The Nebraska football program unveiled the road version of its “Blackshirts” alternate uniform during a two-minute horror film posted to social media on Tuesday evening.
Aside from the helmet, which features a black facemask and decals, the alternate uniform is essentially the inverse of last year’s “Blackshirts” uniform, which included a black jersey with white pants and was worn in a 38-31 loss to Indiana. The only real difference between the two is that the new white jersey features black television numbers to match the front and back, while the previous set included red numbers on the shoulders and white numbers elsewhere.
Nebraska head coach Scott Frost hinted at this exact uniform when the home version was unveiled last August.
“I think by next year, hopefully, we have a home and away version of this,” Frost said. “And, down the road, I’d like to see it be a tradition that if the defense has a great game and holds an opponent under so many points that they earn the right to wear ‘Blackshirts’ the next week. I think that would be another source of pride for our defense.”
The logo on the sleeve of the alternate uniform represents the “Blackshirts,” a term that dates back to 1964 — legendary Coach Bob Devaney’s third season in Lincoln — and was inspired by the black jerseys the Cornhuskers’ first-team defense wore in practice at the time.
It’s unclear when Nebraska will wear the alternate uniform, though the Cornhuskers do open the season on Oct. 24 at Ohio State. Retail versions of the uniform will be available for purchase two days later.
Nebraska is 1-3 all time when wearing alternate uniforms that prominently feature the color black.
In addition to the aforementioned loss to Indiana, the Cornhuskers wore black uniforms in losses to UCLA and Northwestern in 2013 and 2015, respectively. They did, however, defeat Wisconsin in 2012 while wearing black helmets.
Photos courtesy of @HuskerFBNation on Twitter.
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