Bryant, Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island (2024)

The uniforms of 2024 continue with the Colonial Coastal Crumbling Athletic Association, which is slated to lose two longtime members in '25: Delaware to FBS (Conference USA and Richmond to the Patriot League (!). With the CAA adding random schools left and right over the last few years, I'm sure the folks there will find a couple community colleges in the Midwest to fill the void left by the Blue Hens and the Spiders.

OK, onto the unis ...

We begin with league newbie Bryant, which realized quickly that the CAA, even in its declining state, ain't the Big South (where the Bulldogs had a winning record in 2023). The only change in the uniforms was the addition of the CAA jersey patch, replacing the Big South versions. (Check out the gold jersey — it appears Bryant slapped a big square bearing the CAA logo over the Big South logo patch.)

Delaware didn't change a darn thing from 2023, although I suspect the Hens will make some alterations once they move up in the world.

Maine did some odd things in 2024. In '23, the Black Bears changed their road jerseys, using a number font similar to that on their iconic hockey jersey. In '24, Maine changed the home shirt to match the road versions ... only to change the road shirt in midseason, adopting drop-shadow numbers (which slowly appear to be making a comeback, perhaps thanks to the NFL 49ers reviving their 1994 uniform). The pants also went a midseason change, as the stripes down the sides were removed. The awesome power-blue alternate shirt, which was used in publicity photos, never saw game day action.

New Hampshire dusted off an old friend this past season — the "NH" helmet logo used from 1976-99. The Wildcats had used the logo occasionally in the past (a few Homecomings and a few times on a blue alternate helmet in 2017-18). My only suggestion would be to add a stripe or two down the middle, a la the "classic" look.

Speaking of stripes, UNH's silver helmet is no slouch itself in the classic helmet department (it's been used since 2003 and has been worn by many an NCAA FCS tournament team), but in midseason it randomly lost its stripes and looked rather naked without them. 

Rhode Island made no changes this season, although like UMaine, the Rams trotted out two different sets of road uniforms, something they also did in 2023.

There was one minor but significant addition to the jerseys late in the season — the NCAA patch symbolizing participation in the NCAA FCS tourney. Rhody reached the postseason for the first time since 1985 and the glory days of Tom "Air:" Earhardt.

Iconic (or at least long-lasting) helmet logos and designs (Part 1)

Some college teams change helmet logos more frequently than they do head coaches. (Check out the histories of Columbia or UConn sometime and you'll see what I mean.) Others have designs that have endured for decades. 

Today, we're going to look at some first-year styles of popular — or at least unique — helmet logos and/or designs.

Let's lead off with a team that has never even used a helmet logo — Boston College. It may be plain, but there's no denying that the Eagles' plain gold helmet is distinctive (well, as long as they're not playing Notre Dame or Navy). After several years of plain maroon lids and one year with a Michigan-style design, BC introduced the gold helmet in 1939, Frank Leahy's first year as coach. Leahy stayed only two years before he left Notre Dame, but he left behind a "design" that remains to this day.

There were a few alterations that came and went: For a couple seasons (1958, 60), BC had numbers on the sides, and in 1991 it added a maroon stripe down the middle, which was removed in 2020. From 2011-13, the Eagles wore maroon and white helmet stripes for road games only. And in 2012, BC sported a star-spangled look as part of Under Armour's Wounded Warrior uniform.

After several seasons of helmets adorned with numbers or a block "C," Colgate took a different route in 1977. The Raiders put an abbreviated version of the school name on the sides, a cursive "'gate" that appears to have been scrawled by a middle-school student still practicing penmanship. It's weird, silly and definitely stands out. (I always thought Syracuse should have a helmet with "CUSE" on the side.) 

While Colgate briefly ditched the logo for other designs for a few years, the beloved 'gate refused to go away and returned in 1996, albeit in a more streamlined form. The logo was modified again for the 2021 spring season.

True, Cornell's "C" logo may not be considered iconic, but it's definitely exhibited some staying power since the Big Red unveiled it in 1983. While the rest of the helmet has undergone some tinkering every few years, the white "C" on the red helmet has remained fairly consistent.

The 1983 uniform shown above is a bit of a Frankenstein design. They jersey and pants still have the wide stripes and oversize numbers from Bob Blackman's time as coach, when the helmets had "CORNELL" in an arc across the side. The rest of the uniform was gradually toned down as the 1980s went on.

And speaking of Blackman. ... After he became Dartmouth coach in 1955, he outfitted the Big Green in white helmets with two green stripes down the front. But after a decade, he was looking for something different. Check out this entry from the 2001 Dartmouth media guide:

In 1965, Bob Blackman, Dartmouth's innovative Hall of Fame coach, sought a unique source of pride that would immediately identify Dartmouth's successful football team.
He found the answer in a helmet design that became as much a trademark for Dartmouth football as the famed "winged" helmet design that Fritz Crisler brought with him from Princeton to Michigan in 1938.

Unusual step No. 1: Blackman added the classic Dartmouth "D," but he placed it on the front of the helmet instead of on the sides. Unusual step No. 2: The stripes, which normally go down the front of the helmet, were situated at about a 45-degree angle down the sides. I would love to have been a fly on the wall when Blackman was sketching possible designs.

As you can see from the above graphic, Dartmouth went undefeated in 1965, so the new helmet must have worked. (What, you thought it was all talented, hard-working athletes and smart game plans? Ha!) The Big Green went on to win seven of the next nine Ivy titles. 

The cover of the December 1965 Dartmouth Alumni Magazine
shows the Big Green in action with their new helmets.
Football has been reinvented about a thousand times since then,
but the iconic Dartmouth helmets remain.

Dartmouth kept the helmet until 1987, when new coach Buddy Teevens "sought a 'fresh start' after four losing seasons," again quoting the media guide. (I also wrote a little about that here.) John Lyons, Teevens' successor, revived the classic helmet in 1999 ("with his team's unanimous endorsement," according to the media guide), and the Green has kept it ever since. (We won't talk about the tree helmet from a few years back.) 

You'll notice the media guide excerpt above mentioned Michigan's winged helmet. Dave Nelson, who took over as Delaware's coach in 1951, was a Michigan man, so it's probably no shock he outfitted his Blue Hens in uniforms that paralleled those of the Wolverines. Nelson previously had coached Maine, where he also introduced a winged helmet in 1949. The Hens have worn them without fail ever since, although the shades of blue and yellow have changed slightly.

Wartime Football (Parts I-II)

Not too long ago, I posted a photo of Cornell's 1945 roster on this site's Facebook page (and if you haven't done so yet, crush that like button like you're crushing a blocking sled during two-a-days), which got me thinking about wartime football. World War II turned the game upside down, as manpower shortages forced some programs to shut down entirely during the war and others to play on a limited basis. Some, however, kept on going like nothing was amiss.

The Northeast scene was no different. Twenty-one teams covered by this little ol' blog had football teams at the time World War II broke out. The state of the programs during the prime war years (1943-45) can be divided into four categories:

1) Shut down entirely (no team from 1943-45)

2) Partially shut down (played at least one season from 1943-45)

3) Played on limited basis (played throughout 1943-45, but with small schedules against smaller schools/military camps/etc.)

4) Full speed ahead (played full schedules).

First, we'll get category No. 1 out of the way.

Shut down entirely

Central Connecticut, Northeastern, Vermont.

Maybe it's a coincidence, but two of those three programs later dropped the sport. CCSU soldiers on, however.

OK, on to group No. 2, the main subject of this post.

Partially shut down

Six schools covered by this blog fall into this category.

Boston University shut down the program in 1943-44, but threw together a 5-game schedule in '45 upon the end of WWII that summer. Perhaps the '45 Terriers should have stuck with intrasquad games: BU lost all five game by a combined score of 235-3. When you're losing 70-0 to Tufts, that's not a good sign. The Wikipedia season summary puts it best: "The season finale against Harvard was so one-sided that head coaches Dick Harlow and Walt Holmer elected to cut 5 minutes from each of the final two quarters." (And, as we'll see later on, it's not like Harvard was operating on all eight cylinders during the war.)

The Terriers' uniforms were identical to what they wore at the start of the war: Black helmets, red jerseys and socks at home; white shirts and socks on the road. I like how the stripes on the sleeves and socks are in sync.

Connecticut took only the 1943 season off, then played full eight-game schedules in '44 and '45, unlike most smaller schools in New England. A few liberties had to be taken, however, as the Huskies played Norwich, CCNY and Brooklyn twice. (And those mighty '44 CCNY Beavers went 0-8 and were outscored 333-0. As in ZERO points. Wonder how they would have fared against BU.) The '45 team faced more traditional foes such as Maine, Lehigh and BU. UConn went 7-1 both seasons.

I think I've talked about these uniforms before, but the jerseys are distinctive; I can look at an old photo from the '40s and can immediately tell it's UConn thanks to the shoulder panels and the stripes on the wrists of the sleeves.

Depending on your source, Delaware either shut down entirely or returned in 1945 for a four-game slate. (The late, great College Football Data Warehouse lists the coach as "unknown," which should tell you how informal this team was.) The Blue Hens defeated Drexel and Haverford, tied West Chester and lost to Johns Hopkins — their only defeat from 1941-46, when the Hens went unbeaten in '41, '42 and '46.

I can't find any decent photos of Delaware's uniforms from '45, so I offer the ones from '42. Note the use of plastic helmet shells, a rarity in that era. Plastic shells took off after the war and were worn by almost everyone by the mid-50s. Ironically, one of the last holdouts was Delaware, which appears to have worn leather lids into the '60s. 

Massachusetts (State, as it was called until 1947) played a brief schedule in 1945, beating Maine twice, tying Amherst and losing to Brooklyn.

The uniforms were largely similar to what the Statesmen (yes, that was their nickname; "Redmen" came a couple years later and "Minutemen" in 1972) wore in 1942, with tan/gold helmets replacing the maroon versions. Wonder how people would react if UMass wore all-mustard yellow unis today?

New Hampshire is an interesting case, for a couple reasons: 

1) The Wildcats had no football in 1943, brought it back in '44 and dropped it again in '45;

2) For years, the Wildcats' media guides said UNH had no team in '44. (And for years, UNH and its arch-rival, Maine, listed different records for their all-time series, since they faced off twice in '44.)

But UNH indeed fielded a team, dropping two games to Middlebury and going 1-1 against Maine — the last time the rivals faced off more than once in a season until 2013, when they met in the regular season and the NCAA playoffs, which I'd rather not discuss. 😁

The Wikipedia entry on this team is remarkably detailed, and it's worth a read.

I'm unsure what the Wildcats wore on the road, but the best guess is they used the same duds as in 1942, when they went undefeated. (The home unis bear more than a passing resemblance to what Maine wore in the 1950s.) Only one member of the '42 crew played for UNH in '44.

Rhode Island (State, as it was called until 1952) punted on 1943-44 but played three games against Maine, Boston University (both wins) and Rutgers (a loss).

The few photos I've uncovered of the '45 Rams are fuzzy and hard to make out, so again I offer you the 1942 uniform, which used four different shades of blue. The helmets are light blue, but the front leather portion is painted white. The jerseys have a pair of light blue stripes down the sleeves and the numbers are the only dark blue portion of the uniform. It's not a pretty uniform, but it's an interesting one.

Next up: Teams that played on an informal basis throughout the war.

Bryant, Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island (2023)

Our next look at the year in uniforms takes us to the Colonial Athletic Association Coastal Athletic Association Coastal Athletic Association Football Conference. How about "The Conference With Too Many Damn Teams"? or "Why won't the America East Conference add football already?"

Anyway, here's a look at the four CAA teams covered on this site, plus Bryant, which is leaving the Big South for the CAA next year, which will raise the conference's membership to 743.

Bryant — anyone else remember when the Patriots trained there in days of yore? — added a white shirt to more closely match the black jerseys introduced last year when the Bulldogs switched to New Balance uniforms. The gold alternate jersey worn last year was left on the bench in '23.

Delaware, which will be leaving the CAA for FBS and Conference USA in 2025, changed its blue jersey to match the white road version, and the blue pants now match the white and yellow versions with the big ol' hen on the right pant leg.

Maine made a few changes this year, which doesn't hide the fact that my Black Bears won two games for the second straight year. The helmet stripe colors were reversed and the script "Maine," last worn in 2015, returned, replacing the Maine logo with the black bear head. Only problem is that the size of the revived logo is tiny — did Maine borrow the decals from the hockey team or something?? And speaking of hockey, Maine added new road jerseys with numbers that mirror those worn by the pucksters. 

Finally, Maine changed its white pants, with a striping pattern that matches the ones on the helmet and navy blue jerseys.

New Hampshire didn't change much from last year, although the white helmets underwent a couple changes throughout the season: The Wildcats had a white wildcat logo for one game, switched to the throwback "NH" logo for homecoming and used a blue wildcat logo the rest of the way.

Rhode Island kept its multitude of jerseys and pants from 2022, and for good measure, added an alternate white uniform, giving the Rams four different shirts and FIVE different pants. But only one helmet? Yeah, I know, helmets are expensive. 😎

Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island (2022)

 The review of 2022 uniforms rambles on with the four Colonial Athletic Association teams covered on the little ol' blog.

Delaware made some minor changes to the road jerseys and the pants, otherwise the Blue Hens stood pat. The new pants have a good-sized hen logo about halfway down the right leg. and the white jerseys continue college football's recent trend of returning to traditional stripes. Delaware (and UNH) also wore blue NCAA patches for their FCS tournament games. 

Maine (2-9? Really?) made a few minor changes, as well. The Black Bears returned their logo to both sides of the helmet after having a number on one side the last couple seasons, and they added a light blue alternate jersey — fitting, since coach Jordan Stevens played at Maine when they had a light blue alternate c. 2010. The alternate uses a different template than the navy or white jerseys, but I like it; I wouldn't mind seeing them worn with the light blue pants in 2023.

As you can see, there's a lot to unpack here with New Hampshire, which wore 11 different styles in 13 games. 

First, the Wildcats introduced a white alternate helmet with the Wildcat logo on each side. 

Second, UNH added a new white jersey and a gray alternate. I like how each shirt has a different wordmark on the front — blue, UNH; white, New Hampshire; gray, Wildcats. 

Third, the white pants now have "WILDCATS" down the side; as I said about Sacred Heart's pants, they resemble something out of pro wrestling. 

Finally, the Wildcats wore a retro uniform for Homecoming, complete with red trim and the vintage "NH" logo on the helmets. It's not exactly like what they wore in days of yore, but it's a start. UNH wore the NCAA patch for for its first-round FCS tourney game, but not the second-round game at Holy Cross.

Rhode Island didn't change anything from 2021, as the Rams continued to mix and match their three jerseys and four pants, including those gray camos. Really, nothing to complain about from this end. (Hey, it's laundry we're discussing, not world affairs, right? 😎)

Delaware Blue Hens (2000)

The latest pulls from the grab bag and the random number generator give us the 2000 Delaware Blue Hens, one of the better non-title teams in that program's esteemed history.

The Team: The Hens went 12-2 overall and 7-1 in Atlantic 10 play, sharing the league title with Richmond (which Delaware defeated 24-17, which leads to this thought: Since the Hens defeated the Spiders in the regular season, why did they have to share the league title? Why not use tiebreakers, a la the NFL?). Delaware outscored its foes 570-238, surpassing the 40-point mark eight times. The topper was an 84-0 nail-biter over West Chester, a poor D-II team that was shut out four other times that year. (The Golden Rams must have been hard up for cash to take that body bag game.) 

The Hens crushed Portland State and Lehigh in the I-AA playoffs before falling to Georgia Southern, 27-18 in the semis.

A 2000 (Wilmington) News Journal front page spreads the good news. 

The Players: Three Hens — Brian McKenna (LB), Jamin Elliott (WR) and Jeff Fiss (OL) — were named I-AA All-Americans and all A-10, and McKenna was named A-10 defensive players of the year. Matt Nagy (QB), Chris Phipps (OL) and Mike Cecere (DL) also made the all A-10 first team. Nagy remains the school's all-time leader in passing yardage (8,214) and passer rating (146.74; what, you thought that Flacco guy held all the records?).

The Coach: Tubby Raymond, of course, is an all-time legend, going 300-119-3 from 1966-2001. Some fun trivia about Tubby:

1) He was the head baseball coach at Maine from 1952-54 and Delaware from 1956-64, going 164-72-3.

2) He played two years of minor league baseball.

3) He loved to paint and created pictures of senior players every year.

4) His son Dave was the original Phillie Phanatic. These days, he's a motivational speaker.

The Uniforms: Like Raymond, Delaware's unis were a constant, having undergone minimal change since the 1950s save advances in helmet/jersey technology. After Raymond left, the Hens experimented with their look more, adding stripes and giving their blue and gold a noticeably lighter tone. You can see last seasons unis here for comparison.

The Fallout: Delaware fell to 4-6 in 2001 as Raymond struggled to earn his 300th win. But his successor, K.C. Keeler, took the Hens to the I-AA national title in 2003. Keeler also won a title at Sam Houston State (2020-21), making him the only coach to win FCS titles at different schools.

Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island (2021)

In our next installment of the uniforms of fall 2021, we move on to the four Colonial Athletic Association teams covered on this little ol' blog. Frankly, there's not much new to report from these guys.

Delaware, thought to be national title contender, instead fell below .500, another reason why preseason polls aren't worth the virtual ink they're printed on. The Blue Hens kept the same unis from the spring 2021 season, and they brought back the "classic" blue shirt-yellow pants combo not worn last season.

Maine made one change, adding light blue alternate pants to give the Black Bears even more of a resemblance to the vintage Tennessee Titans. (An aside: As someone old enough to remember when they were the old Houston Oilers, it's very strange to type "vintage Tennessee Titans.") I corrected one small mistake I made last season: The sleeve trim is separated by navy blue stripes, while the spring graphic shows the white and light blue stripes joined together. For whatever reason, Maine wore those "error" jerseys on photo day for the spring season, but not in actual game play. Huh. 

The mysterious photo day jersey, which will mystify 
historians for centuries to come.

With a new coach TBA coming next season, a uniform change for 2022 is always a possibility. 

New Hampshire played a full schedule after a one-and-done slate last spring, and had their worst record in 19 years. The Wildcats again mixed and matched their jerseys and pants, but the navy blue helmet worn from 2017-19 appears to have been retired. 

Rhode Island racked up its best record since 2001, and had as many uniform combos as it had victories (seven). The light blue jerseys were worn only once; considering light blue is supposed to be Rhody's primary color, it should probably see more playing time. The gray camo pants, last worn in 2019, made a return.

Delaware Blue Hens (1968)

 

Let's pull another random team from a random season of the helmet, shall we?

1968 Delaware. A good team from a program that hardly lacked in good teams.

The Team: Following a 2-7 disaster in 1967, Delaware bounced back in '68 with an 8-3 mark, 5-0 in the Middle Atlantic Conference's (aka the "other" MAC) University Division. The Blue Hens capped their season with a thrilling 31-24 win over Indiana -- the other Indiana, the one in Pennsylvania -- on Dec. 14 in the inaugural Boardwalk Bowl in Atlantic City, N.J., Down 24-23 in the final minute, the Hens marched downfield thanks to four straight passes in the game's final 45 seconds by QB Tom DiMuzio, known more for his running than his passing. With 15 seconds left, DiMuzio hit split end Ron Withelder with an 11-yard strike for the winning score. (And hey, you can watch the game here and here ... except for the winning score. Perhaps not coincidentally, the video was posted by Indiana. 😎) Delaware outscored its foes 319-180, and finished 15th in the final College Division rankings.

Delaware QB Tom DiMuzio pitches ...

... and Ron Withelder catches the winning TD in the Boardwalk Bowl.
Both pictures are from The Review newspaper.

For the record, the University Division consisted of Delaware, a few future Patriot League teams (Lehigh, Lafayette, Bucknell), a couple of lower-level teams (West Chester, Gettysburg), Hofstra and Temple. 

Delaware and UMass face off in 1968, a 28-23 win
for the Blue Hens.

The Players: Middle linebacker John Favero was an AP Little All-American honorable mention, and was named to the all-ECAC and all-MAC teams. Running back Chuck Hall (1,019 yards rushing) earned dual all-star honors, and teammates Pete Cornelius, Conway Hayman, Dick Kelley, Yancy Phillips, Jim Scelba and Hank Vollendorf also were named all-MAC. Kicker Jeff Lippincott's 23 PATs set a school record. 

The Coach: Harold R. "Tubby" Raymond (1926-2017) is one of the true titans of non-FCS football, going 300-119-3 from from 1966-2001, winning three national titles (2 NCAA College Division, 1 NCAA D-II) along the way. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2003.

Tubby Raymond delivers. the marching orders
to lineman Conway Hayman, an all-conference selection in '68.

He continued to use the Delaware Wing-T offense established by his predecessor, David Nelson, into the 2000s, long after most other schools had moved on to a pro-style attack. Hey, if it ain't broke ...

The Uniform: ... Don't fix it, right? The Hens' unis are virtually identical to what they wore in 1958, 1978, 1998 ... So much in college football changed, but the Wing-T and the unis didn't go anywhere for decades. The winged helmet, also established by Nelson, is still around today, although the jerseys and pants are far more flashy. 

I've probably mentioned this before, but check out the little "D" stencil on the socks, a staple of Delaware unis into the 1970s.

The Aftermath: It was more of the same for Delaware in 1969, when it went 9-2, (6-0 MAC) and won another Boardwalk Bowl. The Hens also won Boardwalk Bowls in 1970 and '71, then chickened out of the 1972 game against UMass.

Yankee Conference 1996

In this post, we discussed the Yankee Conference’s inaugural season of 1947. Now, let’s look at 1996, the 50th and final season of the YC before it morphed into the Atlantic 10 football conference and, in 2007, the Colonial Athletic Association. 

One quick note: I have no plans to do full histories for James Madison, Richmond, Villanova and William & Mary unless there’s some massive demand (or JMU jumps off the flavor-of-the-week uniform derby). These four are here just for the sake of completeness. But ya never know …

The YC split into two divisions from 1993-96: The Mid-Atlantic (all the newbies who had joined the YC over the previous decade, including decidedly non-Mid Atlantic Northeastern) and New England (with the six traditional YC teams). The YC’s successors, the A-10 and CAA, used a two-division setup off and on over the next several seasons, but the CAA has gone with one division since 2010. 

My memory may be fuzzy, but I seem to recall there was some hand-wringing over how the Mid-Atlantic teams basically marched in during the 1980s and took over the good ol’ YC (in both 1995 and ’96, five league teams ended the season nationally ranked in the TSN poll, four from the Mid-Atlantic). Of course, just two years later, UMass became the first YC/A10/CAA team to win the FCS (I-AA) national title, so who knows?

The YC ended after NCAA legislation frowned upon single-sport conferences in "major" sports such as football and basketball. The YC needed to attach itself to an already existing conference, and the Atlantic 10 was willing to oblige. 

And now, some notes about the season and uniforms, with an emphasis on our “guest” teams …

William & Mary was the final YC champion, and thus got to retire the sacred Bean Bot trophy, which apparently now sits in the Tribe’s trophy case. (Kinda odd for a team that played in the conference only four years. In a better world, a longtime YC powerhouse like UNH or UMass would have won the last title.) W&M’s uniforms have yellow trim here, but the Tribe switched to gold around 2001, and have kept it ever since. 

One of W&M’s more notable players was safety Sean McDermott (No. 28), who was an all-A10 selection in 1997. The former walk-on now coaches the Buffalo Bills for a living. (Speaking of coaches, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin was a standout wide receiver at W&M from 1991-94.) Another safety, Darren Sharper, was a two-time All-American and three-time all-YC selection who was named YC defensive player of the year in ’96. He went on to an outstanding NFL career with the Packers, Vikings and Saints … and currently is doing a 20-year sentence for multiple rape and drug-related charges.

Also note the unusual placement of the YC patch on W&M’s home jerseys; it’s on the shoulder instead of on the front. One of Northeastern’s road styles has it on the sleeve.

Villanova, which became a I-AA/FCS powerhouse almost immediately after resuming the program in 1985 following a four-year layoff, had some notable players, too. Wide receiver Brian Finneran (No. 25; two brothers were teammates, thus the full name on the back) went on to a distinguished NFL career, mostly with the Atlanta Falcons. His Wikipedia bio offers this gem: “Finneran also has one of the most powerful and sought-after cards in the Ultimate Team portion of the video game Madden 25 due to him being listed as 6'7", two inches taller than his actual height.”

Nova’s helmets are kinda off compared with the rest of its color scheme: The Wildcats have always had navy blue as their primary color, but the “V” on the helmet had bright red and gold trim, while the jersey trim veers closer to maroon. Today, the uniforms use light blue trim, obviously out of a deep respect for my Black Bears. (Sarcasm mode)

And let’s not forget Villanova’s cartoonish primary logo from this period, which I believe lasted only a year or two, and for good reason: You’re a Division I school, not a minor league hockey team.

A logo only an Odessa Jackalopes fan could love.
Actually, that team is still around, so what do I know?

I miss the old James Madison uniforms that served the Dukes well for many years: Gold helmets, purple jerseys and gold pants. These days, it’s white helmets and pants, and it’s not the same. (The gold lids were worn for one game in 2019, I believe.) Although methinks JMU fans would rather watch a perpetual powerhouse than a mediocre team in throwback duds, right? 

JMU didn’t make the I-AA playoffs in ’96, but qualified in ’94, ’95 and ’99 — and all four games were against teams that now play in FBS (2 against Troy, 1 apiece against Marshall and Appalachian State).

Richmond was the one Mid-Atlantic team (I don’t really count Northeastern, which was a YC team in everything but name for decades before it officially joined in ’93) that didn’t dominate the YC in ’96. I did a post a while back on the most boring uniforms in this project, but these unis win the Bland Bowl trophy hands down. Plain navy helmets, plain navy jersey with a white sleeve stripe and plain white pants — the whole thing looks like those awful airbrushed photos Topps used in the 1970s when it made football cards but didn’t have a license to use NFL logos. The Spiders wore flashy red-and-silver uniforms until former Maine defensive back Jim Reid became coach in ’95. Wonder why he chose to make his team look so dull? (Reid, who played at Maine in the early ‘70s, is still coaching, and was Boston College’s defensive coordinator the last four years.)

Spiders linebacker Paris Lenon (No. 6) went onto a journeyman NFL career as a linebacker/special teamer.

Other tidbits from ’96 …

• New Hampshire had one of New England’s most exciting players in Jerry Azumah, who ran for 1,308 yards and 17 TDs and was named the YC’s offensive player of the year. (Two years later, he took home the Walter Payton Award as the top player in all of I-AA/FCS.) He went on to a Pro Bowl NFL career as a Chicago Bears special-teamer.

Jerry Azumah flies high against Villanova in 1996.

• Maine’s Jack Cosgrove was named YC coach of the year after leading the Black Bears to their best record in seven years. Maine had to toil in a temporary stadium after Alumni Field, their home since 1946, was condemned. (Alfond Stadium, its current digs, was built in 1998.)

Maine offensive lineman Mike Flynn blocks against James Madison in 1996.
Flynn went on to start for the 2000 Baltimore Ravens team that won the Super Bowl.

• Rhode Island’s game at UConn was cancelled after 31 players (yes, THIRTY-ONE) were involved in an assault on a URI fraternity the week of the game. You can read more on that here.





Rhode Island faces Boston U. in 1996.
This photo came from the 1997 Renaissance yearbook, but it looks more
like a fan pic from the stands, which it probably was.



• Delaware's 8-4 season, which included a trip to the I-AA playoffs, was actually pretty ho-hum by the Blue Hens' standards. In the '90s, Delaware made the NCAAs six times and had a winning record every year.

• Northeastern, meanwhile, had only two winning seasons the whole decade -- '96 and '97. The Huskies' coach, Barry Gallup, was a player and assistant coach at Boston College for 25 years before he took over at Northeastern, going 38-60-1 from 1991-99. (Trivia: One of his NU assistants was current Jaguars coach Doug Marrone.)

Northeastern visits UMass in 1996. The attendance in Amherst was 12,206;
the Minutemen's largest crowd in 2019 was 12,234 (HINT, HINT).