Being that it is Halloween weekend, I guess this is as close Oregon gets to orange and black, without looking like you-know-who. Plus they have done all-black already this season and the fall colors in Eugene are looking bright and yellow, so this is a great choice. Especially since their opponent was Colorado who wears a fair amount of black. Yellow and black were common combos during the Taggart/Helfrich/Kelly years, and the last time this combo was worn week 10, 2017. This is the first time a Cristobal-coached Duck team has worn this combo.
As the season reaches the last third, I hope that they wear more green. They have only worn three items of green this season, so hear's hoping for a traditional home game green/yellow for the Civil War!
Oh how the Ducks had gotten onto a real nice even track of using "normal" uniform sets the last few years—albeit in cool and innovative combos...Until this week's "Eggshell" set. I'm not sure what the story is behind these, but to me they remind me of this from 2003:
RoboDuck from 2003!
I'll be honest that I'm not loving this combo. Using the eggshell on both jersey and pants feels like pajamas to me.
Let the puns and jokes rain down, especially since they are on College Gameday and at the Rose Bowl on ABC. Big game alert while playing a dangerous UCLA coached by Chip Kelly on the road...not loving their timing for this mostly non-green/yellow set in an important visible game.
This takes me back (not in a good way) me to 2015-17 when each week had a "story" that resulted in such classics as the Blue/Black "Oregon Flag" uniform, "Melted crayon", "Duck Mascot" and other things like glittery white helmets etc. Unfortunately, most of these games they lost that year! This most reminds me of the "Lewis and Clark" set that used mostly white textured jersy/pants and silver helmet.
The dark green/white/white combo has not been used since the 2014 Alamo Bowl victory and the 2010 win at Tennessee, so there are definite good vibes with the Nightmare Green helmet and all white, but for my money I'd have kept the eggshell jersey but went with Nightmare Green pants.
A friday night game in October brings out the Darth Vader mono-black ensemble. The helmet and pants were used earlier in the season, but the black jersey is new and breaks from the mold of the current set. It does not have wing texture on the shoulders and instead has a thick yellow pinstripe on the shoulder. This is about as minimal as Oregon gets these days. The last time Oregon went mono-black was the Ohana game last season, but in Mario Cristobal's first season they wore mono-black three times!
With no uniform to track this week, I thought it might be fun to remember some unis of the past, namely 10 and 20 years ago (which were both GREAT seasons!) I'd go back further, but the "modern era" of Oregon uniform insanity started in 1999 with the new Nike rebrand and Coach Mike Bellotti.
What is striking is that the first few years of the rebrand 1999-2002 resulted in the then-normal home/away sets but that soon changed:
In 2003 the Ducks re-introduced yellow and started mixing them up for 4 combos.
In 2005 they had 5 jerseys and 4 pants.
By the time Chip Kelly took over in 2009 they used 7 jerseys and 5 pants.
And in 2011 they pretty much never repeated with 11 jerseys and 4 pants.
2001 (1 helmet, 2 jerseys, 2 pants)
Like this current year, the 2001 Ducks were real contenders. College football in the state of Oregon was at an all-time high and this year was the best season for the Ducks to that date. Even the Beavers were good and both squads made the cover of Sports Illustrated!
A loss to Stanford was their sole blemish on the season, finishing 11-1, they ended the season #2 but were snubbed by the BCS! They made up for it by winning the Fiesta Bowl in what might be considered one of Oregon's very best bowl victories! During the season though, Oregon beat three ranked teams: home vs. #22 Wisconsin; and on the road against tough #14 WSU and #17 UCLA!
Uniform-wise, this was year three of the Nike look, and coach Mike Bellotti and QB Joey Harrington led a simply stylish looking bunch. The home sets were pretty much mono black/green, and the road sets were mono white with the green helmets. I miss the yellow though. A highlight of that era were the "mallard-head"shiny green helmets with yellow O. This was before they started experimenting with shoulder patterns and one-off helmets.
Here are a few select games from 2001...
Sept 1: Oregon 31, #22 Wisconsin 28
This was the Duck's main home ensemble. Black/green combo with WIDE neon yellow stripes!
RB Onterrio Smith Otto Greule Jr/Getty
Oct 13: Oregon 48-California 7
I was at this game in sunny Berkeley and the Ducks looked cool in mono white. Plus they played well too! Oregon's road set this season was all white with the intense green side stripes that went from ankle to armpit!
Nov. 10: Oregon 21, UCLA 20
QB Joey Harrington Getty
Dec. 1: Civil War Oregon 17, Oregon State 14
QB Joey Harrington Otto Greule Jr/Getty
Jan 1: Fiesta Bowl Oregon 38, Colorado 16
2011 (9 helmets, 11 jerseys, 4 pants)
Another great season (12-2, final rank #4) for the Ducks started with a letdown against #4 LSU. Coming off the bitter National Championship loss to Auburn, this season could have fallen flat but QB Darren Thomas and coach Chip Kelly led Oregon to an epic cathartic Rose Bowl victory against Wisconsin with the now-famous chrome helmets.
As for uniforms, the sky was the limit that year, and was like this throughout the Kelly and Helfrich years. This was the last season with the shoulder wings inspired by Northwest Indian art (This might be considered "Shoulder Wings 1.0", since they have maid new versions every couple years since.) Overall, 2011 used a lot of dark colors: black, gray, silver, dark green; and only two games use any yellow. This lent the season a somber tone that belies the success they had on the field. Kelly and Helfrich tended to go away from school colors.
Sept. 3, 2011: Oregon 27, #4 LSU 40)
All- black (or was it really dark gray?) with neon detailing ends up being an unlucky look.
2011 Photos by the Oregonian
Sept. 10: Oregon 69, Nevada 20
One of only two times they wore yellow. It pairs great with the carbon fiber silver helmets.
Sept 17: Oregon 56, Missouri State 7
Helmet and wings look great.
Sept 24: Oregon 56, Arizona 31
Very campable combo.
Oct 6: Oregon 43, California 15
The new non-Disney Duck makes its first appearance on shoulders in a one-off. It would become a common feature in the Helfrich years.
Oct. 15: Oregon 41, #18 ASU 27
Stylish, but not very Oregon colored!
Oct. 22: Oregon 45, Colorado 2
One of the better Storm Trooper looks the Ducks have had.
Oct. 29: Oregon 43, WSU 28
The Yellow makes this pop!
Nov. 5: Oregon 34, Washington 17
The beginning of a three-game stretch with no green/yellow and only black, white and silver! The Green O gets lost on the silver helmet.
Nov. 12: Oregon 53, #4 Stanford 30
Nov. 19: Oregon 35, #18 USC 38
Looks like the funeral it ended up being.
Nov. 26: Oregon 49, OSU 21
Mono green for the win.
Pac12 Championship Dec. 2: Oregon 49, UCLA 31
Wish the pants were yellow. This was the last game with the green helmet and yellow O on the side. It had been worn 127 times since 1999! While the O would return in the 2015 Rose Bowl and then make sporadic appearances on the helmet in the 2015-18 Helfrich/Taggert years the Ducks have not sported a "Mallard Green" helmet in the past decade.
Rose Bowl Jan. 2: Oregon 45, Wisconsin 38
This game probably marked the beginning of the current template for Oregon uniforms in that it had:
Subtle shoulder pattern that looked forward to the Mariota years. You might call it "Shoulder Wings 2.0"
"Liquid Metal" chrome helmets that introduced the winged helmet that the Ducks still use today. No more O on the side—it shifts to the back and the subtle wings spread out from the facemask.
Mono very dark green was imitated several times in 2019-20 with Oregon's "Nightmare Green"
This game became so iconic in the Duck uniform pantheon, that in 2020, they used a very simailr combo in their second win over Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl.
The Ducks went on the road for the second time to Stanford. They trotted out a combo that has only been worn twice in the last 11 years. The last time was game 1 (a home win vs South Dakota) of the 2014 National Championship season.
