USC to wear throwback jerseys against Nebraska
The USC Trojans are not a program that has leaned into the fad of wearing different uniform combinations week to week. The Trojans take the field in their classic cardinal and gold look every single week. But this weekend, USC will hit the field in something a little more classic than usual as the Trojans break out a throwback look from their 1972 national championship season.
The change isn’t a major one as it has just about everything to do with the shoulder stripe moving from a single stripe over the top of the pads with a number on a sleeve, to the triple stripe moving down toward the bicep, replacing the number.
The design was originally brought about for the 1972 season by legendary USC coach John McKay as he looked to things shake up following back-to-back seasons that finished with 6-4-1 records.
Whether it was the uniform, or more probably, assembling arguably the greatest college football team of all time, that 1972 season resulted in a national championship for the Trojans. The helmet logo also changed for that 1972 season, but it is the same logo that appears on the current helmets.
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Uniform changes are a big topic for USC fans. The Trojans are the only program to have never put last names on the backs of their jerseys. And uniform changes have always been fairly minor tweaks. Pete Carroll famously made a throwback change going into his second season as head coach, going back to the 1960s look with the single stripe over the shoulder. The Trojans hadn’t had a significant uniform change between 1972 and 2002 before Carroll’s change.
There have been some minor tweaks here and there. Steve Sarkisian introduced a metallic helmet with a chrome facemask during the 2014 season. Some of the players wore cardinal and gold shoes during the Lane Kiffin era. Neither of those stuck, though as with almost all uniform changes, they had their supporters.
