Uniform Stats: WSU announces week one combo

Now it’s really football season.

It’s officially one of the best times of the year. College football is finally back. While the landscape of college football looks unrecognizable, your Washington State Cougars will still be as recognizable as ever in week one as they unveiled a timeless look for their week one matchup against the Portland State Vikings.

Built by the Palouse❤️

Classic threads for week 01

presented by @McDonalds @Dylan30Paine pic.twitter.com/2b7jP1quKU

— Washington State Football (@WSUCougarFB) August 28, 2024

The classic threads, as many expected, will be the first look for the 2024 Cougars. WSU has donned these threads early in the season for the past four years now, three times in home openers.

Breaking the combo down by the numbers, the look has done well, going 4-1 in five appearances since the 2017 uniform refresh. Wins over San Jose State in 2018, Colorado in 2019, Idaho in 2022, and Northern Colorado in 2023. Its lone loss came in the 2021 home opener vs. Utah State.

By individual pieces, the classic gray helmet is the best performing helmet since 2017 at a staggering 9-1! It’s important to note that this helmet does have a twin brother. The Cougs have worn their gray buckets and crimson facemasks more than 10 times, but have had a white outline on the logo as opposed to the standard crimson logo.

The crimson jersey enters 2024 with a 22-9 record after going 2-2 in 2023, while the gray pants boast a modest 9-5 record after appearing twice in 2023 and going 1-1.

As for the other threads WSU has in its arsenal:

Best Jersey: Anthracite (10-3)

The anthracites have been reserved for those marquee matchups like 2017 vs. USC, College Gameday 2018 or last year’s showdown vs. Oregon State. It also appeared on Senior Night last season when WSU beatdown the Colorado Buffaloes.

The anthracites got out to a hot start after being refreshed in 2017, resulting in a Cougar victory in its first six appearances. Then that infamous night in September of 2019 happened, and the Cougs then dropped three of the next four. The Cougs broke through with a win over Arizona State towards the tail end of the 2022 season before picking up two victories in the anthracites in 2023.

With a completely new slate of home opponents in 2024, none ranked in the preseason top 25, it will be interesting to see when WSU breaks these out.

Best Pants: White (12-6)

NCAA Football: Washington State at California

Yes, we are even including the pants in our highly analytical uniform stats. The Cougs rocked the white pants quite a bit in 2023, wearing them four times, but won just once against Oregon State. The pants are part of some fan favorites like the icy whites and the white-anthracite-white donned in the OSU victory.

Best Combo: “New School” (5-0)

A modern twist on the classic threads, swapping out the gray for the anthracite, has been a fan favorite since its debut in 2017 vs. Stanford. It has been worn on three different senior days, most recently against the Wisconsin Badgers last season.

Maybe it’s the mix of the newer anthracite with the classic crimson, or maybe it’s just the pure success WSU has had while in these threads, but some have even clamored for this to be the permanent home look.

Worst Helmet: White with Crimson Facemask (2-6)

NCAA Football: Washington State at Oregon

It’s a shame this helmet hasn’t seen many wins because I think this is WSU’s best-looking helmet. The Cougs broke this out twice last year at UCLA and Oregon, but lost both games. The two wins for these lids came in the Beaver State, at Oregon in 2017 and in the first game of the shortened 2020 season at Oregon State. Hopefully they can break these out against an inferior opponent to exercise some demons and get this fantastic look into more positive results.

Worst Jersey: White (14-23)

This one shouldn’t be too much of a surprise to anyone. WSU has only rocked the white jerseys on the road, and winning on the road is much harder than winning at home. WSU’s lone win last season in the white jerseys was the season opener at Colorado State.

Worst Pants: Anthracite (11-12)

Despite being a part of the most successful uniform combo, the anthracite pants are just 6-12 outside of that set. The Cougs wore the anthracite pants four times in 2023, twice at home and twice on the road, winning both times at home and losing both times on the road.

Worst Combo: White-White-Anthracite (0-3)

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: OCT 07 Washington State at UCLA

I think it’s time this combo is officially labeled as the cursed combo. Not only does it feature the three individual uniform pieces that perform the worst, but it is also the combo that kicked off the six-game losing streak last season.

The other time two times WSU has worn this combo? A 2019 loss at Arizona State and the infamous 2018 USC heartbreaker that still keeps Coug fans up at night.

If I’m the equipment staff, I’m never letting this combo touch the field ever again.