The Syracuse Orange football program unveiled new Nike uniforms on Friday night, during an event hosted at Turning Stone’s Lava Nightclub. Gone are the previous duds that most of us largely hated from day one. And in their place is a nice callback to Syracuse tradition, that also doesn’t go full throwback, either (which is probably a good thing for recruiting purposes).

We’d previously shared what we wanted from the redesign. And by and large, this hit many of those marks. More on all of the elements below:

Colors/Overall

I think this is what most people envisioned with a “modern” twist on the traditional Syracuse football look. The racing stripe theme sets the jerseys apart from other blue and orange schools. The jerseys can be mixed and matched! And best of all: NO #PLATINUM. I can almost guarantee we will continue to see the Orange wear all orange and all white at least once a year (homecoming and a road game, respectively), but other combos will probably be left to the equipment staff and team.

Most importantly: GOODBYE “44-DEGREE” NUMBERS. I never hated the 44-degree angle, I hated the narrow/tall look (and the fact that they weren’t actually 44 degrees). This is a very traditional font. That’s fine. It matches the rest of the font/look of SU and that’s more important than having something that makes a splash.

Helmets

This is about as good as it gets for ‘Cuse. The Orange helmet looks almost exactly like the Marrone era helmet, just with a slight matte finish. I never loved the blue helmet, but that’s a personal preference more so than actually hating the look. The white helmet is easily my favorite, as I think it works with all three jerseys and makes the orange pop.

Jerseys

Regardless of what you think about the jerseys, the most important fact: fans can buy these jerseys as-is. The three colors work for ‘Cuse, and while I’m sad to see the 44 Axe logo go, having consistency with the block-’S’ on the neckline is more important.

The striping along the sleeves is great, if nothing else than it doesn’t copy the Cleveland Browns’ weird extension to the chest. It really feels like the old Colts jerseys, which were some of the best looking jerseys in the NFL.

Finally, as with all jerseys these days, the collar features some slogan along the inside. “For the Glory” isn’t uniquely Syracuse, (most fight songs include some variation of that line) but I’m all for leaning into Syracuse tradition over coach-specific or branding lingo. Remember, last time we went with a coach slogan on the collar (Shafer’s “Lock the Gate”), it didn’t really work out.

Built on tradition. Engineered for the future.



The next generation of Syracuse football has arrived. pic.twitter.com/KEPLwkhW7n — Syracuse Football (@CuseFootball) June 22, 2019

Pants

Once again, thank God the Nike didn’t pull a Browns and put ORANGE in block letters down the site. The racing stripe is clean, adds some personality to what is typically the most boring part of the uniform.

***

What do you think? A nice marriage of new and old design elements? Better than the previous set? Share your own thoughts below.