Looking back on five of the ugliest college football uniforms the 21st century has had to offer

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It’s often said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but that isn’t always the case, and no one knows that better than sports fans.

Sometimes, a team will take the field decked out in some of the most objectively hideous uniforms ever created by mankind, making their supporters and rivals alike question whether they even love the sport anymore.

College football in particular has seen its fair share of eyesores even in the past quarter-century, and with the season rapidly approaching, I thought it would be an appropriate time to recount some of the worst offenders.

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The five uniforms on this list are all worthy contenders for “worst of all time,” but this certainly isn’t an exhaustive ranking, so if you think I missed one, feel free to fire away in the comments section.

With that out of the way, suck down some anti-nausea pills, put on a pair of shades, and prepare to be dazzled in all the wrong ways.

Michigan State’s Neon Fever Dream

Darrell Stewart Jr. celebrates with teammates after scoring a touchdown.

Okay, let’s get this one out of the way right off the bat.

I’m sure when you read the title of this article, this little number was one of the first jerseys on your mind.

Everything about it is so preposterous and “anti-Spartan:” the neon STATE emblazoned across the chest (that’s too big to even fully fit) the slightly lighter shade of highlighter green pants creating a dissonant clash with the jersey, the neon “Sparty” logo, it’s all just awful.

When I think of Michigan State, I think of Mark Dantonio, disciplined football, hard-nosed defense, none of which conjure images of what looks like an alternate Seahawks uniform that a 10-year-old fan designed in a contest.

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It’s a bad uniform on its face, but the fact that it doesn’t fit Michigan State’s vibes at all puts it over the top.

Thank the Good Lord Sparty stopped larping as Oregon.

Now if they could just find a decent coach…

Florida’s “Gatorskin” Extravaganza

Khairi Clark runs during a football game in Gainesville, Fla.

Ah, yes! Another easy target for trolls, it’s the “Gatorskin” uniforms worn by the boys of old Florida (also known as “Swamp Green”).

As many of you are probably presently aware, I’m a huge Gator fan, so these hit a little too close to home.

The powers that be at the University of Florida decided to bust these bad boys out for a game in 2017 against Texas A&M, and the backlash was so loud and universal, that they haven’t seen the light of day again in almost a decade.

That probably isn’t changing anytime soon, and for good reason.

Conceptually, I see the vision. Alligators are a cool and unique mascot, and the idea of a gator hunting its prey in “The Swamp” is a neat one.

But the execution was dead on arrival, with the whole thing falling flat on its face.

The different colored pants are a brutal look, and opting to go with scales for the tops and not the bottoms was an odd choice.

The orange lettering is garish, and the Gator head logo on one side of the helmet makes this look like an EA Sports “create-a-team” castoff.

I will say it’s not my least favorite Gator uniform (see: 2005 vs. Georgia), but it’s the most infamous, thus earning its spot on the list.

Georgia’s “Silver Bullet” Blunder

Aaron Murray passes against Boise State Broncos at Georgia Dome.

The Georgia Bulldogs have some of the cleanest and most iconic uniforms in all of college football, as much as that pains me to say.

So when they trotted these monstrosities out in front of an unsuspecting public at the 2011 Chick-Fil-A Kickoff against Boise State, fans all over the nation rightly winced.

For some reason in the early 2010s, Nike decided to “modernize” a handful of the most recognizable jerseys in college football with their “Pro Combat” series, and this was one of the worst of the bunch.

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Why is the helmet gunmetal grey? Why is there a giant red stripe running down the middle of said helmet that’s about six inches too wide? What’s with the black sleeves?

All great questions that no one seems to have answers for, but I keep coming back to the fact that Georgia has great traditional uniforms and an awesome color scheme, so how did they mess this up so badly?

It probably doesn’t help the legacy of these kits knowing that Georgia got manhandled by Boise State in what is essentially their backyard of Atlanta.

Luckily for all parties involved, these bad boys have been in the storage shed outside Sanford Stadium presumably since the bus parked on the ride back from this game 15 years ago.

Let’s keep it that way.

Maryland’s Flag Faux Pas

Danny O'Brien hands the ball off to Justus Pickett during a college football game.

I’m all for having some pride in your home state, but when your flag is as busy as Maryland’s is, plastering it all over every piece of equipment you have feels like you’re just trying to torment the viewers.

The Maryland Terrapins rolled these suckers out in the early 2010s and subsequently burned the retinas of college football fans all over the country.

There’s just so much going on with these uniforms, it almost seems like an unfair advantage to the team trying to defend Maryland’s offense while they wore them.

It feels like the Terps should have come with an epilepsy warning while wearing these, but I digress.

The worst part is Maryland has a very cool and unique mascot of their own in the Terrapin, and they really don’t take advantage of that as much as they should.

I’m not saying they need to go the Gators’ route and unveil a “Turtleskin” combo, but they’ve really gone away from featuring Testudo (their mascot) in recent years.

Let’s get back to “fearing the turtle,” shall we?

The Iowa State “Pooh Bear” Debacle

Easton Dean celebrates a touchdown as Abe Camara defends during Iowa State's game against TCU.

All of the uniforms on this list are ugly, but these are just downright obscene.

You would think the idea of “flesh-colored football pants” is something that was universally agreed upon as a bad idea a long time ago, but Iowa State committed a cardinal sin of fashion no more than a few years ago.

Hundreds of thousands of people turned on their TVs to see the Cyclones take on TCU on national television back in 2023, only to need a triple take to make sure a bunch of grown men weren’t playing football completely bottomless.

They’re throwbacks, sure, but no one thought to maybe make the pants a different color?

Take some artistic liberties! For crying out loud, there are kids watching!

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Somehow, they looked even worse during warmups, as members of the fanbase caught photos from the stands of what looked like a bunch of guys who slept in white tee-shirts and nothing else then rolled out of bed and made their way to the stadium.

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I’m not sure how you get something like that so wrong in 2023, but here we are discussing it courtesy of the marketing geniuses in Ames, Iowa.

I’m sure enough people on social media laughed these out of existence, so thankfully we won’t be seeing the “Pooh Bear” experiment again anytime soon.

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