How to Save College Football Uniform Matchups

Plus, the week at Split Zone Duo.

Welcome to the College Football Newsletter, where I think we have to move Week 1, Saturday, September 5, out of respect for Jayden Daniels.

The season is almost here, and Alabama and Tennessee put some icing on the almost-baked cake to get me even more excited. The Vols and Crimson Tide announced that they will both wear their home jerseys in their 2026 and 2027 games. We need more of these color matchups, and not just in college football. In the NBA, seeing the Lakers gold jerseys next to the Celtics green just works.

Imagn Images via Reuters Connect

But it has to be the right matchup. I asked Richard for his thoughts on the uniforms and which teams should follow suit:

So, Bama and Tennessee are doing this because they used to play the game in Birmingham, a not-really “neutral” site. Florida and Georgia did the color-on-color thing for a few years in the 2010s, and it was really cool. Then they just stopped and didn’t really explain why. I’ve been crashing out over the fact that they stopped doing it ever since, honestly. It was a great idea.

USC and UCLA also do the color-on-color thing, which makes sense because they’re literally playing in their hometowns when they get together. Texas and Oklahoma could do this too in Red River. It would be a cool look. There are so few durable college neutral-site games in this day and age that I think highlighting the couple we have left with a color-on-color matchup is just a neat aesthetic nod.

I don’t love the fact that the NBA has bastardized what a home jersey really is, especially in the Finals and the playoffs. Home jerseys should be home jerseys, and road jerseys should be road jerseys. Enough of the statement, icon, whatever the hell they call it, business. The NFL is getting this way too. I am a very old man yelling at clouds when it comes to traditional uniform aesthetics.

One of the dumbest things in college football is how everybody just says, “Well, the recruits like it,” as a way to hand-wave away traditional schools going to alternate uniforms. I’m sorry, but Ohio State should not ever wear black. Notre Dame’s Shamrock Series jerseys are universally awful. Nebraska’s new stock set this year is terrible too, and I could go on and on.

Richard even made a video about how Florida should wear its home jerseys against Georgia. You can check it out here.

Which other college football rivalries do you think deserve the home jersey treatment?

USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

Here’s what Alex and Richard dropped into your podcast feeds this week:

• Are you ready for MACtion? We are, which is why we previewed the Mid-American Conference this week. Miami University has an influx of money this season, but that doesn’t necessarily make the RedHawks the favorites in the conference. Take a listen to learn why.

• Which FCS teams will knock down an FBS opponent this season? That’s what Richard, Alex, and host emeritus Godfrey are trying to figure out in this year’s FCS Upset Draft episode. If you’d like to play along this season, submit your own picks right here.

• Three episodes in one week means the season is inching closer and closer. Our Thursday episode is the Mountain West preview, where Alex and Richard talk about the newest conference members in UTEP, Hawaii, and NIU. Alex also specifically calls his shot on the next FCS-to-FBS transfer we might be talking about on Sunday mornings.

Some recommended reading and watching:

• For Slate, Alex wrote about how AI detectors might be making our writing worse.

• For more battles between Alex and computers, check out his Opta Analyst piece where he sets his predictions against their prediction model.

• Over at CBS Sports, Richard surveyed anonymous front office employees to give their predictions on the upcoming season.

• Richard is also asking the important questions this week: is John Mateer so swole now that it might mess up his throwing motion?

• Speaking of John Mateer, he is also one of the topics discussed in the College Football Happy Hour with friends of the show Lucy Rohden and Jessica Smetana. Subscribe to their YouTube channels for more.

• The Protect College Sports Act went from positive momentum to essentially DOA, at least until the midterms. Over at Extra Points, Matt Brown offered an alternative — at least in the interim.

• Turfman’s College Foot-ball Almanac is available for purchase, and it includes articles from a lot of your favorite people in college football. It is a different kind of college football preview magazine, and the designer worked very hard on it. (It was me.)

Thanks for reading, and we’ll talk to you next week, possibly with a surprise.