Oh Honey, No… a Bucky’s 5th Quarter Fashion Blog: Forward Uniforms

The University of Wisconsin football team dropped a bomb on us...releasing their uniform for the Sept. 25 match up with Notre Dame at Soldier Field in Chicago a whopping 95 days, ahead of the initial match up in the Shamrock Series.

And they did not disappoint.

The uniforms are chefs kiss and they call back on Wisconsin’s past, which makes them even better.

Specifically Wisconsin’s involvment in the Civil War and the monument that honors those involved - the Camp Randall Memorial Arch. The arch honors the 70,000 soldiers that received training at the site between 1861 and 1865. Under Armour went all in with this design, including multiple details from the monument in the uniform, which we’ll go over below.

As a reminder, we will be rating these threads on a scale of oh honey, no, to YAASS QUEEN.

Oh honey, no: Obviously, this is the worst rating. If I must explain this to you, you’re probably wearing socks with sandals right now, or a brown belt with black pants, either way, oh honey, no.

Ewww: Nice try, but no.

Werk it: You brought it.

YAASS QUEEN: Best of the best. Your proverbial milkshake brings all the proverbial boys to the yard.

Helmet:

The helmet base is the same as Wisconsin normally wears, which is a white helmet. The helmet also features a white facemask, which Wisconsin has worn more and more over the past couple of seasons, which makes for an icy look and variation from the usual cardinal facemask.

Apart from the usual white base, the helmet also strays a bit from the norm in a couple of ways. The cardinal stripes on the helmet are thinner than the usual stripes featured on Wisconsin’s helmets, while still keeping the arrow design.

The other major piece if the addition of the ‘Forward’ banner across the motion W, which matches that of the Forward banner on the state flag. ‘Forward,’ as you very well know, is Wisconsin’s motto. Adopted in 1851, the motto reflects Wisconsin’s drive to be a national leader.

While we have seen variations to the W on the helmet, we have never seen a banner like this added to the W and it’s a welcome addition.

@BadgerFootball; UW Athletics Communications

The final addition to the helmet, is the roman numeral of MDCCCCXII, which appears on the back of the helmet, replacing the Riddell logo. MDCCCCXII, which are the roman numerals for 1912, which was the year that the Camp Randall Arch was dedicated.

As I mentioned before, these helmets are icy and have such a clean look to them.

Helmet Scores:

YAASS QUEEN

Uniform:

Wisconsin’s Forward uniform is white, with cardinal accents, just like Wisconsin’s usual uniforms. However, there are some subtle changes.

@BadgerFootball

First, the numbers on the uniform, have a thinner design and the placement of the numbers on the shoulder pads is shifted as well. Normally, the numbers are on top of the shoulder pads, but with this special Forward uniform, the numbers are on the side of the shoulder pads.

With the numbers shifting to the outer part of the shoulder pads, the stripes on the uniform also shift and now take on an arched design, rather than a horizontal design.

I am guessing this is a nod to the Camp Randall Arch, but maybe that is a stretch and they just match up with the seam of the uniform. Either way, it’s a design change that I am a fan of.

Another change to the uniform appears on the front of the uniform, above the player’s number. Normally the motion W is featured, but now ‘Wisconsin’ is featured above the number. The last change that is six stars are now listed above the player’s name plate on the back of the uniform, which matches the six stars on the plaque of the arch.

The pants of the uniform have no striping along the side of the legs, like their normal uniforms. The same motion W and Forward banner that appears on the helmet, also appears on the left hip of the pants.

Normally, I am partial to pants that include some sort of stripe along the side of the leg, but with this design, the lack of stripes, just works...

With Wisconsin acting as the home team at Soldier Field, the all white design is especially intriguing as one would expect the home team to wear darker uniforms.

Which begs the question, are the original design for the game that was supposed to be played at Lambeau this past fall and they’re wearing them simply because they have them, or it could be a calculated decision to have the home team wear lighter colors? We likely will never know, but either way, these are some dope uniforms and I am just glad I will be able to see them on my television.

Uniform Scores:

YAASS QUEEN

As of today, Notre Dame has not released any images of the uniforms they plan to don at Soldier Field and they have typically released any alternate uniform images in August. If they stick to their usual release schedule, we may have to wait a couple months, but in my opinion, they have no reason to wait now that Wisconsin has showed its hand.

RELEASE THEM, YOU COWARDS!