Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as they say. And when it comes to alternate uniforms in college football, the ensemble can often be polarizing. We might have one such example of that with an announcement the Illinois football team made via social media on Thursday.
I've been on record to stand in the corner arm and arm with alternate uniforms. I think it keeps things fresh, helps recruiting in some instances, and provides a different look for some of the more casual fans out there. So yeah, I can get on board with most of the alternates coming out of the tunnel on college football Saturday.
However, sometimes there can be a lot of effort without execution, or perhaps a little too much thought into things, and I feel like that's exactly what happened in Champaign.
Look, I get it. Red Grange is an iconic personality and figure for Illinois football, doing his best work in a leather helmet. He is also revered in college football history, there's no arguing any of that. However, I feel like there was a better way to tie in alternates to pay homage to that era besides trying to design a leather helmet on top of a modern helmet.
The uniforms themselves are OK and fine, but I've always felt like the best throwback uniforms do a good job of bringing the past and present together and this just seems like a big miss. Here's a look at what Illinois announced as its ensemble that will be worn vs. Michigan on October 19.
Illinois will wear this throwback uniform 10/19 vs. Michigan 👀
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) August 8, 2024
📷: @IlliniFootball #B1GFootball pic.twitter.com/UdT2u9nUAD
I know some will love these but it's hard to imagine the majority looking to rush out and purchase replicas of the jerseys or helmets. Come to think about it, maybe these really are "throwback" uniforms because after the game, there's a good chance many of the players might want to throw them back.
