I am hoping for 3:30 as I already have evening plans and noon plans, so I am pulling selfishly. Also a 3:30 works well for traveling and tailgating and would end with the sun symbolically setting on UVa's bowl game chances. Muwahahahahaha.
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Personally, I'm glad that they're gone. I hated those things. Up close they weren't bad, but on TV were terrible. With the color blend on the numbers it was hard to read. The only good thing about the uniform was the helmet. That part I liked. Other than that, I hope we never wear them again.
Edit: If they wanna do black (which I am against as it is not one of our colors AT ALL) then do it different than what they did against BSU.
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Trust me, it was very difficult to read the numbers. The orange part you could read, but as it blended to maroon on the black, it was next to impossible unless you got a clear view.
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Which is exactly why the NCAA changed the rule regarding jersey numbers. And all the poor stat guys high up in the booth collectively cried tears of joy.
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Virginia Tech: All-black uniform references the cadet gray-and-black regalia worn by Virginia Techs original football team and honors the schools current Corps of Cadets.
This was from the Nike news article about the uniform. It's obvious the uniforms will not be worn, because they were auctioned off. But the uniforms were black for a reason, to pay tribute to team's original colors.
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If you look hard enough, you can come up with a reason for uniforms that have little identify with the school or the program. And they did.
The reason the uni's were black is because a decent number of people think black uni's are cool and unique (perhaps then...not now).
IMO, college football is becoming the new hockey. A few years back it seemed like almost every hockey team was incorporating black as one of their primary colors.
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I hope so as well. I like the shirts, always thought we should do one Black theme game playing on Blacksburg, so I would be up for it. We don't. Even need to wear black uniforms, because I would rather keep our color scheme. Just something for the fans is fine with me.
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There has been a lot of chatter among fans to try to get Whit and VT Football Equipment to do blackout for the game, but as of yet, nothing from the people actually in charge. This website is from a fan who is donating some proceeds to Make-A-Wish. So buy a shirt if you want to do something good. But in reality, unless the Athletic Department makes a push to have this happen, you're going to get a smattering of people in black plus the usual O&M.
I thought black unis would be a very cool thing for Black Friday, but no one knows if we even have such a thing at this point, since equipment was ordered last year, well before this game was even set for a Black Friday slot. Whit made a statement at a Hokie Club event (?) a while back about the game happening "that night," but we have no idea if we'll actually get a late afternoon or evening time slot. Decent chance based on the other games being played that day, but again, nothing official and we won't know for a while.
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There also appears to be a 8:30 slot on ESPNU. After all of the noon and 12:30 starts this season I think Whit may lose his mind if VT gets the noon ESPN slot on black Friday. I'm sure it will be a spirited bunch but my guess is that attendance would be awful at noon the day after Thanksgiving.
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I will be happy to eat crow if I am wrong, but I think you missed part of the message.
Andy Bitter asked Whit about it and he said it will be in a prime audience/TV slot, not primetime.
FWIW, Whit Babcock did NOT say at a Hokies Club meeting that UVa game will be in primetime. Said he thinks it'll be prime TV/audience slot.— Andy Bitter (@AndyBitterVT) July 28, 2014
Also, where is this contract that others are mentioning? Or the details?
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I thought I saw him pop up on a thread yesterday and some people commented on how they thought he was gone. Did he get the hammer or just stop logging on?
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Not really. I'm all for All black basket weaving...
seriously, It's called marketing.
ESPN won't show Hokie highlights, so maybe they will talk about how cool blackout'ed' unis for Black friday is.
Then some recruit somewhere says hey that is cool. But they said Beamer was a old fogey. Maybe not... ummmm...
Trust me, all black on black friday only hurts if they lose. Then it will hurt for every reason other than the uniforms.
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We need to market ourselves better, period. Wearing the same uniform over and over again, while nice, it doesn't do squat to get your name out there. Spice it up every once in a while. We're not an Alabama or Penn St that has a national name program, we need to make sure our name is out there any way we can get it. Even the likes of FSU, Ohio St, Michigan, Notre Dame, etc have realized that flashiness sells to recruits nowadays and you see each wear special designed one off uniforms annually. I hope we have a cool blackout look to go with this game, it has marketing potential you can't pass up.
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How do you think those teams got brand identity? By not confusing the customer. The only team that changes uniforms constantly and has developed any identity by doing so is Oregon. The blue-bloods may come up with one-offs, but when you look at them, you generally still know exactly who they are.
IMO, nothing screams wannabe or mid-major these days more than black or grey uniforms and chrome helmets with logos that can't be identified.
If there's one thing the NFL is good at, it's marketing and brand identity. There's a reason why they wear the same uni's 90% of the time and mix it up just enough to sell some additional merchandise. If you turn on a Bills vs Chargers, you know it's the Bills and the Chargers.
If Whit Babcock is smart, the uniforms going forward will be such that when a non-VT fan turns on a game, they know it's VT playing. VT should wear uniforms that says it has been there before and it'll be there again.
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You're right
Its completely impossible
To keep a brand identity
Consistent while
Wearing a uniform set
Which has base colors
That differ from the primary school colors
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You just made my point. The only uni's that are even recognizable at a glance are the white and maroon FSU uni's...I don't even know who the bottom two without having to think about it. And that's seeing them up close. If they were playing each other and I turned on the TV, I would have NO idea who was playing.
Come back to me when the Colts or Cowboys or Packers or 49ers or Giants and so on are wearing all black or grey uni's...
Regardless, at what point do black uni's become passe to the kids? It can't be that far off. Actually, it's probably already happening...that's why we're seeing the gray ones now.
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Really? My fiancee (who I admit watches college football, but not to excessive levels like most of us) knew all of these within a few seconds except for Arizona State.
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That's because they're all up close. Can you really say you would know that's Nebraska if the helmet wasn't turned sideways and up close? Or if you were watching those UCLA on TV in those uniforms, you would have any idea who they were without a close up shot?
I mean, Who can forget this key play in the Nebraska-???? game
Or this FSU - ???? classic?
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A lot depends on how it's done, I watched the Louisville/FSU game that is pictured above, and I was thinking the whole time that there was really no way to tell who Louisville was based on their unis, it was really bad
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Northwestern because of the Northwestern stripes on the sleeves and Louisville because of the logo on the shoulder.
But of course anything can look like shit if you screw it up. I am just showing that it's really not that hard to keep your brand true while changing it up. Not all change is for the worse.
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Yep, it can be done horribly for sure. I'm surprised the lack of contrast in Louisville's jersey and numbers was allowed on the field. That's the thing with the examples you pulled up above, almost all of them have great contrast. Someone is really going to say they can't recognize that that's UNC at a glance? The Carolina blue pops off of the darker base and everyone knows the UNC logo. When we were doing my daughters nursery my other half tried to push for pink walls and I convinced her that gray walls would make pink accents show up stronger and it looks great without feeling like you're in a vat of pepto. That being said, I think a black or gray uni base for us would have to emphasize our orange and downplay maroon to get that contrast which I don't think a lot of the fan base would enjoy.
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OK, I knew both but I admit that those are tough; they even took me a second or two. I just don't think that most people consume CFB in un-captioned still photos
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And the only reason that there was hesitation on Arizona St is because they went through a complete rebranding a few years back, going with the trident as their main Athletics logo instead of the Sun Devil. When you realize this is their main set
Their alternate uni above doesn't change their brand identity at all.
Of course, you can always go crazy and do something that's legitimately 'out there',
but that's not what I'm saying. I'm sayin, keep our brand consistent, just change it up a bit:
And maybe throw a maroon chrome base to the helmet with an oversized chrome VT, and you can't tell me we wouldn't look good while still staying true to our brand.
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Now this is where my personal preference differs, I hate the chrome helmets. I think the chrome decals on matte lids look great, but all chrome just doesn't do it for me. Not to mention they're around 3x as expensive as regular helmets.
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I'm going to go with AWilkes here.
Not a fan of chrome helmets.
Heck, I own a Harley and I'm still not a big fan of chrome. The lettering yeah but anything else I think looks tacky.
Like this tacky.
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Comparing college and professional jerseys doesn't really hold water. Whether we like it or not, there are kids that are factoring jersey swag into their college decisions. You're not going to see a kid turn down a pro contract or choose a different team in free agency because they just aren't a fan of the team's jerseys.
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You touch on some good points here, but there are some things overlooked. You can still keep your brand identity while making changes to your brand at the same time. They don't have to be wholesale changes. Take the Heinz Ketchup logo for example. There were a few minor changes, nothing crazy. They took the pickle off the logo, and put a tomato growing on a vine in it's place. This was done to attract a new customer base. The tomato growing on a vine was meant to appeal to the consumers who are into the organic, homegrown foods. It ties in with the whole "farm to table" movement. Some companies do change branding with the times. It can be great marketing. The key is to make the change noticeable, but not so far above the JND (Just Noticeable Difference) that it alienates your key customer base.
Point being, it could be good for the marketing of VT to have some variations of the uni's. It does seem to resonate with the kids these days. The key is to make these changes, but still make them so that the Non-VT fan still knows who they are watching.
EDIT: The post above makes this point perfectly!
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Small variations to keep current are fine. NFL teams do this all the time by subtly changing the colors and logos. You don't even notice it until you see an old picture.
And even doing something very different every once in a while can be an attention getter.
But only failing products totally and/or constantly change their brand identity. And only fools would make a habit of making their brand unrecognizable at a glance with illegible logos and colors not associated with the product. I mean, who would even notice, let alone buy, orange juice in a matte gray bottle with thin "Tropicana orange juice" in thin orange letters with green trim and a small orange ball that fades from orange to black?
Also people constantly repeat the mantra that it helps with recruiting, but I see little evidence that it actually does so.
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But only failing products totally and/or constantly change their brand identity. And only fools would make a habit of making their brand unrecognizable at a glance with illegible logos and colors not associated with the product
That's exactly what I was saying when I was talking about the JND.....
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I'm all for a black uni as something special for Black Friday, though I doubt it will happen. But you know what I think would be even more awesome, as far as marketing goes? Doing Military Appreciation Day right. We have a Corps of Cadets, with rich tradition. We used to have black and gray as our colors. We have a Hokie Stone helmet design that was OK but could be improved with better execution. What better marketing strategy than to do a unique VT Corps-themed, mainly black uni for Military Appreciation that brings in The Corps, The Pylons, and Hokie Stone? If you drum up enough excitement about a special uni combo for that game, that right there is not only absolute brand identity - unique history of VT - but great marketing to sell tickets and drum up viewership across the country.
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I like your thinking here, and agree that this would be great marketing. I also think that there is definitely room for improvement as far as our military appreciation day goes. I think the biggest Marketing gain to be made with the uni combo's is on the recruiting front. The younger kids coming up today definitely put a good bit of stock into wanting to look cool. I think it would be a great idea for VT to join in on this movement. I mean...I hate UNC..but DAYUM those black uni's they wore are sick. I'd love to see VT do something like that, and I think it would be great for recruiting.
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I agree. I think the default thinking among most schools now is: "How can we either (1) put the American flag on here or (2) slap our colors into camo?" Now, I thought our efforts for Military Appreciation this year were nice. The field, the unis, all of it was clean and patriotic. But I long for something more distinctively and uniquely Virginia Tech. There is status quo among most of college football, and I would love for us to bust right through it with something cool.
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Put it this way... everyone applauded Maryland for their military uniforms this year, despite there really not being any way to tell it was for Maryland outside of the name across the front. If we're able to do something that works, mixing in the pylons, hokiestone, the Corps crest, and... Maybe have the unis blue/white/maroon to go with the corps dress uniforms. I dunno, something, but we can do a lot better than we have been.
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The Chargers were powder blue (Kellen Winslow Sr.) then they changed to Navy blue (Philip Rivers). The "Bolt" stayed the same.
VT is the only school in the nation what combines Orange and Maroon in any fashion. As long as the "Square root of 1" in on the helmet, do the jersey main colors really matter that much? Especially when the game commentators will say VT or Beamer every other minute. And the score is in the corner or at the bottom. I can't believe in 2014, that someone flips to a random game(which their Comcast, FIOS, or DISH did not tell them in the preview who was playing), and doesn't know who playing within 5 seconds.
If you are watching a team in black, trimmed in Maroon and Orange, and the announcers says welcome to Blacksburg, home of the Hokies and then shows a picture of Frank, and the viewer still doesn't know who they are watching, I would question the viewer.
There are so many things that ID a school during a game. EX: Blue turf, the hedges, "Phrases like the Big House, or Touchdown Jesus", Bud Foster, Nike U... etc. Jersey color is just one. I personally think that if Beamer were standing next to Blacksburg HS J.V. team, viewers would they were the Hokies, regardless of what colors they had.
Just my thoughts.
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I think we went a little overboard last year on the unis, but to wear a black uni on black friday I have no problem with.. it at least makes sense to anyone watching on tv .. to wear a different uni every time we're on tv would be something completely different though
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I agree here. I don't think that we should do it for every single game, but a couple special games a year would be pretty cool and would really draw attention to the program. Especially if they are done right. (Please no hokie track helmets!!)
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I always interpreted blackout games as relating to the late hour. Plus, we are in BLACKsburg. The whole Black Friday thing is just (convenient) coincidence.
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As far as I'm concerned, because our original colors were black and grey, I will forever give VT athletics a pass on wearing either of those colors, because it can legitimately be traced back to our own heritage.
It is certainly not nearly as egregious as VT WBB wearing pink uniforms once a year.
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Yeah, I have come around a bit on black/gray uniforms, as long as they are done well. Personally, I still haven't seen a good VT football uniform in either of those colors. I was never a fan of the number font for the 2008-2010 era uniforms and the whole "Let's put the circuit boards in the numbers because they are a TECHnical school" was too much for me. I don't even want to get into that gray atrocity.
I did like the gray basketball uniforms, though...
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Dang...I actually really liked those uni's! Assuming, that is, that you're talking about the ones we wore against bama...I thought they were a clean, traditional style uni.
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The only major collegiate team that wore that specific design (at least that I or anyone else I have tried speaking with) is West Virginia. Seriously, I cannot find a single other school out there that wore it. Not one. Well, that is, outside of Virginia Tech.
Sure, there might have been a school here or there that had a design you could say was influenced by or derived from the WVU uni set, but ours was a 100% color for color, swap the logos and use a generic block number ripoff of that WVU uniform. And a loose fitting cheap one at that. (one that wasn't even produced by Nike... see the black Nike logos... Nike always color-matches the uniform set to make their logo a part of it... and notice the differences in construction, where the WVU is more form-fitting, and the team logo is within the collar band, a Nike staple, whereas ours is very loose, and the logo is oversized and below the collar)
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One of the equipment guys last year came on one of the 1/2 dozen threads we had on uniforms and informed us this was a particular named style and order able right out of the catalog.
It's been used many times. Maybe not in grey but in other colors.
Thanks for the pictures though, there are plenty of guys who were not on TKP last year during football season and have mot already gone through this debate.
oh.....
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Thanks for the pictures though, there are plenty of guys who were not on TKP last year during football season and have mot already gone through this debate.
oh.....
Really? Is there really a need for this kind of cutting sarcastic tone?
Not going to lie, I'm beginning to grow tired of your use at thinly veiled insults directed towards posters when they have an opinion that doesn't agree with yours.
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I thanked you for providing the images for those that have not gone through the debate before.
then I realized why we were going through the debate again.
Because neither of us were actually on TKP during the first debate.
Neither of us. I know you assume I was pointing at you and therefore assumed insulting.
You jumped to a conclusion. I did not realize that these debates were before my time as well and I just went back and read old threads last year when I came on.
Sorry if you saw it as an insult, it was not intended in that manner.
I think you need to stop assuming so many personal attacks as well. I'm doing my best to walk on eggshells to keep things from devolving. Ok, can we agree to a 2 -way street?
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I'm sure I'm in the minority here...but I would love to see us wear a "stylized" version of the Corps uniforms (current or historical ones). Black jerseys with gray (heather look) pants. Work in some white, maroon and orange. I'm all in for a one-game uni.
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holllyyyy sheeeiiiiiitttttt....... WE WON and we're going to bicker and moan about a F*&*&** color and what embodies VT more and continue with the childish downvotes... I thought a win would cure some of this stuff
Such SAD, MOAR wins, NEED Bowl Game
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I expect us to go with the traditional maroon jersey on white pants with a maroon helmet and I am fine with that. I think our normal jerseys look sharp and clean
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Weird. I expect us to wear black jerseys and helmets with absolutely nothing on them whatsoever (numbers in dark dark gray). This combined with no-pants should scare UVA sh*tless. I mean if you were the quarterback of UVA (God rest your soul) and could only see defender's bottom halves coming after you, it would bring a whole new meaning to getting sacked.
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I don't give a damn what we wear as long we make it 11 straight!!!
I got all excited when we came out with #ALLMAROONEVERYTHING against Miami and we played like ass. We can play in pink tutus for all I care. Just BEAT UVA!!!
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Comments
Anyone know if this is going to be a night game?
3:30 or night game, we should find out soon which it is.
I am hoping for 3:30 as I already have evening plans and noon plans, so I am pulling selfishly. Also a 3:30 works well for traveling and tailgating and would end with the sun symbolically setting on UVa's bowl game chances. Muwahahahahaha.
I'm just glad it isn't going to be a nooner since I will be traveling from Richmond to the game that morning.
#sources???
I just feel like we are gonna get burned with a nooner.
God I hope so, especially if we wear those Nike black pro combat jerseys.... so badass
Dude, those were my all-time favorite jerseys but we auctioned them off after that game.
Im sure they could still work with Nike and come up with something similar. Maybe a little too late now though
Personally, I'm glad that they're gone. I hated those things. Up close they weren't bad, but on TV were terrible. With the color blend on the numbers it was hard to read. The only good thing about the uniform was the helmet. That part I liked. Other than that, I hope we never wear them again.
Edit: If they wanna do black (which I am against as it is not one of our colors AT ALL) then do it different than what they did against BSU.
I went to the game, so I never saw them on TV.
Trust me, it was very difficult to read the numbers. The orange part you could read, but as it blended to maroon on the black, it was next to impossible unless you got a clear view.
Which is exactly why the NCAA changed the rule regarding jersey numbers. And all the poor stat guys high up in the booth collectively cried tears of joy.
This was from the Nike news article about the uniform. It's obvious the uniforms will not be worn, because they were auctioned off. But the uniforms were black for a reason, to pay tribute to team's original colors.
Well ok then.
If you look hard enough, you can come up with a reason for uniforms that have little identify with the school or the program. And they did.
The reason the uni's were black is because a decent number of people think black uni's are cool and unique (perhaps then...not now).
IMO, college football is becoming the new hockey. A few years back it seemed like almost every hockey team was incorporating black as one of their primary colors.
I hope so as well. I like the shirts, always thought we should do one Black theme game playing on Blacksburg, so I would be up for it. We don't. Even need to wear black uniforms, because I would rather keep our color scheme. Just something for the fans is fine with me.
There has been a lot of chatter among fans to try to get Whit and VT Football Equipment to do blackout for the game, but as of yet, nothing from the people actually in charge. This website is from a fan who is donating some proceeds to Make-A-Wish. So buy a shirt if you want to do something good. But in reality, unless the Athletic Department makes a push to have this happen, you're going to get a smattering of people in black plus the usual O&M.
I thought black unis would be a very cool thing for Black Friday, but no one knows if we even have such a thing at this point, since equipment was ordered last year, well before this game was even set for a Black Friday slot. Whit made a statement at a Hokie Club event (?) a while back about the game happening "that night," but we have no idea if we'll actually get a late afternoon or evening time slot. Decent chance based on the other games being played that day, but again, nothing official and we won't know for a while.
I Just want to WIN!
You've opened up a can of worms.
I'm happy we finally wore maroon pants with the road jersey
As far as I know, it's not anything officially supported by the athletic department.
Whit didn't say anything about a potential blackout this weekend when he visited the Triangle Alumni tailgate at Duke.
I looked ahead to ESPN's scheduling. There is basketball on ESPN2 & ESPNU that night and ESPN is the only night game at 8pm.
The only 330 slot is on ABC and that is Stanford/UCLA. College basketball covers ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU.
Due to this, we will be playing at noon. I seriously doubt they put us and UVA at 8.
I hate everything right now.
There also appears to be a 8:30 slot on ESPNU. After all of the noon and 12:30 starts this season I think Whit may lose his mind if VT gets the noon ESPN slot on black Friday. I'm sure it will be a spirited bunch but my guess is that attendance would be awful at noon the day after Thanksgiving.
Whit announced a few months back that it would be at 3:30 or a night game.
I'm pretty sure the original contract said it would be no earlier than 3:30. So it makes sense.
I will be happy to eat crow if I am wrong, but I think you missed part of the message.
Andy Bitter asked Whit about it and he said it will be in a prime audience/TV slot, not primetime.
Also, where is this contract that others are mentioning? Or the details?
Look at the list of games being played on Friday:
http://espn.go.com/college-football/schedule/_/week/14
It seems that we have a realistic shot at making the 8 PM slot on ESPN due to lack of other attractive options.
No special uniforms for either a 6-5 or 5-6 football team please.
Let's just get in and get out. Preferably with the cup.
I accept the challenge.
I will take on UVA.
You have my feedbag.
And my mouthpiece
and my drunken, surly robot.
And my axe! Or cleats or something
I thought we were rid of him on here.
Leg for you, leg for you, leg for you....
Rid of who?
hokieknight x2 had Bender as his avatar.
People started to think he was somebody I actually knew because of his avatar so I wasn't sorry to see him go.
I thought I saw him pop up on a thread yesterday and some people commented on how they thought he was gone. Did he get the hammer or just stop logging on?
He got the hammer a long time ago.
Oh I thought that was temporary. At least we got JC back.
On the independent publication of Virginia Tech athletics as well as on the field.
FYI - ECU and UTEP is 830 on ESPNU.
Looking grim. One noon spot locked up though (USF/UCF)
UCONN/Memphis at 4 on ESPNNews.
Looks like Nebraska/Iowa or us will get the night game or noon...
Nebraska/Iowa is almost always at noon, so that could be a good sign if it's only those two spots.
IOWA/NEBRASKA AT NOON.
NIGHT GAME YA'LL!!!!
The ACC will release the official game time later this afternoon.
Edit: IT'S AT EIGHT!
Link now says 8PM for VT.
HELL YES.
AHHHHHH NIGHT GAME NIGHT GAME BLACK FRIDAY COLD WEATHER NIGHT GAME I HAVE #SOURCES (@HOKIESJOURNAL)
YOU GUYS! 8 PM START GET HYPE
Now that it's a night game it will definitely be a black out for many students in attendance
Am I the only one that thinks its a bit ridiculous to coordinate a football uniform with a shopping holiday?
This is football, not basket weaving.
MAROON.
Well, it should also be the blacking out of UVA's hopes and dreams, so that could be kinda fun.
Not really. I'm all for All black basket weaving...
seriously, It's called marketing.
ESPN won't show Hokie highlights, so maybe they will talk about how cool blackout'ed' unis for Black friday is.
Then some recruit somewhere says hey that is cool. But they said Beamer was a old fogey. Maybe not... ummmm...
Trust me, all black on black friday only hurts if they lose. Then it will hurt for every reason other than the uniforms.
This, this, 1,000 times this.
We need to market ourselves better, period. Wearing the same uniform over and over again, while nice, it doesn't do squat to get your name out there. Spice it up every once in a while. We're not an Alabama or Penn St that has a national name program, we need to make sure our name is out there any way we can get it. Even the likes of FSU, Ohio St, Michigan, Notre Dame, etc have realized that flashiness sells to recruits nowadays and you see each wear special designed one off uniforms annually. I hope we have a cool blackout look to go with this game, it has marketing potential you can't pass up.
This violates every rule of marketing 101.
How do you think those teams got brand identity? By not confusing the customer. The only team that changes uniforms constantly and has developed any identity by doing so is Oregon. The blue-bloods may come up with one-offs, but when you look at them, you generally still know exactly who they are.
IMO, nothing screams wannabe or mid-major these days more than black or grey uniforms and chrome helmets with logos that can't be identified.
If there's one thing the NFL is good at, it's marketing and brand identity. There's a reason why they wear the same uni's 90% of the time and mix it up just enough to sell some additional merchandise. If you turn on a Bills vs Chargers, you know it's the Bills and the Chargers.
If Whit Babcock is smart, the uniforms going forward will be such that when a non-VT fan turns on a game, they know it's VT playing. VT should wear uniforms that says it has been there before and it'll be there again.
You're right
Its completely impossible
To keep a brand identity
Consistent while
Wearing a uniform set
Which has base colors
That differ from the primary school colors
one of the best responses ive seen on here
You just made my point. The only uni's that are even recognizable at a glance are the white and maroon FSU uni's...I don't even know who the bottom two without having to think about it. And that's seeing them up close. If they were playing each other and I turned on the TV, I would have NO idea who was playing.
Come back to me when the Colts or Cowboys or Packers or 49ers or Giants and so on are wearing all black or grey uni's...
Regardless, at what point do black uni's become passe to the kids? It can't be that far off. Actually, it's probably already happening...that's why we're seeing the gray ones now.
Really? My fiancee (who I admit watches college football, but not to excessive levels like most of us) knew all of these within a few seconds except for Arizona State.
That's because they're all up close. Can you really say you would know that's Nebraska if the helmet wasn't turned sideways and up close? Or if you were watching those UCLA on TV in those uniforms, you would have any idea who they were without a close up shot?
I mean, Who can forget this key play in the Nebraska-???? game
Or this FSU - ???? classic?
Gotta admit. I have no idea who the other teams are.
But there are close up shots, our name on the scoreboard, and announcers using our name constantly. It's not just a picture.
I would rather have the viewers know who we are by our style of play, rather than the consistency of our uniforms.
A lot depends on how it's done, I watched the Louisville/FSU game that is pictured above, and I was thinking the whole time that there was really no way to tell who Louisville was based on their unis, it was really bad
Northwestern because of the Northwestern stripes on the sleeves and Louisville because of the logo on the shoulder.
But of course anything can look like shit if you screw it up. I am just showing that it's really not that hard to keep your brand true while changing it up. Not all change is for the worse.
Yep, it can be done horribly for sure. I'm surprised the lack of contrast in Louisville's jersey and numbers was allowed on the field. That's the thing with the examples you pulled up above, almost all of them have great contrast. Someone is really going to say they can't recognize that that's UNC at a glance? The Carolina blue pops off of the darker base and everyone knows the UNC logo. When we were doing my daughters nursery my other half tried to push for pink walls and I convinced her that gray walls would make pink accents show up stronger and it looks great without feeling like you're in a vat of pepto. That being said, I think a black or gray uni base for us would have to emphasize our orange and downplay maroon to get that contrast which I don't think a lot of the fan base would enjoy.
OK, I knew both but I admit that those are tough; they even took me a second or two. I just don't think that most people consume CFB in un-captioned still photos
And the only reason that there was hesitation on Arizona St is because they went through a complete rebranding a few years back, going with the trident as their main Athletics logo instead of the Sun Devil. When you realize this is their main set
Their alternate uni above doesn't change their brand identity at all.
Of course, you can always go crazy and do something that's legitimately 'out there',
but that's not what I'm saying. I'm sayin, keep our brand consistent, just change it up a bit:
And maybe throw a maroon chrome base to the helmet with an oversized chrome VT, and you can't tell me we wouldn't look good while still staying true to our brand.
Now this is where my personal preference differs, I hate the chrome helmets. I think the chrome decals on matte lids look great, but all chrome just doesn't do it for me. Not to mention they're around 3x as expensive as regular helmets.
I'm going to go with AWilkes here.
Not a fan of chrome helmets.
Heck, I own a Harley and I'm still not a big fan of chrome. The lettering yeah but anything else I think looks tacky.
Like this tacky.
Fair enough, we don't have to, was just throwing that idea out there.
Just showing that we can change it up and have a little fun with the uniforms without changing our brand.
the matte black with glossy VT pro-combat helmets were the ONLY thing I liked about that uniform
Comparing college and professional jerseys doesn't really hold water. Whether we like it or not, there are kids that are factoring jersey swag into their college decisions. You're not going to see a kid turn down a pro contract or choose a different team in free agency because they just aren't a fan of the team's jerseys.
You touch on some good points here, but there are some things overlooked. You can still keep your brand identity while making changes to your brand at the same time. They don't have to be wholesale changes. Take the Heinz Ketchup logo for example. There were a few minor changes, nothing crazy. They took the pickle off the logo, and put a tomato growing on a vine in it's place. This was done to attract a new customer base. The tomato growing on a vine was meant to appeal to the consumers who are into the organic, homegrown foods. It ties in with the whole "farm to table" movement. Some companies do change branding with the times. It can be great marketing. The key is to make the change noticeable, but not so far above the JND (Just Noticeable Difference) that it alienates your key customer base.
Point being, it could be good for the marketing of VT to have some variations of the uni's. It does seem to resonate with the kids these days. The key is to make these changes, but still make them so that the Non-VT fan still knows who they are watching.
EDIT: The post above makes this point perfectly!
Small variations to keep current are fine. NFL teams do this all the time by subtly changing the colors and logos. You don't even notice it until you see an old picture.
And even doing something very different every once in a while can be an attention getter.
But only failing products totally and/or constantly change their brand identity. And only fools would make a habit of making their brand unrecognizable at a glance with illegible logos and colors not associated with the product. I mean, who would even notice, let alone buy, orange juice in a matte gray bottle with thin "Tropicana orange juice" in thin orange letters with green trim and a small orange ball that fades from orange to black?
Also people constantly repeat the mantra that it helps with recruiting, but I see little evidence that it actually does so.
That's exactly what I was saying when I was talking about the JND.....
I'm all for a black uni as something special for Black Friday, though I doubt it will happen. But you know what I think would be even more awesome, as far as marketing goes? Doing Military Appreciation Day right. We have a Corps of Cadets, with rich tradition. We used to have black and gray as our colors. We have a Hokie Stone helmet design that was OK but could be improved with better execution. What better marketing strategy than to do a unique VT Corps-themed, mainly black uni for Military Appreciation that brings in The Corps, The Pylons, and Hokie Stone? If you drum up enough excitement about a special uni combo for that game, that right there is not only absolute brand identity - unique history of VT - but great marketing to sell tickets and drum up viewership across the country.
I like your thinking here, and agree that this would be great marketing. I also think that there is definitely room for improvement as far as our military appreciation day goes. I think the biggest Marketing gain to be made with the uni combo's is on the recruiting front. The younger kids coming up today definitely put a good bit of stock into wanting to look cool. I think it would be a great idea for VT to join in on this movement. I mean...I hate UNC..but DAYUM those black uni's they wore are sick. I'd love to see VT do something like that, and I think it would be great for recruiting.
I agree. I think the default thinking among most schools now is: "How can we either (1) put the American flag on here or (2) slap our colors into camo?" Now, I thought our efforts for Military Appreciation this year were nice. The field, the unis, all of it was clean and patriotic. But I long for something more distinctively and uniquely Virginia Tech. There is status quo among most of college football, and I would love for us to bust right through it with something cool.
I absolutely HATE when we do this. Especially with DigiCam....I hate DigiCam....
Put it this way... everyone applauded Maryland for their military uniforms this year, despite there really not being any way to tell it was for Maryland outside of the name across the front. If we're able to do something that works, mixing in the pylons, hokiestone, the Corps crest, and... Maybe have the unis blue/white/maroon to go with the corps dress uniforms. I dunno, something, but we can do a lot better than we have been.
The Chargers were powder blue (Kellen Winslow Sr.) then they changed to Navy blue (Philip Rivers). The "Bolt" stayed the same.
VT is the only school in the nation what combines Orange and Maroon in any fashion. As long as the "Square root of 1" in on the helmet, do the jersey main colors really matter that much? Especially when the game commentators will say VT or Beamer every other minute. And the score is in the corner or at the bottom. I can't believe in 2014, that someone flips to a random game(which their Comcast, FIOS, or DISH did not tell them in the preview who was playing), and doesn't know who playing within 5 seconds.
If you are watching a team in black, trimmed in Maroon and Orange, and the announcers says welcome to Blacksburg, home of the Hokies and then shows a picture of Frank, and the viewer still doesn't know who they are watching, I would question the viewer.
There are so many things that ID a school during a game. EX: Blue turf, the hedges, "Phrases like the Big House, or Touchdown Jesus", Bud Foster, Nike U... etc. Jersey color is just one. I personally think that if Beamer were standing next to Blacksburg HS J.V. team, viewers would they were the Hokies, regardless of what colors they had.
Just my thoughts.
I think we went a little overboard last year on the unis, but to wear a black uni on black friday I have no problem with.. it at least makes sense to anyone watching on tv .. to wear a different uni every time we're on tv would be something completely different though
I agree here. I don't think that we should do it for every single game, but a couple special games a year would be pretty cool and would really draw attention to the program. Especially if they are done right. (Please no hokie track helmets!!)
re: flashiness
i think a chrome finish maroon helmet would look vicious.
maybe not with our current throwback-y uniforms (but we're due for a new set soon anyways).
We had highlights?
I always interpreted blackout games as relating to the late hour. Plus, we are in BLACKsburg. The whole Black Friday thing is just (convenient) coincidence.
Didn't hear anyone clamoring for a Blackout for the Miami game.
Miami was the Maroon effect game.
Can't have 2 "effect" games at the same time. Doesn't work.
Miami tried to Blackout VT's score column, does that count?
I've already stated my opinion on why I am not a fan of Blackouts, so I will just link back to that comment:
http://www.thekeyplay.com/comment/63317#comment-63317
As far as I'm concerned, because our original colors were black and grey, I will forever give VT athletics a pass on wearing either of those colors, because it can legitimately be traced back to our own heritage.
It is certainly not nearly as egregious as VT WBB wearing pink uniforms once a year.
Yeah, I have come around a bit on black/gray uniforms, as long as they are done well. Personally, I still haven't seen a good VT football uniform in either of those colors. I was never a fan of the number font for the 2008-2010 era uniforms and the whole "Let's put the circuit boards in the numbers because they are a TECHnical school" was too much for me. I don't even want to get into that gray atrocity.
I did like the gray basketball uniforms, though...
Dang...I actually really liked those uni's! Assuming, that is, that you're talking about the ones we wore against bama...I thought they were a clean, traditional style uni.
they were cheap ripoffs of the mid-2000s West Virginia uniform. That in and of itself is an unforgivable sin.
This!
It was a standard style worn many times by many different teams. It wasn't a knockoff of any particular uniform.
I did not like them much either but, WVU was not the first nor the last to wear that same uniform style.
It's standard style.
One of you guys from the equipment shop, you wanna chime in?
The only major collegiate team that wore that specific design (at least that I or anyone else I have tried speaking with) is West Virginia. Seriously, I cannot find a single other school out there that wore it. Not one. Well, that is, outside of Virginia Tech.
Sure, there might have been a school here or there that had a design you could say was influenced by or derived from the WVU uni set, but ours was a 100% color for color, swap the logos and use a generic block number ripoff of that WVU uniform. And a loose fitting cheap one at that. (one that wasn't even produced by Nike... see the black Nike logos... Nike always color-matches the uniform set to make their logo a part of it... and notice the differences in construction, where the WVU is more form-fitting, and the team logo is within the collar band, a Nike staple, whereas ours is very loose, and the logo is oversized and below the collar)
Damn. I knew they were close...but that's a flat out rip-off!
One of the equipment guys last year came on one of the 1/2 dozen threads we had on uniforms and informed us this was a particular named style and order able right out of the catalog.
It's been used many times. Maybe not in grey but in other colors.
Thanks for the pictures though, there are plenty of guys who were not on TKP last year during football season and have mot already gone through this debate.
oh.....
Really? Is there really a need for this kind of cutting sarcastic tone?
Not going to lie, I'm beginning to grow tired of your use at thinly veiled insults directed towards posters when they have an opinion that doesn't agree with yours.
I thanked you for providing the images for those that have not gone through the debate before.
then I realized why we were going through the debate again.
Because neither of us were actually on TKP during the first debate.
Neither of us. I know you assume I was pointing at you and therefore assumed insulting.
You jumped to a conclusion. I did not realize that these debates were before my time as well and I just went back and read old threads last year when I came on.
Sorry if you saw it as an insult, it was not intended in that manner.
I think you need to stop assuming so many personal attacks as well. I'm doing my best to walk on eggshells to keep things from devolving. Ok, can we agree to a 2 -way street?
You must chill.
Y'all really shouldn't downvote someone that's right. Go to the Fall 2013 catalog and check out the Crack Back Game Jersey on page 21.
http://niketeam.nike.com/us/en_us/?l=shop,download_catalog
EDIT: And for those that don't want to do the work, this is what it looks like.
Here you go, right here.
The shirt design is right on the cover of the Wilson page to design uniforms.
I said it when these pics were originally posted and I'll say it again here: James Gayle would fuck that guy up.
I know the bookstore and several other clothing stores are selling blackout t-shirts. Some of the proceeds goes to Make A Wish Foundation.
Now just need to get some tickets!! I'm pumped. #ALLMAROONEVERYTHING
I'm sure the ticket exchange thread will be rockin'.
8pm !! I like #allmarooneverything
A Blackout, in black uni's, on black friday, in Blacksburg.... oh the marketing opportunites. ESPN should eat that up, but they wont.
It's going to be so cold, it might a Camo-Out game for me.
You mean this family?
I'm sure I'm in the minority here...but I would love to see us wear a "stylized" version of the Corps uniforms (current or historical ones). Black jerseys with gray (heather look) pants. Work in some white, maroon and orange. I'm all in for a one-game uni.
8pm?!
holllyyyy sheeeiiiiiitttttt....... WE WON and we're going to bicker and moan about a F*&*&** color and what embodies VT more and continue with the childish downvotes... I thought a win would cure some of this stuff
Such SAD, MOAR wins, NEED Bowl Game
JC and I agree on something.
Yay 8PM kickoffs.
More importantly, we already decided that #TEAMNOPANTS was our next uniform option, and everything else just isn't worth arguing about:
My new man-cave poster!
Might just be a little cold for that. Just saying...
This is just....I mean this....THIS SHIT IS AWESOME!
I expect us to go with the traditional maroon jersey on white pants with a maroon helmet and I am fine with that. I think our normal jerseys look sharp and clean
Weird. I expect us to wear black jerseys and helmets with absolutely nothing on them whatsoever (numbers in dark dark gray). This combined with no-pants should scare UVA sh*tless. I mean if you were the quarterback of UVA (God rest your soul) and could only see defender's bottom halves coming after you, it would bring a whole new meaning to getting sacked.
I don't give a damn what we wear as long we make it 11 straight!!!
I got all excited when we came out with #ALLMAROONEVERYTHING against Miami and we played like ass. We can play in pink tutus for all I care. Just BEAT UVA!!!
The clock
Mike London has no idea how to call timeout with this running.
I feel obligated to post this again...for good measure...and also because I don't know how many more opportunities I'll have to post it..honestly :(
Regardless of anything. I will be wearing many layers under my xl maroon hoodie, all covered by my black snow coat.
Preparedness gentlemen.
I'm probably the only one that was hoping for a nooner. It's noon for you guys, but it's 9pm for me. Now I have to get up at 5am.