College Football's Top 25 Uniforms for 2016

With our rankings of each Power Five conference’s uniforms now complete, we take a step back and assess the 25 best unis among all 128 FBS teams. The rankings are based on the team’s base home and away uniforms (helmets, jerseys, pants) plus regular alternates, and take into account design, color combination, originality and tradition.

Others Receiving Votes: Georgia, Washington, Michigan State, Miami, UCLA, Auburn, Texas A&M, Florida, BYU, Hawaii

— Rankings by Jim Weber, a veteran college sports journalist and member of the Athlon Contributor Network. Weber has written for CBS Sports Network, NBCSports.com, ESPN the Magazine and the college sports website he founded and sold, LostLettermen.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JimMWeber.

The Sooners’ football uniforms are like Indiana’s basketball unis: Very vanilla and virtually unchanged since the beginning of time. And we love that about them. In a day and age when teams wear a different uniform for every game, Oklahoma stays with the tried and true look of crimson and cream unis with an interlocking “OU” logo.

The Mountaineers have a couple too many uniform and helmet options after trying to become the Oregon of the Rust Belt in 2013. But the navy blue tops and helmet with the yellow “Flying WV” logo is an absolute classic. The Mountaineers also have one of the best throwback unis in college football to boot.

Let’s be honest: If a team introduced helmets with a small capital “N” on them these days, we’d laugh. But given all the program’s history and the understated style of the state, these unis are so perfectly fitting while also bringing back memories of Tom Osborne, Tommie Frazier, Eric Crouch and the triple option. If only Nebraska’s on-field product aged as well as its uniforms.

Arkansas is proof that sometimes less is more. The Razorbacks’ uniforms are very minimalist but the shade of red is so rich and that running wild hog logo is so underappreciated. The clever tusks on the jersey shoulders are just icing on the cake.

Florida State’s uniforms would be even higher on this list if the athletic department didn’t outthink itself and tinker with classics two years ago. While the “new” helmet is almost identical to the old one, the updated trim on the jerseys is a serious downgrade from what the ‘Noles wore before the misguided update. 

What was once an alternate helmet is now Boise State’s full-time look and we love the oversized Bronco head logo. Our only quibble is that Boise’s orange helmet is not nearly as sharp as the blue or white ones and the player number of the left side of the helmet doesn’t quite work.

(Photo courtesy of Getty Images)

Colorado is barely on national TV anymore because the Buffaloes have been so bad for so long. But the charging buffalo with the interlocking “CU” inside it is one of the best logos in college football, and the gold and black color scheme is a perfect fit. Now if CU will just get rid of those ridiculous all-white and all-gray looks.

UNC seriously upgraded its uniforms last season by ditching the gratuitous black and introducing an argyle pattern associated with the basketball program to the helmet stripe, jersey trim and pant sides. And you just can’t beat that Carolina shade of blue.

Baylor’s rise to prominence coincided with them becoming the Oregon of Texas — both in style of play and style of uniforms. The unis featuring bear claws on the shoulders are extremely sharp and Baylor’s constant experimentations almost always work — none better than the chrome “All Gold Everything" helmet. The next step: An alternate helmet with a bear claw instead of the interlocking “BU.”

Surprise! A lot of people still don’t even know ODU is in the FBS, but feast your eyes on these beauties. Granted, ODU borrowed its helmet design from an alternate lid first worn by Navy. But it’s not their fault Navy isn’t smart enough to use it full time. And the Monarchs also have some awesome alternates that make them look like a college football powerhouse.

Oklahoma State is one of the few schools that have done having a million different uniform combinations well. The Cowboys always look good on fall Saturdays, especially when they break out the “Pistol Pete” logo helmets. 

K-State has an instructor in the school’s art department to thank for the “Powercat” logo that’s been used on the team’s helmets since 1989 and replaced these high school-looking lids. Everything about K-State’s look is so crisp and clean, just the way legendary head coach Bill Snyder likes things. 

While UT’s shade of orange gets as overdone in Knoxville as “Rocky Top,” we can’t deny the Vols look great in it. The block “T” is bold and beautiful and Tennessee massively upgraded its whole ensemble by switching from adidas to Nike last year. The Swoosh simplified UT’s look and cleverly added the trademark checkerboard end zone pattern onto the pant legs and back of the helmet.

We can hear the shrieks from here: “East Carolina ranked over Tennessee?!” At least based on uniforms, yes. Once home to some of the most unoriginal helmets in college football, that all changed in 2011 when ECU switched to a skull & crossbones logo. The purple and gold isn’t quite as menacing as, say, the silver and black of the Oakland Raiders, but it’s still a great look with sharp jerseys and pants to boot. ECU’s all-black look is especially sublime.

You won’t find a more divisive uniform in college football. Some see a uniform that looks like a Pee Wee football team. Others see the greatest uniforms in the sport. Like Alabama, Penn State’s uniforms are so ingrained in college football history that their simplicity and timelessness is part of what we love about college football and thus makes them great.

LSU’s helmet is totally unique, combining the letters of the school and a tiger head logo on both sides of it. And thanks to the striking yellow pants, the Tigers look great at home and on the road. We just wish the shoulder stripes didn’t extend down into the armpits.

The Tigerhawk: A true thing of beauty. Like the Hawkeyes football team itself, Iowa’s uniforms are often underestimated and underappreciated. It’s time the Hawkeyes received their due for a great color combination (black and gold) and even better logo that that was spearheaded by former Iowa head coach Hayden Fry and only adds to his legacy.

The key to Ohio State’s look is Buckeye leafs, the most iconic helmet sticker in the game. When one of those gray helmets is covered in stickers on both sides by the end of the season, it’s truly a sight to behold. If OSU went back to the old school jerseys with thick grey striping on the sleeves instead of their regular rinky-dink ones, the Buckeyes would be ranked even higher.

Numbers on the side of the helmet don’t make for the most creative lid in the country. But there’s something so incredibly old school and perfect about it for college football’s most successful program. Throw in the gray facemask and gorgeous shade of crimson and you’ve got a set of uniforms that, like everything else about Alabama football, is one of the best.

The paw print logo is so simple yet so elegant. And the all-orange look that Clemson wore for both of last season’s College Football Playoff games is truly striking. Our only complaints are the paw prints moving from the sleeves to the shoulders this season and too much of the all-white uniforms on the road.

It’s hard to give Oregon’s uniforms one grade because they have about a million of them and only wear the base set very rarely. But the trendsetters of college football have had a lot more hits than misses over the years and continue to be the gold standard when it comes to uniform and helmet design innovation.

Burnt orange is so unmistakably Texas and undeniably beautiful. Nobody looks better on their home field than the Longhorns, as the orange tops and white lids with the Longhorn head silhouette is impeccable. Like Clemson, Texas gets slightly docked for the all-white away uniforms that lack bite.

Knute Rockne. Rudy. Touchdown Jesus. The Golden Dome. “Play Like a Champion Today.” As soon as you see the Irish hit the field, all the tradition and nostalgia of Notre Dame history comes rushing out of the tunnel with them. The change in 2011 to make the gold helmet really pop only enhanced a lid that speaks for itself and complements the home navy blue jerseys so well. We only wish we saw the green jerseys more often.

The most glamorous college football program in the country also has the sport’s most glamorous uniforms. The profile of the Trojan warrior, the cardinal and gold color scheme and gray facemask is so classic Hollywood. USC playing in the L.A. Coliseum with the sun setting on a fall Saturday is like a painting.

What sets Michigan’s uniforms apart as the best in the country is the winged helmet that is so iconic, unique and elegant. Throw in the great color combination of maize and blue and you have the best uniforms in the country. In fact, Michigan’s look is so great that an ESPN.com poll once voted them not just the greatest uniforms in college football, but in all of sports.

The poor Blazers introduced some of the best uniforms in the country in 2014 right before the program was put on a two-year hiatus. Thankfully, these beautiful unis highlighted by a fire-breathing dragon on the helmet will be back for fall Saturdays in 2017.