Predicting the Uniform Combinations for Next Season

Last season saw the Cyclones in new threads for the first time in almost a decade, and the new uniforms were almost unanimously loved. The all-black uniform was the most controversial, but most people liked them, and they looked super sharp under the lights against West Virginia and Kansas State.

So let’s take a crack at what uniform combinations we might see this upcoming season for each game this season, as well as a few I’d personally like to see.

Worth noting is that Campbell has hinted at potentially adding another new piece to the rotation. We’ve heard that Campbell is no fan of gold uniforms, so I definitely wouldn’t anticipate anything in that vein. If I was a betting man, I would put my money on an updated grey uniform. It makes sense given that the greys were fairly popular, would probably look pretty cool with the new design, would provide more brand continuity given the basketball teams’ grey uniforms, and was also Campbell’s first attempt at an alternate uniform in the old scheme.

That said, depending on exactly what new pieces are revelead (whether it’s just a helmet or a full uniform set), this entire list could change. A grey (carbon fiber?) helmet could easily be swapped in for any of the helmets in just about any combination. Same with grey pants. However, for the purpose of this piece and trying to predict uniforms that include pieces that may or may not even exists, we’ll just make predictions based on the pieces we already have.

UNI

For the first game of the season, I would anticipate Matt Campbell going back to Ol’ Reliable. The all-red look.

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Is it my favorite home look? No, but it does seem to be Campbell’s preferred primary home look. Also, UNI could potentially wear black pants, so that would probably dissuade the staff from using any of the black pieces. However, the home team obviously gets first crack at uniforms, and UNI’s primary road pants are purple, so it’s not out of the realm of possibility.

The Favorite: Red-Red-Red

The Dark Horse: Red-Red-White

Why Not?: Red-Red-Black

Iowa

I’m extremely torn on how this one could go. Traditionally, Iowa State has worn as much red as possible in this game, but Matt Campbell did bust out the all-greys a few years ago for the CyHawk game. However, if both teams are ranked, there’s an outside shot that GameDay comes to Ames. Would Campbell rather go with as much red as possible because of the rivalry and to promote brand recognition, or would he want to make a splash with a flashy uniform combination.

He’s gone both ways on this before too. Campbell is inherently a substance-over-flash kind of guy, but he also did add an all-black uniform and wait until a night game with a top-ten team to bust them out.

That being said, I’m fairly confident we’ll see at least two red pieces, and one of them will be the shirt. Iowa will no doubt be in their usual black-white-yellow combo, so black helmets are out, and the chrome red ones can’t go with the red shirt, so those are out as well. This leaves us with a white or red helmet. As for the pants, I think all three colors could be in play here, but I’m guessing Campbell my be hesitant to use any black pieces against Iowa. Thus, we’re down to red or white pants.

Last year, Iowa State wore Red-White-Red for the CyHawk game. Was it just the first road combination on the list, or did Campbell intend to use as much red as possible?

As much as I hate to say it I think I’m leaning 51/49 towards seeing the all-red uniform a second game in a row.

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I don’t hate to say it because I don’t like the combo, because I do, but we have so many uniform combinations that we could wear a different one for every game without really trying. If we don’t go all-red, then I like the chances of the White-Red-Red look we saw against Kansas last season.

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However, if Campbell has a brand new uniform set on the way, and GameDay is on the way to Ames, this might be the first opportunity to break it out. However, here’s to hoping he decides to be an even greater hero to us all and wear the black uniforms for this game.

The Favorite: Red-Red-Red

The Dark Horse: White-Red-Red

Why Not?: Black-Black-Black

UL-Monroe

UL-Monroe isn’t a particularly notable opponent, and this game will probably be a 3:00ish kickoff on either FS1 or Cyclones.tv, so there’s not really a huge national audience to show off a new or flashy uniform. However, this would be the first game after the one-year anniversary of the death of Celia Barquin Arozamena, and one day short of a year after the Akron game, which there was a gold-out to honor her.

In that Akron game, the team wore Red-Red-White, which is a sharp combo, but not particularly notable. However, instead of the usual red accessories, the team wore gold accessories to commemorate Celia’s favorite color, and they looked absolutely phenomenal.

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I would love to not only see this combination with the yellow accessories again, but I think it would be a great idea to honor Celia with a gold-out every year in the first football game after the anniversary of her death. Fortunately, I think Matt Campbell may feel the same way.

The Favorite: Red-Red-White with gold accessories

The Dark Horse: White-Red-White

Why Not?: Black (colorized logo)-Red-Red

at Baylor

This is Iowa State’s highest-profile road game outside of the Oklahoma game, and the Cyclones wore all-white in Waco two years ago. I anticipate Matt Campbell being a little superstitious, and the all-whites are incredibly sharp, so I think they’re the home run pick here.

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The Favorite: White-White-White

The Dark Horse: White-White-Red

Why Not?: Red-White-Black

TCU

TCU should be better this year, and both teams have a chance to come into this game with winning records. TCU always has sharp uniforms, an will probably be rocking something close to the Purple-White-White they wore two years ago. Iowa State wore all-red in that matchup, but with the all-reds already making two appearances this season, I see this as a perfect opportunity to use black. Give me the black-red-red combination from last year’s Baylor game.

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However, if this isn’t the combo, then I think there’s a chance they go to a combo that I’ve been dying to see since the new uniforms were revealed before last season. Black (colorized logo)-Red-Black. For reference, here is my attempt at bringing that combo to life via horrific photo editing skills.

For the record, this would be my first choice.

The Favorite: Black-Red-Red

The Dark Horse: Black-Red-Black

Why Not?: Red-Red-Black

at West Virginia

Last year we wore the all-blacks for the first time. This probably won’t be a super high profile game if West Virginia is as down as widely expected, so I wouldn’t expect a lot of experimentation here. This year, I think we see the chrome helmet make its first appearance in the form of the chrome red-white-white look we saw against TCU last season.

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If we don’t see the Chrome Red-White-White, then all-white is certainly in play. However, if Matt Campbell wanted to switch things up a bit, I’d love to see a modified version of a combo we saw a few years ago against Oklahoma State.

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I really like the idea of a White-White-Black combo with red or black accessories.

The Favorite: Chrome Red-White-White

The Dark Horse: White-White-White

Why Not?: White-White-Black.

at Texas Tech

I think this game is the perfect opportunity to resurrect another old combination. Two years ago, the Cyclones wore a Red-White-Grey, and I thought it looked really sharp. Swap out the plain red helmet for the Chrome Red and the grey pants for black, and we’re in business.

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However, given that Tech is somewhat likely to use their red helmets or black pants, look for the Cyclones to go with the White-White-Red we saw last year against Oklahoma State.

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The Favorite: White-White-Red

The Dark Horse: Chrome Red-White-Black

Why Not?: Black-white-white

Oklahoma State (Homecoming)

Back at home for the first time in a few weeks, and the game is likely going to get a national audience as the Big 12 race could be decided over the next few weeks. I like the idea of Campbell busting out a new combination (of last year’s uniforms) this week. Give me the Chrome Red helmet with black jersey and pants. I don’t really have a good way to photoshop this one for a concept photo, so you might just have to use your imagination on this one.

If we don’t see the CR-Black-Black, I think we end up with a red helmet, red jersey and either white or black pants. Since I predicted Red-Red-White for the UL-Monroe game, I’m going with Red-Red-Black as a possibility for something different. Who am I kidding? It’ll end up being all-red.

The Favorite: Chrome Red-Black-Black

The Dark Horse: Red-Red-Red

Why Not?: Red-Red-Black

at Oklahoma

Iowa State’s marquee matchup in what figures to be a tight race at the top of Big 12, and a revenge game for Oklahoma after the big 2017 upset? Yes please. However, let’s not get *too* creative here. The all-whites are super sharp, and they’ll be perfect contrast to OU’s all-crimson look.

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In 2017, we wore White-White-Red against the Sooners, so you’ll definitely want to leave that open as a possibility. However, since we have options besides just red or white this time around, Campbell could definitely elect use a black piece here, especially since the Sooners don’t wear black very often.

The Favorite: White-White-White

The Dark Horse: White-White-Red

Why Not?: Black (colorized logo)-White-Black

Texas

This could easily end up being Iowa State’s most important game of the season. Not only could this game decide least one participant in the Big 12 title game, if that is the case, College GameDay could realistically make the trip up. You know what that means.

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The all-blacks on the same field with Texas’ all-whites? It’s a uniform matchup dream.

If Matt Campbell does indeed have another new uniform up his sleeve this would absolutely be a great time to show it off, so that will remain a possibility. I also think it’s a virtual certainty that we see at least one black uniform piece this game, so if we don’t wear Chrome Red-Black-Black against Oklahoma State, then this would be your other possibility.

The Favorite: Black (white logo)-Black-Black

The Dark Horse: New uniform?

Why Not?: Chrome Red-Black-Black

Kansas

Not a particular exciting matchup, so probably not a particularly exciting combination this week. My guess would be the all-reds since we haven’t seen them since the first couple games.

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If we haven’t already seen it by this point in the year, this could absolutely be another game we see the White-Red-Red the Cyclones wore against the Jayhawks last year. If we’ve decided to get creative for some reason, I think Red-Black-Red has a lot of promise.

The Favorite: Red-Red-Red

The Dark Horse: White-Red-Red

Why Not?: Red-Black-Red

at Kansas State

We’ve already seen the all-whites a couple times this year, and White-White-Red has made an appearance as well, so I think this is when the Cyclones turn to a combination that sort of went underappreciated last year due to the result of the game, the Red-White-Red from the Iowa game.

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This really is a great look that let’s the sharpness and cleanness of the white jerseys really stick out. They could switch to black shoes and socks and it would look good as well, but I think the alternating red and white from top to bottom is pretty satisfying to look at.

As always, the all-whites are on the table, but I think there’s a chance to use a black helmet (or maybe a new helmet, if there is one) here as well.

The Favorite: Red-White-Red

The Dark Horse: White-White-White

Why Not?: Black-White-White