GUT Check: Florida vs Texas A&M
A comprehensive uniform recap from Saturday in College Station
Florida suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday at the hands of Texas A&M on a time-expiring field goal that crushed the hearts of Gator Nation. After a promising start to the 2020 season with explosive offensive performances against Ole Miss and South Carolina, the Gators fell victim to another disappointing defensive performance to end hopes of an undefeated season. Florida decided to break out the O/W/W combination (more on this later) for the first time this season. In only the 2nd trip ever to College Station, the Gators move to 1–1 in O/W/W vs Texas A&M. Let’s take a look at the uniform takeaways from the game:
1. Pink accessories return for the first time since 2016
In a surprising move to anyone following Florida Gators uniforms, pink accessories made their first team-wide appearance since 2016 vs Missouri. The team donned full-pink gloves and towels with a pink Gatorhead in support of Breast Cancer Awareness month.
Lineback James Houston IV even wore pink sleeve while Kyle Trask wore a pink wristband.
Previous HC Jim McElwain and Will Muschamp rarely had the team wear pink accessories in the month of October, most notably vs 2014 LSU and 2016 Mizzou. The current equipment staff, and Dan Mullen, seemed to forgo pink accessories during games but often players were seen wearing the accessories in practice.
The 2016 Mizzou game saw pink gloves as the main accessory of choice while the 2014 LSU game saw players get creative with their support of Breast Cancer Awareness
Will the Gators continue to wear pink accessories throughout October?
2. Pink warm-up shirts makes 3rd different warmup shirt in as many games
The Gators extended their support for Breast Cancer Awareness month by wearing pink warm-up shirts displaying the cancer ribbon, Gatorhead, and player number.
This was the 3rd different warm-up shirt this season; “TOGETHER. It just means more” from Ole Miss, and “EQUALITY” from South Carolina. It remains to be seen whether these pink warm-ups will continue through the month of October or if the Gators will switch to custom warm-up shirts. Props to the team for using their platform to bring awareness to important issues and causes this season.
3. Florida makes last minute switch from O/W/B to O/W/W
In an unprecedented move for the program, the Gators switched their planned uniform combination for the Texas A&M game AFTER the uniform reveal had already happened. On Thursday night, the team revealed they would be wearing the O/W/B combination for the game on Saturday only for it to be scrubbed on Friday to go with the O/W/W combination.
The uniform combinations for this season were planned months in advance, but this switch was a last minute, executive decision by the equipment room, per a source close to the situation. The originally planned O/W/B combination would have been the first time since the 1977 Sun Bowl the Gators had worn O/W/B against Texas A&M.
This was unprecedented for the program, however, it has happened a few, ultra rare times to other college football programs. For example, Tennessee changed into black jerseys before taking the field against South Carolina in 2009. Auburn changed into orange jerseys before taking the field against Georgia in 1978. Clemson changed into orange pants before taking the field against NC State in 2019.
Fans might recall that in 2018, Florida had planned to wear white helmets vs Missouri for homecoming but ditched them for orange helmets after an embarrassing loss to Georgia. However, this was officially announced by the team, not switched up after an announcement.
With all of that being said, I’m happy with the change as it made sense to go with the O/W/W combination against Texas A&M: it matched our last trip in 2012 and it makes the O/W/B more unique when we wear it later this season.
Accessories recap
- Chester Kimbrough wore double socks, showcasing orange socks for an accent underneath white socks. This was a popular look for the Gators in 2009.
- White gloves were the standard glove for players not wearing pink gloves on Saturday
- TE Kyle Pitts wore Nike Vapor Edge Speed 360 cleats instead of the team issued Jordan cleats
- Jeremiah Moon wore black cleats from the throwback 2019 Auburn game
- QB Kyle Trask wore a white QB wristband for the first time this season. He has been great at coordinating with the color of our uniforms (Orange vs Ole Miss, Blue vs South Carolina)
Other uniform tidbits:
- HC Dan Mullen wore his blue visor and polo making his record 1–1 in blue polos and 2–1 in blue visors
- Ventrell Miller ran out of the tunnel on Saturday holding what appears to be a rope, possibly a tug of war rope. Is this the equivalent of a “turnover chain”?
Florida will return home to The Swamp to start a 2 game home-stay followed by a bye week. The Gators will face LSU next Saturday in what is sure to be a match of who can reach 50 points the quickest. Expect LSU to wear their usual Yellow/White/Yellow combination.
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