The Best of the New 2012 College Uniforms

Last week I talked about the worst new uniforms in college football and there were some doozies this year. Now, it's time to take a look at what some teams did right.

In my opinion, of course.

When you hate on something there usually isn't much disagreement because everyone likes to hate! I expect a little more controversy for the things that were the best this season.

To the good decisions.

UNLV did wear an all-gray uniform this season that I didn't like but they also made some small tweaks to their regular uniforms and they look real good. Even though they stink on the field at least they look good while doing so.

I'm a big fan of San Jose State's color scheme and I thought using a spear as a helmet stripe was one of the more interesting moves a team made in 2012.

When Northwestern unveiled their new Under Armour uniforms before the season I thought they hit a home run. I always like it when a team steps outside the box but at the same time uses something more traditional in doing so. It was difficult to see the Montreal Canadiens-esque stripe on their purple jerseys, but the all-white uniform was tight. Next year they just need to make the stripe go all the way around.

Sure the matte helmet look is getting played out and certain colors don't look good on teams. But Ohio's green matte helmet was a job well done.

Nike gave Missouri a makeover before the season and I was pleasantly surprised. Some of their stuff is a little busy but I think it fits the Tigers well. The black jerseys worked well and they improved upon their gold jerseys as well. Not many teams can pull off the yellow jerseys quite like Missouri. Also, their alternate Tiger helmet is cool.

With uniforms getting tighter and tighter we've lost the ability to keep stripes on sleeves without looking ridiculous. It's not perfect but I'm loving the use of stripes on undersleeves as Syracuse started doing this year.

Here's Texas A&M before this year in home and road colors. With all due respect to Mouth of the South and whatever tradition those uniforms are supposed to be holding up, they are boring and nondescript as hell. These here are so much better. The Aggies also had a bunch of different combo's that worked really well too---including a cool alternate uniform.

Maryland has been looking like a bunch of fools in recent years but their White Ops uniforms were a nice way of doing something different without assaulting eye balls across the country.

Eastern Michigan got a makeover this year and I particularly enjoyed their gray matte helmets paired up with their gray pants. Also, check out the socks!

As a uniform connoisseur I live for the moments when a team like Virginia brings out a throwback uniform and they just look so damn good. If Mike London is ever to really Do Good Things™ in Charlottesville he'll have the Cavs in these uniforms full-time next year.

These uniforms from Wisconsin got a bad wrap because they were used when Nebraska wore their weird ones. I actually thought these Badger uniforms looked pretty solid though.

Vanderbilt is getting more liberal with their uniforms and while they've introduced some combinations that I don't like (for example the gold jersey) their Storm Trooper all-white uniform is one of the best in the nation. Even though they keep wearing a black helmet a lot more often, I'm really partial to Vandy's traditional gold helmet---that is one of the most underrated lids in the country.

It's hard to mess up the all-white look and North Carolina did not do that.

Toledo made some changes this year that I really enjoyed. It was mostly with new helmets and uniform color combinations. You'll notice the other side of the helmet has a player number---a growing trend in college football. They also introduced a throwback helmet and a new yellow helmet, the latter looking really sharp with some of their color combinations.

Michigan State took the shiny helmet fad to a new level this year but I liked it.

How about Boise State going all-black with a matte black helmet with a logo on one side and number on the other? Is there anyone who didn't like this?

Pistol Pete alert! I loved Oklahoma State putting that dude on their helmet like the old days.

I know most people will recoil in horror with these Iowa throwback jerseys. But if you pull out and look at the whole uniform this would look really good if the jersey was just plain black. I especially like the shade of gold they used for the pants and helmet...very Notre Dame-like.

Army simplified their uniforms this year and did a fantastic job, plus YES UNDERSLEEVES! Just a crisp and clean look for the USMA. Also, Army broke out some alternate uniforms for their game against Navy and they were phenomenal. Putting the map of the Battle of the Bulge on our uniforms might be the coolest thing in the history of uniforms.

Not to be outdone, Navy wore an alternate uniform against Army and looked good too. Their helmet might also be the best new lid of the year too.

Lastly, I saw these Southern Miss uniforms end up on a list of the worst uniforms of the year. I don't get it, when we can't agree this is a great uniform it's why we end up with things like the disaster that was Georgia Tech's uniforms this year. This right here is a sharp looking football team, my friends.