Ranking the Coolest NCAA Football Uniforms
There's an undeniable allure to college football. From the spirited pageantry and time-honored traditions to the raw excitement that permeates the stadiums every Saturday in the fall, it's a unique phenomenon in American sports. When it comes to uniforms, schools generally take one of two approaches. The established "blue blood" programs typically stick with a classic, traditional look, while up-and-coming schools often use eye-catching and innovative uniforms as a recruiting tool.
The question then becomes: what makes a college football uniform truly "cool?" It's a nuanced combination of factors, including color scheme, uniqueness, and, perhaps controversially, recent winning history. After all, it's hard to look cool when your team is consistently getting blown out. With that in mind, let's dive into a ranking of some of the coolest NCAA football uniforms.
Classic and Recognizable: The Foundation of Cool
Several programs have built their brand around consistent, recognizable uniforms. These are the teams that rarely deviate from their established look, and for good reason.
18. Penn State Nittany Lions
Penn State's uniforms are instantly recognizable. They are a testament to the program's long-standing tradition. It would be jarring to see Penn State attempt the kind of weekly uniform changes that have become Oregon's signature. Sticking to the basics has served them well.
17. Alabama Crimson Tide
Similar to Penn State, Alabama's uniforms are a core part of their brand identity. The simplicity of the design reflects the program's no-nonsense approach to football. The iconic crimson and white are synonymous with college football greatness, largely due to the Crimson Tide's sustained dominance.
Read also: Top NCAA Football Jerseys
16. Georgia Bulldogs
The University of Georgia's uniform earns points for subtle updates and variations. While maintaining the classic red and black, they occasionally incorporate a black uniform or update the font of the numbers to stay current. The white top with gray pants combination gives them an edge over other schools with all-white road uniforms.
15. Nebraska Cornhuskers
Despite recent struggles on the field, Nebraska's uniform remains a classic. The simple "N" on the helmet and the bright red color are instantly recognizable and evoke the program's rich history. The Cornhuskers have won five national titles, making them one of the most decorated teams in college football history.
6. Texas Longhorns
Texas is one of those programs that should never drastically alter its football uniform. The simplicity of the design, combined with the unique "burnt orange" color, makes it instantly identifiable. Both the burnt-orange-and-white color combo and the steer logo are classic.
5. Michigan Wolverines
The maize and blue is an iconic look that Michigan owns. The winged football helmet adds to the classic look that Michigan rolls out every weekend. And they improved it by making it matte a few years ago. The Wolverines' home field, Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor (also known as “The Big House”), is the biggest college football stadium in the country. It seats nearly 108,000. Michigan football, in other words, is a spectacle. So it makes sense that they’ve got one of the best college football uniforms.
Color and Uniqueness: Standing Out from the Crowd
While tradition is important, some schools have made a name for themselves by embracing unique color combinations or designs.
Read also: Legends are Forged Here: Toughest Stadiums
14. UNC Tar Heels
The Carolina blue and white color combination is one of the most iconic in college sports. Even without consistent on-field success, the clean look of these colors, especially when paired with navy blue, makes for a sharp uniform.
13. Washington Huskies
Many schools claim to be purple and gold, but Washington truly embodies those colors. The shade of gold used by the Huskies is particularly striking. While it may not have the traditional feel of some other uniforms, it's undeniably stylish. The purple-and-gold might not be the most intuitive color combination, but the Huskies somehow pull it off.
12. Ohio State Buckeyes
Ohio State's uniform is similar to Georgia's with the gray pants, but the helmet is a standout feature. As the season progresses, the Buckeye decals that adorn the helmets add to the overall appeal. Ohio State last won a national title in 2014 (they’ve won 6 overall). Still, the Buckeyes are a perennial contender-they’re currently the third-best team in college football according to the AP Top 25-and they’ve got one of the richest football traditions in the country. Plus, they’ve got an absolutely classic uniform.
11. Clemson Tigers
The orange and purple color combination is unique in college football. The clean design of the uniform and the bright orange helmets make for a striking look. Incorporating more purple could further enhance the design, but it remains a great look. Clemson orange has become a fixture on the national level within the last decade or so. After becoming Clemson’s head coach in 2008, Dabo Swinney catapulted the team to national relevance in the 2010s and led the Tigers to national championships in 2016 and 2018.
10. Florida Gators
Orange and blue is synonymous with the Florida Gators. The cursive "GATORS" on the helmet and the overall use of orange make this a standout uniform. This is another program that should resist the urge to make drastic changes to its football appearance. I know I mentioned one of Gators’ more dubious design decisions in the intro, but that single blunder doesn’t take away from the fact that Florida boasts one of the best unis in college sports. Those scaly green things meant to resemble actual alligator skin-worn by the Florida Gators in 2017-were, and are, an abomination.
Read also: NCAA Stadium Experience
9. UCLA Bruins
The gold and blue of UCLA is a visually appealing combination. Few teams utilize the "Vegas gold" that UCLA employs, and it pairs well with the powder blue. Colleges, at the end of the day, are brands, and no school has done a better job of curating its brand over the years than UCLA. UCLA's L.A. The powder blues of the Bruins are one of college football's top uniforms over the years but adidas has been giving the team a few alternates to wear lately and debuted an updated TechFit look for UCLA last year. The black was certainly a departure from the past for the team but looked pretty slick and could see use in 2014 as well.
8. Miami Hurricanes
Miami went back to the 1980's look and Miami looks (at least before the game) like they did in their heyday. The University of Miami green and orange is synonymous with South Florida. The Hurricanes boast one of the best college football uniforms out there, plus a winning history to go along with it.
7. Ole Miss Rebels
Ole Miss introducing the powder blue was a huge success, and the program has experienced a slight up tick since the new look. You might be sensing a trend at this pint; I like powder/light blue.
2. LSU Tigers
There is not another lookalike in college football. LSU goes against the grain and wears white tops instead of a school color. And it works for them. LSU is another school with both an impressive football resume and an iconic uniform. The Tigers’ purple and gold is one of the most distinctive in college football, and they’re a consistent powerhouse.
1. USC Trojans
I love everything about this uniform. The simplicity, the cleanness, and the logo on the helmet is all chefs kiss. The Trojans have kept their uniforms consistent over the years, and for good reason. Their cardinal and gold uniforms are classy and distinguished, which matches their storied history. The Trojans have won 7 national titles; their last came in 2004.
Innovation and Alternate Uniforms: Pushing the Boundaries
Some programs have embraced the concept of alternate uniforms, using them to create excitement and appeal to recruits.
4. Oregon Ducks
Oregon football has turned their identity into unique combinations every week. They are identifiable because we never know what they'll look like. Not all the new looks land, but they've done enough to show they know what their doing with their look on the gridiron. The Oregon Ducks have rocked some great uniforms over the years, but this year’s get-up is a beautiful distillation of their past styles. Undoubtedly the most prolific uniform-producing school, the Ducks put out more uniform combinations in a season than some programs do in a decade. Instead of trying to choose which categories to slot them into -- since they've produced enough memorable combinations to be involved in just about every option, really -- we're simply giving the Ducks a lifetime achievement award, showcasing a short palette of their range here. Last year the Huskies rotated several uniform combinations that looked pretty nifty, including a shiny chrome helmet the team used a few times. Despite all that, the Huskies still got a new look from Nike for 2014 -- to play into the fact that there's a new coaching staff in town. Washington will have three new jerseys, four pants and three different helmets, which the team can mix and match as they please. There is nothing traditional about what this team wears on a weekly basis. The Ducks are well-known for their various uniform combinations, and that will continue to be the case in 2014. Although traditionalists might say the uniforms are too flashy, such a look is what recruits crave nowadays -- and that's one of the reasons why other programs are trotting out various makeovers.
Kent State - Current Alternate
College Football 26 doesn't offer a ton of powder blue options, but the best one by far is Kent State's Current Alternate. It features a special white and powder blue helmet with the "K" logo, a powder blue and yellow jersey, and white pants with a yellow stripe. A subtle touch with the uniform is the two yellow "flash" logos on the shoulders of the jersey, which look fantastic.
Oregon Ducks - Home Fly Era
This uniform features an all back "funeral" look, complete with a black helmet and chrome wings, green lettering and number outlines, and chrome accents on the jersey and pants. It's a truly intimidating look that strikes fear into the heart of opponents.
Boise State - Current Away Option 2
This uniform features the large bronco helmet with a black and chrome finish, their classic white jersey, and black pants. The combination of the black helmet with the white uniform looks great on any field, but it looks even better on Boise State's blue turf.
Arizona State - Current Alternate Option
This uniform features an all-back, minimalistic look, with the exception of the helmet. The helmet is chrome and can look red or orange depending on how the sun hits it. The logo on the helmet is a black sun devil pitchfork on both sides, which looks great with the chrome. There's not a lot to say about the jersey, as it just has orange letters and white accents. The same goes for the pants, but they especially stand out thanks to the large yellow pitchfork logo on the right side.
Memphis - Current Alternate
The uniform has a gray and blue helmet with chrome tiger stripes going across both sides. There are also tiger stripes on the shoulders to give the uniform a continuity element.
San Jose State - Current Home
The Current Home uniform offers a blue chrome helmet, a blue jersey with yellow numbers and accents, and full yellow pants. The shiny helmet and the lively colors make this one of the most distracting uniforms in CFB 26, in a good way.
Clemson - Current Alternate
Featuring the classic orange Clemson helmet, the Current Alternate goes away from the orange and white jersey design. Instead, it has a full purple look with white and orange numbers and a white and orange stripe going down the pants. You could also go with the Current Alternate Option uniform, which swaps out the purple pants for orange pants and makes the uniform look a little more classic.
East Carolina - Current Home Option 2
Current Home Option 2 features the throwback script logo helmet with a black finish and a chrome purple facemask. The jersey is their default home option, which is purple with yellow accents and features the primary pirate logo on both shoulders. Finally, the pants are all black, but the pirate logo shows up once again on the upper-right side. It's a blend of East Carolina's past and present and looks incredible on the field in CFB 26.
Tulane - Current Alternate 2
The helmet is the muted chrome Green Wave helmet that perfectly matches the green, blue, and white stripes found on the shoulders of the jersey and up the sides of both pant legs. The jersey further complements the helmet by using green lettering and blue accents. If you're a bigger fan of Tulane's powder blue, though, you can use the Current Alternate Option uniform, which features an all-blue uniform and helmet.
UCF - 2024 Space UA
This uniform is a nod to Florida's history with space travel, and it has some stellar references to that history. For starters, the uniform features a jersey that's mostly black, but fades to some black dots with an off-white background at the bottom of it. This matches the off-white pants, which have different Orion constellation formations going up each side. The pants also have a unique space-themed logo on the upper-right side. Finally, the Space U helmets are UCF's normal helmets, but they have blue NASA mission badges going up the back. Overall, the uniform is unlike anything else you'll see in College Football 26. The QR codes were a style misstep. Otherwise, the UCF Knights have some of the sleekest, most interesting uniforms in college football. The Knights’ uniforms are mostly black with gold lettering, a style which matches their moniker perfectly.
Other Notable Uniforms
3. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Should aliens present themselves (they're here, don't play yourself) to us and ask "What is college football?" I think showing them a video of Notre Dame football is a great spot. They are college football royalty and the gold puts that on full display. The Fighting Irish uniform is another iconic jersey that conjures up images of the good-ole days of college football, and their traditional navy blue and gold color combo has withstood the test of time. Notre Dame, in addition to being one of the best dynasties the sport has ever seen, play in one of the most storied stadiums in the country, Beaver Stadium, which has a capacity of 106,000.
14. The Bulldogs will wear these uniforms for the opener against Southern Miss in a nod to the 100th anniversary of Scott Field. The throwback look harkens back to the 1990s and has a number of very cool touches, from the stripes on the shoulders to the state of Mississippi on the back above the nickname.
13. Stanford normally sticks to their traditional setup -- with a variation or two -- but they have often donned the all-black uniform combination at a home game or two in the past two years.
12. Head coach Terry Bowden has been tweeting out photos of the Zips' new prototype uniforms this summer, and the look is fairly simple when it comes to the uniform design. But that would be leaving one important part out: the extremely polished and shiny gold helmet the players could be wearing if Akron debuts this sleek uniform in the fall.
11. N.C. While uniforms can come and go, one of the ways schools have been mixing things up is by rotating new helmets in to change a look. The Wolfpack seem to be taking that to the next level when they released some images of their alternate lids that feature a wolf's eyes staring out the back of the helmet.
9. 8. Florida State wasn't the only ACC program in the state to get flashy new uniforms, as the Hurricanes got into the game with an unveiling back in April. They'll likely mix-and-match among the traditional uniforms they showed the public. But the all-white look with green trim is pretty cool.
7. The Cougars are sticking with their classic, great-looking uniforms for most of the year but unveiled three alternate home uniforms in May. The team will have a white-out look when Virginia comes to town and a black-out uniform in November when UNLV comes to town.
6. Win a national championship, get a new brand identity, apparently. The Seminoles didn't undergo a massive change but did update their logo and unveil new Nike uniforms in April. In some cases, it's the classic look we've come to know and love from Florida State, with a few tweaks to the shoulders and other trim elements.
5. In addition to getting a new set of uniforms, the Razorbacks also got a new secondary logo that some might mistake for an angry Pumba (of Lion King fame). While the updated mark is what drew a lot of fan interest, the school's new uniforms also were released by Nike, and they were surprisingly not as exorbitant as other designs we've seen from the company.
4. The Irish are no longer with Adidas after signing an extremely lucrative deal with Under Armour in the offseason. Various officials have commented that the design of the standard home and away uniforms won't change much from the team's iconic look. Still, there will undoubtedly be a few small changes here and there -- even if the company doesn't do anything drastic.
1. There's just something great about seeing seeing the clean lines and classic look of the Nittany Lions once the team will take the field with a white-out at Beaver Stadium. The design has changed little over the years, but there have been some slight tweaks the last few seasons. Notably, former head coach Bill O'Brien added names to the back -- but that might be a decision James Franklin will reverse in 2014. Until Penn State takes the field, we'll wonder what the exact look will be this year.
Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors: Retro and rainbow, 2015
Florida International Panthers: Miami Vice, 2024
Houston Cougars: Paying homage to the Oilers, 2023
Florida Gators: Simplistic throwback perfection, 2019
SMU Mustangs: Repping Dallas, 2019
Florida Gators: Gator-print, 2017
Michigan State Spartans: Neon green, 2019
Colorado Buffaloes: Throwbacks gone too simplistic, 2009
Notre Dame Fighting Irish: Yankee Stadium crossover, 2018
Miami Hurricanes: Orange sleeves, 2005
Western Kentucky Hilltoppers: Big Red front and center, 2024
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets: Honeycomb theme, 2012
Utah Utes: Rose Bowl specials, 2022
Georgia Bulldogs: Georgia tries grey, 2011
Virginia Tech Hokies: The flexing HokieBird, 2012
Maryland Terrapins, 2011
Colorado State Rams, 2017
Texas Tech Red Raiders, 2014
Purdue Boilermakers: Honoring the school's astronauts, 2019
Air Force Falcons: Representing the Space Force, 2022
Boston College Eagles: The red bandana series
The Eagles have donned uniforms featuring a red bandana pattern and a "FOR WELLES" nameplate once a year since 2014. The uniforms pay homage to Welles Crowther, a Boston College alum who died saving lives in the Sept. 11 attacks while wearing a red bandana.
UAB Blazers: The Children's Harbor series
A tradition since 2016, UAB has worn special jerseys for select games as part of a partnership with Children's Harbor, a service center for seriously ill children and their families in Birmingham, Alabama. The Blazers' Children's Harbor jerseys feature the names of patients on the back in place of those of players.
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