Thursday, Nov. 17, 2022 | The Lantern | 7
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A look back at Ohio State’s uniforms from
‘The GamE’
REID MURRAY
Lantern Sports Reporter
ALEXA MAVROGIANIS | LANTERN FILE PHOTO
Ohio State redshirt freshman Mike Weber (25) scores the Buckeyes’ first offensive touchdown of the day during the second half of the
Buckeyes’ 30-27 overtime win against Michigan Nov. 26, 2016.
From a 1954 national championship
throwback in 2009 to a wolf-inspired
away uniform in 2017, “The Game” has
seen a wide variety of Ohio State uni-
forms in the last 13 years.
However, in the Buckeyes’ last three
matchups with Michigan, they have only
worn their default home and away uni-
forms, and fans shouldn’t expect to see
unique looks when playing against the
Wolverines any time soon.
Ohio State director of football equip-
ment services Kevin Ries said this trend
is no coincidence, and tradition is a ma-
jor factor behind it.
“We’re at a different spot here where I
think there’s a lot of tradition and a lot of
traditionalists that are paying attention
to what we’re wearing, so we’re cognizant
of that and not trying to get outside the
boundaries of our traditional look,” Ries
said. “I think all of us here enjoy seeing
the traditional scarlet and gray uniforms
versus the maize and blue, so that has
been a factor.”
Among those traditionalists is head
coach Ryan Day.
“I like the traditional uniforms,” Day
said. “I love that part of college football.
I think that some of our players and re-
cruits like to see a different style and a
different swag and look to the uniforms,
and that’s great, but I’m more of a tradi-
tionalist.”
Since 2009, Ohio State has worn alter-
nate uniforms against Michigan seven
times.
The first two of these alternates were
throwbacks. The 2009 uniform was a
white jersey with gray pants and a white
helmet that paid homage to the 1954 na-
tional champion Buckeye team, and the
2010 uniform was inspired by the 1942
national champion team and featured a
scarlet helmet and jersey with gray pants.
While Ohio State has worn four throw-
back jerseys against Michigan and two
more in non-Michigan games, Ries said
coming up with throwback designs in the
future would be challenging.
“We were looking into throwbacks,
and obviously we did the championship
years for most of the throwbacks,” Ries
said. “There’s not a lot in our theories
and thoughts that we haven’t touched.”
The 2012 and 2013 alternates were
part of a uniform set that was worn eight
times from 2012 to 2014. In 2012, Ohio
State played Michigan at home and de-
buted the scarlet version that featured a
chrome helmet, gray numbers and en-
larged stripes on the helmet, jersey and
pants. In 2013, Ohio State wore the away
version, which used the same helmet and
Buckeyes look to maintain ’competitive stamina’
to round out the season
STEVEN KISHPAUGH
Lantern Asst. Sports Editor
The No. 2 Ohio State football team
went into the 2022 season with a lot of
questions surrounding talent, toughness
and gameplanning. After a 42-27 loss to
Michigan at the end of last season — its
first since 2011 — the Buckeyes missed
out on both the Big Ten Championship
game and a spot in the College Football
Playoff.
Head coach Ryan Day made it clear
he was dissatisfied with last season’s re-
sults during Big Ten Media Days in July.
During the offseason, Day placed a focus
on game preparation while ensuring the
Buckeyes maintain “competitive stami-
na” through the season.
“You have to continue to do what
you’re doing and get better every week,”
Day said. “We want to play at a high
level. That’s the goal here, so again, re-
ally shouldn’t matter who we’re playing
against. And the competitive stamina is
exactly what we talked about at the be-
ginning of the season, and we’ll continue
to reiterate that.”
The Buckeyes new focus on maintain-
ing competitive stamina comes after an
offseason full of turnover on both sides
of the ball. Ohio State lost offensive
weapons in former wide receivers Gar-
rett Wilson and Chris Olave to the NFL,
and Day brought in defensive coordina-
tor Jim Knowles from Oklahoma State
— alongside a slew of transfers — to over-
haul a defense that ranked in the bottom
half of the Big Ten in 2021.
Through nine games this season, the
defense has vastly improved from a year
ago. Ohio State ranks in the top 10 in the
Football Bowl Subdivision in scoring and
total defense, averaging 15.6 points and
271.5 yards per game allowed.
Third-year safety Lathan Ransom said
the team focuses on that competitive
stamina and getting better each practice
is ingrained in the culture.
CONTINUES ON PAGE 8
an all-white jersey and pants combina-
tion.
In the 2014 season, in which Ohio State
won the inaugural College Football Play-
off national championship, the Buckeyes
stayed with their traditional home uni-
form and beat the Wolverines 42-28.
The 2015 and 2016 games saw throw-
backs to the 1968 national championship
team, which has been worn in each of
Ohio State’s four CFP appearances since.
In the 2015 game, Ohio State wore the
same away combination from its 42-35
2015 Allstate Sugar Bowl win against Al-
abama.
The 2016 game saw a slight change to
the playoff uniform, as the classic silver
helmet was swapped for the “cannonball”
gray option that was worn earlier in the
season in a 62-3 home win over Nebras-
ka. Ries said this uniform was the least
planned of any Ohio State alternate, and
it was not discussed leading up to the sea-
son.
“That was a player-driven push on that
year,” Ries said. “With the black numbers,
they liked the cannonball helmet, so it
was black-ish in a sense. We obviously
ran it through multiple administrations
and obviously coaches and the leader-
ship team, and everyone kind of agreed
and signed off that it would be a good
look.”
In 2017, Ohio State wore an all-white
uniform with a dark gray pattern inside
the jersey numbers, on the helmet and
on the jersey and pants’ stripes. Ries said
this uniform — and its gray counterpart
worn in a 39-38 home win against Penn
State — was originally pitched by Nike to
embody a “wolf theme” that was present
in the Ohio State football facility begin-
ning in the 2015 offseason.
While Ohio State has rolled out these
unique looks against Michigan in the
past, Buckeye fans should not expect
such uniforms to hit the field against the
Wolverines any time soon.
“I think for the foreseeable future,
we’ll probably stay in our traditional
scarlet and gray against team up north,”
Ries said.
Like any college football program,
Ohio State’s process of putting together
uniforms is a collaboration between the
team and its uniform supplier. Ries said
Ohio State’s change in philosophy re-
garding uniforms in “The Game” comes
from a larger change in Ohio State’s rela-
tionship with Nike.
“I think early on, it was just kind of
that trend where Nike was more of a
driving factor in the alternate uniforms,”
Ries said. “They were providing it for
X amount of schools a year, so from a
standpoint of getting the most eyeballs
on something different, they’re going to
look at the marquee matchups. Nike has
kind of backed off and allowed the teams
to be more hands on.”
Considering Day’s views on tradition,
the future of Ohio State football uni-
forms will likely have an emphasis on
preserving familiar appearances.
“I love the look that’s been in college
football for a long time, certainly at Ohio
State, in the jerseys that we’ve worn,”
Day said. “But even just across the coun-
try, and all the different uniforms over
the years, it’s just something about that
that I like.”
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