it comes to uniform choices, but this week all we can say is "Well done, Ducks."

Uniform Grade: A-

West Virginia

Taking one look at the WVU uniforms from their prime-time matchup against LSU, you instantly knew which team was all about the yellow.

West Virginia has never been shy about flying their colors proudly in Morgantown, and Saturday night was no exception.

While the Mountaineers put up impressive yardage numbers against the Tigers, West Virginia fell well short in the only stat that matters—points.

But if you're going to lose, you might as well look good doing it.

While some people might see this retina-burning yellow all over the field (and, for that matter, all over in the stands) as needlessly bright, it underscores WVU's pride in being who they are.

Delightfully unsophisticated has never rung truer than perhaps it does in West Virginia.  Make jokes if you want about these boys from the back hills of Appalachia, but you can't argue that the Mountaineers and their fans didn't look good in all that yellow.

Uniform Grade: A-

Boise State

Back to basics for Boise State.

As difficult and upsetting as it is to believe, this will be one of the few times this season we'll see Boise State football as it's meant to be seen.

The Broncos were proudly wearing the color that made them famous on the colored field that made them famous.

The Mountain West, led by whiny Rocky Long from San Diego State, has declared Boise State's blue uniforms to be an "unfair advantage on the home field."

Apparently home field advantages are no longer legal in the Mountain West.  We're forced to wonder if the MWC will next ban green uniforms on grass...

Anyway, the classic Boise Blue was back in action against Tulsa this weekend, and the Golden Hurricane didn't stand much of a chance against the blue on the blue.

Blue helmets, blue jerseys with orange highlights, blue pants, blue socks, and the rocking orange shoes are about as unique of a standard uniform as one can find in the FBS these days.

The funny part is this look is becoming a "classic" look when it was once considered pretty "out there."

Just one more way to show that Boise State has "arrived" as a major college football power.

Uniform Grade: A