24. USC Trojans Football (2012 to 2013)
USC has one of the best color schemes around. The red and gold scheme is beautiful and it’s hard to screw it up. One of the very few ways you can do it is by overdoing it and looking like Ronald McDonald designed the uniforms. Nike tiptoed this fine line from 2012 to 2013 with USC and came up with a clean, sharp look.
This uniform gets high grades because of how well the red and gold go with each other. Luckily, the gold isn’t anything close to McDonalds yellow. The yellow pants work very well. Even the conflicting yellow and red swoosh marks look great.
However, the colors aren’t the best part of this look. The whole uniform is tied together with the nice, subtle additions. The dual stripes down the middle of the pants add a sleek, modern look to a classic uniform. Likewise, the shoulder stripes on the top added a modern feel to what was already an excellent uniform.
This uniform was true brilliance from Nike. Don’t mess with the classic uniforms, but at the same time, don’t be afraid to make some subtle additions. They tend to stick to this strategy, especially with storied teams that don’t really need a uniform change. There will be more examples of this strategy later, but Nike did a beautiful job with USC. It’s a darn shame the Trojans didn’t bust out this look when they had Reggie Bush. Imagine how gorgeous this look would be with number five sprinting down the field.
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