NC State and Texas Tech unveil uniforms for Saturday
The uniform craze in college football can probably be attributed to Oregon’s colorful combinations that were mixed and matched starting around the 1996 season. Now every team, No. 12/16-ranked NC State football included, tries to vary the combinations of the school colors on a seemingly weekly basis.
On Thursday, both Texas Tech and NC State unveiled their different uniform combinations for Saturday’s primetime showdown in Raleigh. The kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Carter-Finley Stadium on ESPN2, and the Pack is a 10-point favorite.
The colors Saturday may have some fans initially confused about who is who.
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NC State football uniform
NC State football head coach Dave Doeren announced Monday during his press conference that the Wolfpack was going to be wear black uniforms. The official unveil confirmed that was all black — helmets, jerseys and pants.
Recent tradition suggests that NC State plans to use that combination once annually. For each of the past 5 years the Pack has done just that.
In 2021, NC State used that combination during a home game against Louisiana Tech. A week after the thrilling double-overtime victory over Clemson, the Pack needed to hold off LaTech for a 34-27 win that required an interception from safety (and birthday boy) Jakeen Harris in the end zone with 5 seconds remaining to prevent a potential overtime.
The year before, NC State hosted No. 11 Miami for a Thursday night game during the height of the pandemic restrictions and led 41-31 in the fourth quarter before the Hurricanes rallied for 44-41 victory over the all-black wearing Pack.
NC State did wear black jerseys in a 23-13 regular-season ending win over Georgia Tech but also had white helmets and pants that day.
In 2019, the Wolfpack went all black during a 34-23 victory over Ball State. NC State also wore black jerseys but with red helmets and pants in a 34-20 home loss to Louisville.
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The season prior, NC State lost a heartbreaker in the all-black combination to Wake Forest, dropping the contest 27-23 after the Demon Deacons scored 2 unanswered touchdowns in the final 6-plus minutes, the second of which came with 30 seconds left.
One of the highlights all the all-black uniforms came in 2017, when NC State knocked off Lamar Jackson and No. 17 Louisville, 39-25, on a Thursday night ESPN game.
The Pack is 3-2 in the all-black uniforms since going with the look on an annual basis.
Texas Tech
Texas Tech’s school colors are officially black and scarlet. The Pack is going all black, which is not an unusual combination for the Red Raiders to wear themselves at home.
On Saturday against NC State, Texas Tech will be wearing red helmets and pants and white jerseys, a look that would be very familiar to Wolfpack fans.
That combo was also good to TT last season.
The Red Raiders rolled to a 41-14 win at Kansas in that combination during the regular season and routed Mississippi State 34-7 in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis donning the same look.
