Oregon's playing in a big game, which means what it always means: New uniforms are on the way courtesy of its close, personal friends at Nike, who just unveiled the design the Ducks plan to wear for their Rose Bowl collision with Wisconsin on Jan. 2. I'm pretty sure the "Angel of Death" wings in the press photos are just… um, decorative.
Otherwise, there's not a lot here veteran Duck watchers haven't seen before: Green-on-green jerseys and pants, plenty of bright yellow and a heavy dose of swooshed-up gobbledygook — "Pro Combat Deflex padding" (for "crucial impact protection"), a "Flywire" collar (for "improved breathability"), "Chain Maille Mesh integration" (to emphasize "improved thermoregulation"), etc. The gloves are specifically designed to form the "O" hand signal, if they're still doing that. There's only one notable deviation from the norm: The helmets.
Not only are the lids polished to a sleek, onyx-like sheen — Oregon's black helmets in the past have had more of a dull "matte" look — but they move the only constant in Duck fashion over the last decade, the trademark "O" logo on the side of the helmet. Instead, they'll be decorated with a pair of giant silver wings extending all the way to the front of the facemask, shifting the "O" to the back.
Colors come and go, but this will be just the third time since Oregon adopted the single "O" in 1999 that the helmet design has changed: The first time was for the hideous gold lids the Ducks wore in the 2006 Las Vegas Bowl, which also stuck the logo in the back and went otherwise unadorned; the second was for a retro motif against Cal in 2009. The latest look for Pasadena is about as far from "retro" as you can get.
For the record, Wisconsin is planning to unveil a special Rose Bowl uniform of its own on Dec. 30, courtesy of Adidas. Preliminary indications suggest the only difference will be some kind of rose petal print for the numbers, which would represent the most radical change in Badger fashion in at least 30 years. That's OK: As long as the team wins, it all qualifies as tradition.
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Matt Hinton is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.