Yale Bulldogs (1974-77)

Much like its ancient rival, Harvard, Yale's uniform changes are subtle to the point it takes a keen eye to spot the differences. In the case of this Yale uniform, it's the striped socks that make said difference. And then in the socks, there are differences -- some stripes are thicker than others.

The striped socks were worn from 1973-80. In '73, Yale wore a unique "101" decal on the helmet (for 101 years of football at Yale; the year before, the Bulldogs wore a "100" decal); in '78, there was a one-year logo tweak and in '79 the number font changed see what I mean about those pesky subtle differences?). As time went on, white shoes began to dominate.

Yale visits Penn in 1976, from the Yale Daily News.
Note how the socks on No. 40 are thicker than those on No. 22.
I know I'll sleep better after knowing this.

Another shot of Yale's mismatched socks, from 1975.
Really, this photo is kind of an excuse to get in Dartmouth's Nick Lowery,
who had a long and proficient NFL career, mostly with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Harvard Crimson (1975-79)

A while back, we looked at the Harvard uniform of the early 1980s, which outside the helmet, doesn't look that different from what the Crimson wears now. Here's the immediate predecessor, with a black helmet logo instead of white and a simple jersey that looks more at home in practice. For '77 only, the white outline circling the logo was removed, and I can only guess the Crimson realized that made for a hard-to-see logo, so it was restored in '78.

From photos I've seen, a few helmets from 1975-76 are lacking logos.

The 1978 Harvard media guide, with no outline surrounding the logo.

The 1980 media guide shows the final year of this style,
with the logo outline restored.

The socks are reflective of the times, when many teams wore ones that were either all-white  (UConn, Yale, Boston College) or used minimal striping (Maine, UNH, Delaware, Boston U).

The 1977 Harvard-Yale program, with the logo outline
that wasn't used that season.

Cornell Big Red (1965)

This is a one-year style worn by Cornell, touched upon here back in November. The jerseys lasted only one more year, while the plain white helmets, worn since 62, were replaced by this funky style for 1966 only. The white jersey with the red shoulder stripes, used in previous seasons, was revived for the Dartmouth game in '65.

In addition to being the style worn for the next-to-last Thanksgiving game against Penn, the uniform was also worn for one of the Ivy League's wackier moments. Against Princeton and ace kicker Charlie Gogolak, two Big Red defensive backs stacked themselves on top of two defensive tackles in hopes of blocking one of Gogolak's boots. (Dartmouth had tried something similar earlier that season, with a player scaling a teammate's back to get a running start on a potential block.) The trick didn't work -- Gogolak made field goals of 54 and 44 yards, although Princeton won, 36-26.

The caption speaks for itself. From the Daily Princetonian.

After the season, the NCAA rules committee closed the loopholes. 

Another shot of Cornell's stack formation. This is from The Football Hall of Shame,
a dumb title, but a funny book from my youth.

A UPI photographer at the game talks about his experience here.

Rhode Island Rams (1957-61)

This is one of the more complicated styles in this project, despite appearing simple on the surface.

From 1957-61, Rhode Island eschewed its traditional ram's-horn helmets and used versions with the numbers on the side, a style wildly popular in college football during that period. The jerseys and pants were consistent with what Rhody had been wearing for most of the decade, although navy pants weren't used until 1958.

Judging by photos from the Grist yearbook, the helmets appear to have been a shade or two darker than the jerseys, which gives the whole uniform kind of a minor-league look.

Rhode Island (center and right) takes on UNH in 1959 in a shot fem the 1960 Grist.
Note how the Rhody helmets are a little darker than the jerseys, which look almost white in comparison.
The player in the middle is also lacking a number, not uncommon for Rhody.

Toward the end of this design's lifestyle, Rhody did some funny things with the helmets. For 1960 only, block numbers were used on the helmets, and the curved numbers returned in '61. The striping is very inconsistent, as you can see in the uniform graphics above and below. A few players wore helmets with no numbers.

Other parts of the uniform were just as inconsistent; some players wore navy belts; others, white. It appears that navy belts were worn more frequently, so that's what I'm using here.

A nice shot of the Rhody bench, from the 1961 Grist yearbook.

In '61, sleeve numbers made their debut.

Rhody takes on UNH in 1961. From the '62 Grist.

In '62, URI made a complete overhaul, with navy as the dominant color through '66. It wasn't the last time the Rams ran on option play over the team colors.

I dunno ... maybe the mascot doubled as the team trainer?
Rhody football's always been run on a shoestring ...

Maine Black Bears (1976-84)

"Before coach (Buddy) Teevens came in, we had those old H-style goalposts like in high school. ... Our uniforms were like Penn State's -- really plain -- but then we went to the new satin pants."

-- Bobby Wilder, former Maine QB and current Old Dominion head coach, quoted in a 1987 Boston Globe article

In 1976, longtime Boston College assistant Jack Bicknell replaced Walt Abbott as the University of Maine's football coach. With Bicknell's arrival came the Black Bears' most dramatic uniform overhaul since 1949, when the Michigan-style winged helmets were introduced. In '76, the winged helmets (you can see examples of the uniform here, here and here) were ditched and a totally new home uniform debuted for the season opener against Acadia University. The new helmet had a big, fat block "M" on the side, which means Maine traded in one Michigan element for another.

As for the shirt and pants ... Gee, those look familiar, don't they?

Maine's 1976-84 uniforms bore an uncanny similarity to
the ones worn by these guys.

The parallels to Penn State's unis are hard to avoid. The light blue trim, used since the 60s, were snuffed out by '77 (the '73-75 roads were used one more year, likely as a cost-saving measure). 

Wearing the 1976 hybrid road uniform, Maine takes on Delaware in this image from
the 1977 Blue Hen yearbook. Note the unique socks on the Black Bears; I've never seen those anywhere else.

Alas, Maine -- hamstrung by a low budget and few scholarships -- couldn't win like Penn State, at one point going 2-17-1 in Yankee Conference play from 1977-80.

The 1979 Maine media guide. 

In Bicknell's final year (1980), jersey names were introduced, a Maine first. 

A serif font was used, but thinner than what the Bears wore from 1985-93. The image above is wholly inaccurate, by the way. Chris Keating, an outstanding linebacker who later played for the NFL's Washington Redskins and Buffalo Bills, played for Maine from 1976-79. But I used No. 89 in my template, so I kept it. :) Keating, a member of the team's ring of honor, was one of three brothers to play at Maine in the 1970s; his son later played for Maine.

When Ron Rogerson became coach in 1981, the names were removed.

It's Maine, with names (see No. 95 on the right).
This pic is from the Lehigh Brown and White.
I'm impressed the B&W sent a reporter and photographer all the way up to Orono.

The uniform's finest hour came in 1982, when Maine went 7-4 and shared the Yankee Conference title (with three other teams!) after 15 years as the YC's punching bag. The four losses (including two in overtime) were by a combined 21 points. Someday, we'll have to discuss that 6 OT loss to Rhody ...

Coach Ron Rogerson leads the 1982 Black Bears onto the field in this pic from
the 1983 Prism yearbook. Rogerson was at Maine from 1981-84 and was the last in
a succession of Black Bear coaches to run the Wing-T offense. He later coached at Princeton (1985-86)
and passed away just before the 1987 season.

Running back Lorenzo Bouier, the leader of the '82 Maine offense,
is still second on the Black Bears' all-time rushing list.

In 1984, light blue trim returned, as stripes were added to the pants. I wonder if these were the new satin pants Bobby Wilder was referring to in the above quote? In that case, he should have credited Ron Rogerson, not Buddy Teevens. Ah, well... A switch to plain socks was also made.

Maine quarterback and future offensive coordinator Bob Wilder rumbles for yardage
on the cover of the 1985 team yearbook. Note the striped pants and the old-school
Yankee Conference logo on the bottom right.

In 1985, Maine hired Teevens, who gave the uniform another overhaul, a style Maine wore for some of the finest moments in program history. ... but that's for another time.

Boston College Eagles (2014)

As promised way back when, here are the 2014 Boston College uniforms, including the "red bandana" variation worn in September's thrilling victory over USC. The Eagles were 7-6 overall, 4-4 (fourth) in the ACC's Atlantic Division and lost to Penn State in the Pinstripe Bowl.

I tried something different with the template: I removed the "stitching" between the sleeves and the rest of the jersey so the location of the Pinstripe Bowl patch wouldn't look so awkward. I think I'll use this going forward.

UConn Huskies (1984-88)

This is the later version of UConn's basic 1977-88 uniform style: White helmet with royal script "UConn" on the sides, royal-and-white jersey with three sleeve stripes and white pants. Early versions had no names on the jerseys and red-and-blue trim on the pants, but in '84, names were added and the red trim was removed.

UConn rumbles past Maine in this image from the 1985 Nutmeg.
We'll be discussing those Maine unis soon.

By 1987, the players were mostly wearing low-cut socks, which were making a comeback after a period when college teams followed the NFL's lead and wore proper, "formal" socks, often with stripes.

The 1987 Huskies, with low-cut socks.

I still find it odd that UConn fiddled around for decades with what shade of blue to use: light blue, royal blue and navy have all been worn, and red trim comes and goes like the tide. In 1989, navy was used as the primary color for the first time since 1967, and that's what has been used since. The 1989-93 uniform more or less mirrored the one you see here, only with the color change.

UConn takes on Delaware in this image from the 1988 Nutmeg yearbook.

No. 14 is quarterback Matt DeGennaro, who was the Yankee Conference offensive player of the year in 1988 and is second behind future NFLer Dan Orlovsky on most of the Huskies' career passing lists. Not too shabby, considering he played 25 years ago. This Hartford Courant article from 2004 noted he's likely the Huskies' best player from the pre-FBS era.

UConn's Matt DeGennaro in action in another Nutmeg pic.

Holy Cross Crusaders (1951-55)

When I did the "Rivalry Week(s)" posts in November, I promised I'd look at some of the featured uniforms in greater detail down the road. So let's start with Holy Cross, a school I've mostly neglected since this project began.

The Holy Cross uniforms from the 1930s through 1955 underwent little change: Silver helmets, white shirts and silver/gray pants served as the basic template. Purple jerseys were worn less frequently, and in 1951 weren't used at all, to the best of my knowledge. I believe purple socks were worn on and off. 

A good close-up shot of Holy Cross' Tom McCann, from the 1952 Purple Patcher.
You can read a little more about him here.

Above is the early-50s model, with a plain sans-serif number font after using a more serifed block font in the 40s.

Holy Cross' Mel Massucco is depicted in an early 1950s cartoon from
The Crusader newspaper (then called The Tomahawk). He was later
a Holy Cross announcer and was a longtime coach at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. 

In 1956, the Crusaders made an overhaul, switching to purple helmets and pants and dumping silver until the mid-1960s. Shoulder stripes also appeared on the jerseys.

The 1951 Crusaders take on Dartmouth in this pic from the '52 Purple Patcher.
Nothing says "old school sports photo" like a dashed line depicting the path of the football
and little arrows with the players' names on them.

The '52 Crusaders, in white, take on Boston College in this pic from the '53 Purple Patcher.
The game was played at Braves Field, which the baseball Braves abandoned for Milwaukee
just before the '53 season.

Boston College Eagles (2007)

Let's look at one more Boston College bowl team before the Pinstripe Bowl ...

The 2007 BC Eagles were the best of times and the ... well, not the worst of times, but at the least, they left a gnawing feeling of what might have been. With senior quarterback Matt Ryan at the helm, the Eagles were ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation, their highest ranking since 1942, right before they were knocked off by Holy Cross in a mega-upset. Ryan set single-season records for passing yards (4,258) and touchdown passes (28) and emerged as a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate. (There was even a "Ryan for Heisman" blog; you can still visit it here. I still can't believe Matty Ice was only seventh in the balloting.) 

Matt Ryan didn't get the Heisman,
but he did get his own action figure.

The Eagles also beat Miami for the first time since the "Hail Mary" game in 1984. BC won 11 games, the most since the undefeated 1940 team, and finished No. 10 in the AP poll, No. 11 in the coaches poll, the program's highest ranking since '84.

But ... BC dropped three of four games late in the season, including a loss to Virginia Tech in the ACC title game. Instead of the Orange Bowl (the destination for the ACC champ at the time), BC found itself in the Champs Sports Bowl (the bowl that used to be the Tangerine Bowl, discussed earlier in the week). And first-year coach Jeff Jagodzinski was fired after the 2008 season when he defied BC's orders and interviewed for the vacant New York Jets coaching position.

That said, it was still a memorable season and the '07 Eagles deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as the 1940 and '84 teams in discussions of the best in school history. And an 11-3 record is never anything to sneeze at.

Running back Andre Callender, top, and quarterback Matt Ryan
in action during the Champs Sports Bowl, a 24-21 win over Michigan State.
This was the eighth and final win of BC's incredible 2000-07 bowl victory streak.

As for the uniforms ... BC streamlined its look under new coach Jagodzinski. The funky slanted numbers remained, but without the busy multiple outlines used from 2001-06. Gold numbers replaced white on the home jerseys. And in a first, white pants were used, primarily on the roads. The Eagles continue to wear all-white on the road to this day. An eagle head replaced the soaring eagle on the sleeves. As you can see, BC wasn't afraid to mix 'n match.

You can read about the uniform change here.

For '07 only, a small black patch was worn on the left sleeve; unfortunately, I have no idea what it stood for or for whom it was chosen to commemorate. 

BC was hoping for the Orange Bowl, but had to settle
for the Champs Sports Bowl.

Again, thanks to Reid Oslin's unbelievable Boston College Football Vault, the source of much the info here. There are very few books out there on BC football, and this one almost singlehandedly makes up for the lack.