BYU defensive back Austin Lee (2) tackles Washington running back Sean McGrew (25) during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2019, in Provo, Utah. (AP Photo/George Frey)
Provo • Going old school is still cool, at least at BYU this season.
The Cougars went with a retro theme for their home “whiteout” game against Washington on Saturday, unveiling old school white and royal blue uniforms with a throwback helmet that featured the original block “Y.”
The white jerseys with royal blue numbers were inspired by the traditional travel uniform worn during the LaVell Edwards era.
Hopefully, fans liked the jerseys since the plan is to incorporate them into various uniform options in the future.
Unlike most teams, the Cougars haven’t gotten into the recent craze of changing their uniforms for various games, so Saturday’s old look was a relatively unusual thing.
The Cougars did wear royal blue jerseys for their 2009 win against Utah in honor of the 25th anniversary of BYU’s national championship, and debuted a blackout jersey in 2012 for a contest against Oregon State. That game didn’t go so well for the Cougars, who lost 42-24.
But they did beat UNLV in a blackout game in 2014 to become bowl eligible.
Duff Tittle, BYU’s Associate AD — Communications, said Saturday’s theme was part of BYU’s effort to acknowledge college football’s 150th anniversary.
“We are doing something every game and we knew we wanted to have a throwback game,” he said.
The Cougars have talked about incorporating the white jerseys with the royal pants for several years now, Tittle.
“Being able to tie it into this game was a cool thing to do,” he said.
The helmet also had gray face masks used from the 1950s-70s, and a single blue stripe like the one used in the 1960s-70s.
The Cougars’ uniforms weren’t the only throwback nods. The field had a retro scheme with painted end zones featuring a diamond-shaped pattern that was used in the 1960s and the 1960s helmet logo was painted at midfield.
Tittle said he noticed the end zone design in old pictures when he was doing research for another project.
“We threw it out to marketing to see what would happen,” he said. “The cool thing is we have been able to use elements of five or six different eras.”
Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer, Outland Trophy winners Mo Elewonibi and Jason Buck attended the game and led the team in the Cougar Walk as well as onto the field.
The cheer squad wore retro uniforms too and a vintage Cosmo made an appearance.
The Gameday magazine featured a throwback cover and members of the media were given blue and white fedoras.
Fans might have been happiest about special pricing at concessions since hot dogs were sold for $2. Various throwback apparel items were available, too.