Ohio State redshirt freshman Mike Weber (25) scores the Buckeyes’ first offensive touchdown of the day during the second half of the Buckeyes’ 30-27 overtime win against Michigan on Nov. 26, 2016. Credit: Alexa Mavrogianis | Lantern File Photo
From a 1954 national championship throwback in 2009 to a wolf-inspired away uniform in 2017, “The Game” has seen a wide variety of Ohio State uniforms in the last 13 years.
However, in the Buckeyes’ last three matchups with Michigan, they have only worn their default home and away uniforms, and fans shouldn’t expect to see unique looks when playing against the Wolverines any time soon.
Ohio State director of football equipment services Kevin Ries said this trend is no coincidence, and tradition is a major factor behind it.
“We’re at a different spot here where I think there’s a lot of tradition and a lot of traditionalists that are paying attention to what we’re wearing, so we’re cognizant of that and not trying to get outside the boundaries of our traditional look,” Ries said. “I think all of us here enjoy seeing the traditional scarlet and gray uniforms versus the maize and blue, so that has been a factor.”
Among those traditionalists is head coach Ryan Day.
“I like the traditional uniforms,” Day said. “I love that part of college football. I think that some of our players and recruits like to see a different style and a different swag and look to the uniforms, and that’s great, but I’m more of a traditionalist.”
Since 2009, Ohio State has worn alternate uniforms against Michigan seven times.
The first two of these alternates were throwbacks. The 2009 uniform was a white jersey with gray pants and a white helmet that paid homage to the 1954 national champion Buckeye team, and the 2010 uniform was inspired by the 1942 national champion team and featured a scarlet helmet and jersey with gray pants.
While Ohio State has worn four throwback jerseys against Michigan and two more in non-Michigan games, Ries said coming up with throwback designs in the future would be challenging.
“We were looking into throwbacks, and obviously we did the championship years for most of the throwbacks,” Ries said. “There’s not a lot in our theories and thoughts that we haven’t touched.”
The 2012 and 2013 alternates were part of a uniform set that was worn eight times from 2012 to 2014. In 2012, Ohio State played Michigan at home and debuted the scarlet version that featured a chrome helmet, gray numbers and enlarged stripes on the helmet, jersey and pants. In 2013, Ohio State wore the away version, which used the same helmet and an all-white jersey and pants combination.
In the 2014 season, in which Ohio State won the inaugural College Football Playoff national championship, the Buckeyes stayed with their traditional home uniform and beat the Wolverines 42-28.
The 2015 and 2016 games saw throwbacks to the 1968 national championship team, which has been worn in each of Ohio State’s four CFP appearances since. In the 2015 game, Ohio State wore the same away combination from its 42-35 2015 Allstate Sugar Bowl win against Alabama.
The 2016 game saw a slight change to the playoff uniform, as the classic silver helmet was swapped for the “cannonball” gray option that was worn earlier in the season in a 62-3 home win over Nebraska. Ries said this uniform was the least planned of any Ohio State alternate, and it was not discussed leading up to the season.
“That was a player-driven push on that year,” Ries said. “With the black numbers, they liked the cannonball helmet, so it was black-ish in a sense. We obviously ran it through multiple administrations and obviously coaches and the leadership team, and everyone kind of agreed and signed off that it would be a good look.”
In 2017, Ohio State wore an all-white uniform with a dark gray pattern inside the jersey numbers, on the helmet and on the jersey and pants’ stripes. Ries said this uniform — and its gray counterpart worn in a 39-38 home win against Penn State — was originally pitched by Nike to embody a “wolf theme” that was present in the Ohio State football facility beginning in the 2015 offseason.
While Ohio State has rolled out these unique looks against Michigan in the past, Buckeye fans should not expect such uniforms to hit the field against the Wolverines any time soon.
“I think for the foreseeable future, we’ll probably stay in our traditional scarlet and gray against team up north,” Ries said.
Like any college football program, Ohio State’s process of putting together uniforms is a collaboration between the team and its uniform supplier. Ries said Ohio State’s change in philosophy regarding uniforms in “The Game” comes from a larger change in Ohio State’s relationship with Nike.
“I think early on, it was just kind of that trend where Nike was more of a driving factor in the alternate uniforms,” Ries said. “They were providing it for X amount of schools a year, so from a standpoint of getting the most eyeballs on something different, they’re going to look at the marquee matchups. Nike has kind of backed off and allowed the teams to be more hands on.”
Considering Day’s views on tradition, the future of Ohio State football uniforms will likely have an emphasis on preserving familiar appearances.
“I love the look that’s been in college football for a long time, certainly at Ohio State, in the jerseys that we’ve worn,” Day said. “But even just across the country, and all the different uniforms over the years, it’s just something about that that I like.”
