This weekend, the Ohio State Buckeyes will be playing the Penn State Nittany Lions while wearing all-black from head-to-toe. That includes the helmets, which will mark the first time in Ohio State’s football program’s storied history that they’ll be wearing black helmets.
So, what’s the reasoning behind this move for the Buckeyes? Nike thought it would look cool. That’s it, and that’s all. According to Ohio State’s student newspaper The Lantern, this idea came straight from Nike and even though Head Coach Urban Meyer was initially against it, he became a fan once he saw the design.
The idea for OSU to deviate from its usual scarlet tops and gray bottoms to the all-blacks came not from the athletic department or anyone in Columbus, but rather from Nike’s headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon. About two years ago, according to OSU athletic director Gene Smith, Nike pitched the possibility of veering away from the traditional threads for a game.
The idea, however, was not as well received at first — at least for OSU coach Urban Meyer.
“No way, no chance,” he said of when he initially heard of the concept.
But then he saw them.
“I looked and said ‘whoa,’ and it looked pretty sharp,” he said.
While Urban Meyer probably took some convincing, I’m sure that the players and potential recruits were probably in love at first sight with these uniforms. Also, I’m going to be honest here: After looking at the entire uniform, I think that it’ll be a pretty cool look for the Buckeyes as a one-off. You can’t really call it black-for-black’s sake since the team has utilized black as a color for decades now, so it’s not like they’re just plucking a color out of nowhere like the professional basketball team in Cleveland is doing. So, for a one-game deal, this isn’t bad at all for the Buckeyes.
What do you guys think, though? Are you with me and Urban Meyer and you think that these are pretty decent looking? Or should they stick strictly to scarlet-and-grey? Let us know what you think!
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