When the Texas Longhorns players arrived in Stillwater to face off against the Oklahoma State Cowboys, they had a special surprise from head coach Charlie Strong:
Coach Strong had a surprise for his team tonight. NEW HELMETS. http://t.co/FUmhokuHnX #TEXvsOSU #NobodyFreakOut pic.twitter.com/pmf4YMjKYw
— Longhorn Network (@LonghornNetwork) November 15, 2014
Despite the subtle nature of the tweak to the iconic logo on the helmet, many traditionalists didn't care for the changes, often using slippery slope arguments, concerned that one small change was going to result in the Longhorns making questionable uniform decisions nearly every week, as they perceive the Texas Tech Red Raiders to be doing.
It's an odd fear given that no one on the administration has ever publicly discussed serious changes to the uniforms.
So Monday must be a happy day for all the uniform Luddites out there, as they can now ratchet their paranoia level down a few notches (assuming that's possible):
Charlie Strong on new metallic decals: "It was just special for that one game. Give our players just a shot of juice to get going."
— Orangebloods.com (@OBWire) November 17, 2014
And for the record, count Strong among those who doesn't want to make any significant changes to the Texas uniforms:
Charlie Strong on the UT uniforms: "I'm old school and I love our uniforms ... it's our tradition is and I don't ever want to lose that."
— Bob Ballou (@KEYESportsBob) November 17, 2014
For a team and a fanbase that is increasingly superstitious after all the attention paid to the color of Strong's mock turtleneck during games -- Texas struggled when he was wearing white, won vs. Iowa State when he was wearing burnt orange, lost to Kansas State in white, then won three straight games in burnt orange -- the quality of play against Oklahoma State would seem to provide an argument for keeping things the same.
But alas, the Longhorns will apparently return to the old, boring decals for the next game after the logo spent one wonderful night catching and reflecting the lights at Boone Pickens Stadium while matching the metallic sheen on the burnt orange uniform trim.
RIP, glorious metallic helmet decals.
Texas athletics