Kentucky Picked a Bad Time to Wear Black Jerseys

The University of Kentucky is doing something unusual for Saturday’s Homecoming game against Vanderbilt. Rather than waiting until Friday to reveal the uniform combination, UK shared late Thursday night that the Wildcats will wear black jerseys and encouraged fans to wear black to Kroger Field. There is one big problem.

Vanderbilt is wearing black uniforms.

The Commodores’ primary colors are black and gold. They are bringing black helmets and black pants to Kroger Field.

Game 6⃣ Fit pic.twitter.com/4Kgbr2gUJI

— Vanderbilt Football (@VandyFootball) October 11, 2024

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Why is Kentucky so bad at this?

It’s Homecoming, which doesn’t mean a whole lot to a lot of people, but for some, this is their one opportunity this season to get back to the home of Kentucky football. I’d be willing to bet the Homecoming crowd is a crowd that prefers traditional colors.

To take it a step further, it’s Big Blue Madness weekend. That feels like the right time to wear all-blue, ESPECIALLY when you’re playing a team that wears black.

It’s a silly decision, but it’s not the part that frustrates this Kentucky football fan the most. UK Athletics told fans to wear black at 9:46 pm EST on Thursday night, less than 48 hours before kickoff. A blackout should be promoted as a big event well in advance to give fans another reason to be excited to fill the seats at Kroger Field. They have given Big Blue Nation no time to be excited.

This isn’t something new. It’s the norm around Kentucky football. About 48 hours before the South Carolina game, students were asked to wear white, the same color jerseys the Gamecocks were wearing against the Cats. It just doesn’t make sense.

It’s Not THAT Big of a Deal

This is a relatively petty complaint. The black jerseys will look cool with blue helmets and blue pants, a combination Kentucky fans have never seen before. They were going to roll out the black alternate jerseys at some point this fall. There was a group of online fans who started making the call to bring them out earlier in the week and I’m sure they’re pleased to see it come to fruition.

Couldn’t they have just waited to wear the black jerseys against a school that doesn’t use black as a primary color? That Auburn game in a couple of weeks is going to be a big one. It would be nice to have a week to hype up a blackout, but that would make too much sense.

The Kentucky football program is good at playing hard-nosed football. It’s not very good at color coordinating.