Written by Sean Hawkins | 17 August 2008

First off, a quick recap - the fans have spoken from the first uni watch, of the road uni variety. While you can never read too much into polls, well, this one was somewhat decisive. The current Apple Cup look was the winner, by a pretty decent margin. Here's the final results:

Current AC Look: 110
The New Millennium (Gesser style): 79
Bledsoe - Palouse Posse - Leaf: 37
Walden Era - 81 Holiday: 18
Erickson Era - 88 Aloha Bowl: 13

So this is what we hope to see for the road look:
But even if it isn't what we will see this year, still, hopeful for something similar in the future?

Moving on, time to flip things to the home uni's. We'll do the same as before, starting with the Walden era (and even slightly before) and move it right through to today. The poll is up to the right, plus comments are always appreciated.

1) Walden Era Home Uni's

Actually a couple of versions to this one. First here's a look at the all-Crimson uni's, with white stripes, white lettering, Cougars script on the helmet with a white face mask:

Then another version, this one with gray pants:

Like the road versions, seen here, very basic, very clean. This crimson top with gray pants look actually came about from this one, here seen by none other than Dr. Dan Doornink from the late 70's:

2) Erickson Era of the late 80's

There isn't a lot out there in full-blown color from this era in terms of home uni's. Here's a black-n-white shot from the '88 Apple Cup that shows the biggest change, which has the same gray pants seen here in the road version.

The jerseys are virtually identical to the road one, except for the main color of course, crimson jerseys. Here's another shot of just the jersey alone:
3) Bledsoe - Palouse Posse - Leaf years of early/late 90's:

Same jersey as the Erickson change, basically, but this time we came out with the crimson pants to match.


There were some variations, including the 1994 Alamo Bowl, which saw these pants worn as a one-time only deal.

There were some other looks in the late 90's, including a change in the numerals but kept with the crimson pants.
And then these uni's from 1999, which saw yet another change to the numerals, the WSU sometimes on the helmet and sometimes the Cougars script, and even gray pants at home.

Phew. Got all that?

4) The Gesser - Kegel - Derting years


A new look for the new millennium. The program went the direction of the Denver Broncos style ushered in the late 90's, which the vertical stripes. An extra layer of dimension to the numerals as well. Generally a busy look. Later we would add on to this uni with an extra stripe on the shoulders, and continue the main vertical stripe all the way up to the neck line. First seen here at the 2003 Rose Bowl.

We would continue this double-shoulder stripe look for the next couple of seasons.


Then, we would clean it all up in 2005, which brings us to today.

5) The Current Versions - Mkristo Bruce - Jerome Harrison - Jason Hill - Alex Brink years.

A pretty clean look, mixing past and present. Gray pants with a crimson-white-crimson stripe, no hip logo. WSU logo on the helmet, and block white numerals and lettering. Small "Washington State" across the chest. Black shoes. A clean, sharp look all the way around.


Of course, we have had a few different looks mixed in. Once we rolled out a whole new deal with Russell for a USC home game in 2006, fresh for the TBS national TV coverage.

This look featured crimson helmets and a completely new lettering, design, the whole thing.

Gone was the "Washington State" lettering, replaced by just Cougars in a totally different, white font. Crimson as the main color but gray featured prominently along the shoulders and down to the sleeve, with crimson numbers on the sleeve. Gray pants accented by some small crimson stripes around the keee. Black shoes, and, for the first time in a while, crimson helmets at home. A look we haven't seen again, by the way.


I always was interested in what people thought of this alternate version. I did remember hearing very mixed opinions, some from it's FREAKIN' SWEET and others who just hated it. When I first saw them I was like "WTF?" but then as the game went on I got used to them, to the point that I think I actually liked them. Maybe we'll see them again, someday?

And finally, for Apple Cup home games, we went with the Cougars script helmets as well as the "throwback" solid gray pants.
This look will be similar to what we'll see in 2008, although we'll roll with the standard home pants with the crimson-white-crimson pants. Per the official WSU blog:

For home games, the Cougars will wear silver helmets with the script Cougar lettering. The jerseys are crimson, and the pants are silver with a three inch stripes down the side rotating crimson, white, crimson.

For away games, the Cougars will wear crimson helmets with the white Cougar head logo. The jerseys are white, and the pants are crimson with a three inch stripe rotating crimson, white, crimson.

That's not to say it won't be something different for the Seattle game...

Hmm, something different for the Seattle game? We'll have to work our back channels to see if we can get a tip on what to expect in what, now less than TWO WEEKS until kickoff?? Unbelievable.

So there you have it. Vote early/often, post your thoughts on what you like and what you don't. Let's hear it.

Enjoy your Sunday, and most of all, GO COUGS!

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