Sharp Dressed Men

Soon, another season of domination by your beloved Buckeyes will be upon us and the rest of the college world. Not only have the Buckeyes reloaded on both sides of the ball, they have reloaded (slightly) in the uniform department.

The only apparent change made to the jersey is the addition of seven buckeye leaves on the back collar:

Another shot of the new #OhioState Jerseys from #Nike! #GoBucks #Buckeyes #football #buckeyenation #buckeyefootball

The maker of the jersey has stated that they represent the seven national titles the Buckeyes have won in it’s history. But they could also mean the seven Heisman trophies that have been presented to the school. Either answer is acceptable. While it’s not a huge change to the uniform, it’s a nice detail that honors the history of the school.

And speaking of history, I will give a rundown of the top five uniforms, in no particular order. This is strictly my opinion, of course but feel free to agree with me at any point.

Before I get started with the list, let me add that it was very difficult to find a color photo of any uniform from way back in the day — for obvious reasons. Please refer to handy image to help you get an idea of what the jerseys look like in the following list (Via).

Ohio State (1)

Number 5 uniform is from 1928. While I’m not a big fan of vertical stripes on uniforms because it reminds me of prison uniforms (no, I’m not speaking from experience), they seemed to pull off the desired looked. They gave the player a look that made them seem bigger than they actually were, adding to the intimidation factor.

Number 4 uniform hails from 1939. This one was simple and clean, no frills and no silly stripes. Just a red (sorry, scarlet) shirt, a color coordinated leather helmet, grey pants,and a tiny number right between the player’s bulging pecs.

Number 3 Uniform comes from 1973. This also happens to be time-frame that we all became familiar with one of the most punishing and celebrated running backs in all of college football, 2-time Heisman trophy winner, Archie Griffin.

Okay, I realize I really had nothing to say about uniform number 3. I just felt Mr. Griffin needed just a little more praise.

Number 2 Uniform is from 1996 and brought back the scarlet jersey with dual grey stripes on the sleeves, similar to the ones that were worn by the players that were under the instruction of legendary coach, Woody Hayes. And yes, he still hates Michigan.

And now for uniform #1, we go to 2002…

Number 1 uniform is another throwback uniform, this one from the early ’70s…white shirt with dual red stripes on the sleeves and grey pants. It seemed to work because that color combination channeled the winning ways of Mr. Griffin and Mr. Hayes, allowing OSU to bring home national title number 7.

I’m just glad the founders of The Ohio State University didn’t go with maize and blue (gag)!

In 2013, we’ll be adding another buckeye leaf. Hope they got room on that back collar.

Comments

  1. I personally like the 1996 one the best but that is probably because I owned that exact one and still do. First jersey I ever bought was Orlando Pace’s no 75 in 1996. Good Memories….

  2. John Bishop says

    Can’t stand the loss of the gray stripes on the sleeves. They were so distinctive and were easily recognizable because they were different than other teams with red jerseys. The new white stripes are bland and look like many other red jerseys. The School colors are Scarlet and Gray, not Scarlet and White!

  3. That was a good time period…Pace, George, Germaine, Rose Bowl win over Jake “The Snake” Plummer and the Sun Devils…very vivid in my mind.

  4. The 90’s so much talent but couldn’t beat a darn m*ch*g*n team whether it was TTUN or when we did it was Sparty. Cooper never got it he was a darn good recruiter but coach not as good.Should have had a few National Championships from that era

  5. While I also love the 1996 uniforms, I’m partial to the old number style of the ’42 uniform (which were brought back recently and I thought looked great) and I love the black numbers on the sleeves of the ’68.

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