They're not exactly the Oregon Ducks, but the Penn football team's uniforms have a slightly less conservative look this year.
Nike has designed some of the most outrageous gear for college teams. But in the past few years the uniforms designed for Penn have been as simple as possible.
Last year's home jerseys were navy blue with white block numbers; for the away digs, the main two colors were reversed. The home pants were white with a thick blue stripe bordered by a red one on either side, while the road pants were white with a logo on each side.
The lettering is red for home and away.
Now, Penn is building off those shirts with a few more designs.
A new white stripe runs diagonally down on each side of the front of the jersey, and when the line hits near the bottom it forms an area of red and white color. The colored space resembles a map of Vermont and New Hampshire, one red and one white, depending on which side of the jersey it is on.
Still, the new image isn't the only difference.
"I actually like them better than last year because they're a little bit lighter than last year's uniforms," senior quarterback Bryan Walker said yesterday. "They fit a little bit tighter, so I would definitely [call them] an improvement."
The unis were partly picked out by head coach Al Bagnoli, and he's quite happy with the decision.
"It's [the coaches] and the equipment manager, Fran Murray, and the Nike representative, Mike Ellison." Bagnoli said. "We all got together and this is what we came up with. It came out nice."
The new helmets, though, were a more political decision.
Last year's hats read P-E-N-N on each side, but that has been replaced by the new 'split-P' logo.
"It was kind of an up-campus, administrative . decision to try and really market certain logos," Bagnoli said. "It was just part of that overall marketing strategy."
