Vermont Catamounts (What If?)

It's time for the third and final installment in our "What If" series, imaging what uniforms of defunct college football teams would look like if they hadn't become defunct. This time, it's the University of Vermont, undefeated since 1975 and all that jazz. (And taking a glance at the recent Top 25 men's soccer rankings, I see the Catamounts aren't too shabby at that other football these days.)

Here's what UVM's unis looked like when the school gave up the sport in 1974.

Previous installments covered Boston University and Northeastern.

1975: After two years of going all green, UVM tones it down a bit and adds white pants while eliminating the horizontal stripes from the jerseys.

1978: The Catamounts do a total overhaul, with yellow taking prominence in the pants and numbers. The jerseys add a big "VERMONT" wordmark, and the helmets add yellow facemasks and an outline around the "V."

1983: The stripes and numbers on the socks and road jerseys are inverted.

1987: The deemphasis of yellow continues, as white pants return (again), and white numbers and stripes are used on the home shirts. The "V" on the helmet also changes.

1991: The "VERMONT" wordmark vanishes, as do half the sleeve stripes.

1995: The V-cat logo debuts on both the jerseys and the new white helmet, and the numbers gain a double outline. Also note the Yankee Conference patch, which the league's teams began to wear in 1993, and the small Russell logo on the sleeves.

1999: Green alternate pants are added, and the outline on the road shirts change slightly, making the numbers easier to read. In 1997, the Yankee Conference morphed into the Atlantic 10, and the patch on the jersey front reflects the move.

2001: The white pants are discarded. 

2004: Everything old in new again, and at UVM, it means the return if the all-green look, right down to the helmets.  Nike replaces Russell as the uniform supplier. Drop-shadow numbers, side panels and tiny wordmarks — uniform hallmarks of that era — also appear. The V-cat logo is modified, as it was in real life around this time.

2008: UVM continues to keep up with the joneses and add curved numbers — similar to what the hockey team wore around this time — and funky striping.

2011: A screaming yellow zonkers alternate is added. After facing a possible shutdown of the program due to the recent economic crisis, UVM moves to the lower-scholarship Northeast Conference for football only. (The real-life Catamounts dropped baseball and softball around 2009.)

2014: UVM switches from Nike to Adidas (which made the men's basketball uniforms during this period) and the uniforms return to a more basic look. The big "VERMONT" wordmark also returns. (You may notice many real-life Adidas teams have a big wordmark on the jersey fronts.)

2019: The Catamounts return to Nike and maintain the basic look — if you check UVM's website, you'll notice many of the their teams' uniforms aren't elaborate. The green helmets have a chrome look, while the jerseys and pants kinda resemble those of Princeton (another Nike team). The road uniforms are almost completely devoid of yellow. A 1960s throwback helmet is added in honor of college football's 150th anniversary.

2022: Some yellow is added to the white jerseys and pants, while an all-black alternate uniform debuts, with "CATAMOUNTS" up the side of the pants. (Well, I guess in this world, UVM does get elaborate.)