College football 2014 season

[Boris Godunov]

I'm all for teams with green and yellow as their colors winning this week.

[rah]

I thought I read that the they're using the boring uniforms tonight.

[MRT144]

They better pull a WWE and come out with the most garishly yellow uniforms with the craziest green accents.

[Ming]

I thought I read that the they're using the boring uniforms tonight.

Interesting story in the WSJ

The Oregon Ducks are technically the home team in Monday’s college-football championship game against Ohio State, so they had first pick of uniforms—meaning the entirety of the most elaborate wardrobe in sports was available. But Oregon, which has long doubled as a Nike petri dish, stunned the sport when it chose the most boring uniforms imaginable for the game: a muted combination of silver and white.

They chose poorly.

For all its myriad costume changes, Oregon fares best when it plays in green and yellow—the school’s two main colors that will be completely absent on Monday. To determine this, the Count looked at every Ducks uniform since the start of the 2009 season and assessed how color schemes correlated to on-field success. We had to simplify things a bit, so we grouped everything into five colors—green, yellow, white, black and gray/silver—and disregarded differences in shade and pattern. The results suggest Oregon’s Oakland Raiders-inspired outfit for Monday was a grave tactical error.

The biggest mistake is the pants. Green pants would have all but guaranteed the school’s first national title. The Ducks are a perfect 17-0 since 2009 in green pants, including two bowl victories and the New Year’s Day semifinal win over Florida State. Gray pants, the dubious choice for Monday, are cursed. Oregon wore gray or silver pants when they lost to Auburn in the 2010-season title game, when they got beat by LSU in the 2011 opener and when Stanford ruined their perfect season in 2012.

The chance for another gray-pants debacle is compounded by equally bad choices for its helmet and jersey. Oregon will wear a white helmet, which they are 9-2 in since 2009, including the season-opening disaster against Boise State in 2009, after which running back LeGarrette Blount was suspended for punching a Boise player.

Oregon’s white jersey also has a subpar record of 28-5, partially because it is often worn on the road. It is actually a better choice than black (8-3), but Oregon should have gambled on yellow (7-0 in a small sample) or just kept it simple with a green jersey. Since 2009, green has been virtually unbeatable: 26-1 since 2009.

Then again, that one loss in a green jersey is notable: It came to Ohio State in the 2010 Rose Bowl.

[MRT144]

Didnt expect this.

[H Tower]

Curse of the boring uniforms? So far it has held up. First half they looked poor on both sides of the ball. We'll have to see what the second half brings.

[MRT144]

Lol no matter what happens, this game is ridiculous.

[MRT144]

Haha go bucks

[Imran Siddiqui]

Grats to Ohio State! Winning the game 42-20 with 4 turnovers! Wow!

I knew OSU was going to come out competitive, but this was domination!

[-Jrabbit]

Oregon: white and silver?? What were you thinking!

Urban Meyer: The legend grows.

Big 10: Enjoy it while you can.

Illinois: That 55-14 loss doesn't seem nearly so shameful now.

[rah]

Yeah to dominate them despite the turnovers is really quite impressive.

While the Big10 still didn't have a great year, they certainly redeemed themselves during the Bowl Season.

So does anyone expect TCU to be ranked number 1?

[-Jrabbit]

I'm confident that no one, not even Ben, expects that.

Waiting with some interest to see Boris' take on the game...

[rah]

Are you talking about the same ben that I'm thinking of?

I actually felt bad for Boris.

[-Jrabbit]

Me too. Oregon's first legit title shot that I'm aware of, and I'm generally in favor of new blood in the winner's circle.

[Boris Godunov]

You win some, you lose some.

Or for Oregon and Ohio State/National Championships, you just lose some.