2025 Uniformity – Week 13: Sparky like you’ve never seen him before

Week in Review

Slow starts have become a frustrating normality during the 2025 season. That fact continued last Saturday as the Sun Devil offense was stifled for the entirety of the first quarter. Fortunately, the Arizona State defense was stout and made stops when needed, allowing only 3 points heading into the second quarter. That’s when it was the offense’s time to shine, and boy did they shine as they exploded for 22 points, taking a 22-10 lead into halftime. That same offense cooled off in the second half, and while the defense played incredibly well to keep West Virginia at bay for the majority of the game, explosive plays proved to be back-breaking, including a 90-yard screen pass that gave the Mountaineers the lead. ASU responded with the grit that Kenny Dillingham’s teams have come to be known for, getting themselves into position for a 49-yard field goal try. Tensions were high as the Devils had a kick blocked earlier in the game, but Jesus Gomez, with ice in his veins, stepped up and nailed the kick to ultimately put the Sun Devils up 25-23. The defense kept West Virginia from mounting a last-minute comeback when Keith Abney intercepted a 4th-down pass, sealing the victory for Arizona State. There’s no such thing as an ugly win, but it wasn’t the best looking way to start a new winning streak. Now let’s talk about something that was good looking, the uniforms.

First, I would like to address the “Reaction” section from last week’s article. I understand that some of my wording about the uniform’s design may have come across as a comment on the equipment staff’s care or effort in their immense dedication to their work. That was not my intent. My perspective was focused only on the creative aspects of the uniform itself. I have a deep appreciation for the pride, long hours, and hard work the equipment room puts in, as well as how much devotion they put into the finer details, and I’m grateful for everything they do for this program. This critique was about design decisions, not the effort of the staff, and I regret if that was unclear in any way.

Now let’s talk about last week’s combination. The uniform looked excellent. When the uniform was revealed last week, there were grumblings made my way from fans on social media about there being too much white at home, that white isn’t a school color, and that this is a bad uniform combination. While I would have liked to have seen a little more variety from year to year, those dissenting voices couldn’t be more wrong. The white helmet, maroon jersey, white pant uniform combination is sharp. Sometimes, too much white on a uniform can lead to loss of identity because of lack of school colors. In this case, the colors worked well throughout the entire uniform. Outside of the span between 2009-2022, white has been a tertiary color on the Arizona State home maroon jerseys, as well as on the Sparky decals for decades. Now that white is again the outline of the gold player numbers, its role as a tertiary color is once again cemented, and it deserves its time in the sun for a uniform color combo like this. The maroon digicamo base of the PT*42 shield and the center stripe, along with its gold accents, brought enough depth to balance the heavier usage of white. It was a good look to wear for a big win.

White/Maroon/White Salute to Service: A-

The Week to Come

Uniform

Arizona State is bringing a freshly renewed winning streak with them to Boulder, where they’ll look to build upon it as they try to beat a Colorado team that has seen its share of struggles this season. Don’t let CU’s 3-7 record lull one into a false sense of security. They beat Iowa State earlier this season, and two weeks ago, they challenged the West Virginia team that the Sun Devils just barely put away. Now, they’re coming off a bye week, and they still have Deion Sanders as their head coach. Add the cherry on top of a late November night game in the Rocky Mountains, and the cold weather games that ASU teams have historically struggled at are sure to be fresh in the memories of Sun Devil fans. Sticking to a ground attack and finding a way to dominate the Buffaloes where they can will be the key to victory, and the Sun Devils have to avoid the trap game mindset as they know they’ll be playing for the Territorial Cup the next week. When the Sun Devils look to grow their win streak against Colorado, they’ll do so in a white Sparky helmet, white jersey, and maroon pant uniform combination.

The white jerseys feature maroon “Arizona State” print in Sun Devil Bold font across the chest, maroon player numbers outlined in gold on both the front and back of the jersey, as well as the TV numbers on the top of the sleeves. The sleeves feature angular white fabric accents that represent the rays of the Arizona state flag. The white jersey also features fabric numbers, which appear to have a larger vertical format than last season’s jersey.

The nameplate on the back of the jersey utilizes the maroon plain text font. On the front of the jersey, near the left shoulder, is a gold adidas logo. Near the right shoulder is a maroon and gold Big 12 logo. There is also a maroon O2V printed on the inside of the colla,r and, as always, at the base of the collar is the black PT*42 shield.

The maroon pants have a gold adidas logo on the left hip and a maroon pitchfork with gold trim on the right hip.

Helmet

The white helmet features the classic Sparky decal on either side of the helmet and a maroon center stripe. The facemask is maroon, and the front bumper has a white base and maroon word mark that reads “Arizona State.” The white chinstrap features a gold pitchfork with maroon trim, while the actual white straps feature maroon “Arizona State” print.

The decals on the back of the helmet include a transparent Big 12 logo with a maroon border, a maroon PT*42 shield honoring the legendary Sun Devil, Pat Tillman, a maroon Warning label which is in the shape of the state of Arizona, features maroon text, and has a small, gold pitchfork over Tempe, and an American flag. The decals on the back of the helmet are rounded by the maroon “Sun Devils” text on a white base rear bumper.

Cleats and Socks

The Sun Devils will wear white cleats against Colorado. From left to right, there are three different types of cleats. The first two pairs are lighter cleats and are typically worn by speed position players (wide receivers and defensive backs), while the last pair is worn by heavier players (linemen).

From left to right, the pair furthest to the left is the adizero Electric. It features a white sole that reaches upward toward the heel of the shoe. They have a textured white base with three maroon stripes and an adizero Electric wordmark on the outside of the shoe. The top portion of the cleat is a primeknit with a maroon adizero wordmark on the tongue, and there is a white adidas logo with maroon outline on the instep. It has white laces speckled with maroon and a white heel tab with a maroon adizero Electric logo. The next pair is the adizero Impact. It features a white sole, a white base with three maroon stripes and mesh texture stylizations on the outside of the shoe, and an identical maroon three-stripe mark on the instep as well. The white laces are speckled with maroon, there is a white tongue loop with a white adizero wordmark on the tongue, and the cleat also has a white finger loop on the heel.

The final pair is the adizero Chaos, made for more ankle support for heavier linemen. It has a white sole and base with maroon mesh stylized three stripes on the outside of the foot, and white laces.

White socks will be worn to match the cleats as well.

Gloves

The Sun Devils will wear maroon and black gloves, and as with the cleats, there are different gloves for different positions. The gloves on the top are adizeros which are typically worn by speed position players like wide receivers and defensive backs. The maroon adizeros feature a maroon pitchfork with gold trim on the palm of each glove. They also have three white stripes logo on the back of the hand, a white adidas logo on the corner of the wrist strap, and a maroon, tonal adizero word mark on the pointer finger. The gloves in the middle are adidas Freaks, worn by larger skill position players such as linebackers and tight ends. The maroon adidas Freak gloves feature the same maroon pitchfork palm design as the adizero, three white stripes on the back of the hand, and differ by having a white adizero wordmark on the maroon wristband. Finally, for linemen, the gloves on the bottom are adidas Freak-Max, which boast extra padding on the heel of the palm meant to withstand all of the contact that linemen endure throughout the course of a game. They are plain black with black padding on the palm and along with a gold adidas logo on the back of the hand, they also have gold accents on the knuckles and the black wrist-wrap.

Reaction

Well, ask and ye shall receive, I suppose. For the first time ever, the traditional Sparky decal will be on a helmet shell color other than gold. I made a point about creativity last week and wanting to see Sparky used in more creative ways. This equipment room has delivered and has me eating my words. I would love to say that my words nudged this helmet into existence, but the fact of the matter is that this had to have been in the works for a good bit of time as there is an approval process for Sparky to be used on anything other than the traditional gold helmet. That means all credit goes to the equipment staff for stepping out and doing something incredible with Sparky. Thank goodness this got approved. Finally.

It’s not like this hasn’t been desired in the past, but there were rules and roadblocks in place that kept a white Sparky helmet from seeing the light of day. Those roadblocks and rules have seemingly since lifted and with a forward thinking, uniform loving athletic director like Graham Rossini at the helm now, approvals of ideas like this, so long as they’re not too outlandish, seem to be a bit more realistic these days.

I couldn’t be happier about this uniform. In fact, I did an interview with Joe Healey and Brad Denny during an offseason Speak of the Devils podcast episode prior to the 2024 season in which they asked me what my dream uniform would be. I described this very uniform as my fantasy road uniform which can be heard here at the 42:40 mark of the episode.

With Sparky being used on this helmet, that means that four of the five road games have seen Sparky on the helmet in some way, shape, or form. The traditional Sparky decal has been worn three times (Baylor, Iowa State, Colorado) while the Sparky face was worn once (Mississippi State). The increased usage of Sparky throughout the season has been nice to see. It would certainly be cool to have it take place at home more often in the future, but it’s nice to see the momentum of heavy Sparky usage from the end of the 2024 season carry over into this season as well. Especially since we’ve finally broken through a barrier and have Sparky on a white shell. This feels like a great uniform to be worn under the lights, so I’m glad that it will be played during a night game as well. The 1975 throwbacks looked great, but this might be the uniform of the year.

What Color Travelling ASU Fans Should Wear: Gold

Honorary #Faniform

Arizona State Athletic Director Graham Rossini continues to join in the fun of submitting a #faniform each week. While it is still a #faniform, anything submitted from Rossini will never be eligible for the #faniforms presented by Cactus Sports contest. However, we still love to highlight his participation and just how well-dressed he is. Last game, Rossini wore a maroon sublimated, tonal camo quarter zip that has a maroon pitchfork with gold trim. He wore that over a white polo with a gray triangle pattern and a gold pitchfork with maroon trim on the chest. His footwear included Stance USA Flag socks and adidas Performance 4D 1.0 shoes. A great Salute to Service #faniform combination.

#Faniforms Presented by Cactus Sports

Welcome back to #Faniforms Presented by Cactus Sports! Uniformity loves to highlight your best gameday #faniforms that you wear to support the Sun Devils each week. As a reminder, with Uniformity’s partnership with Cactus Sports, three #faniforms will be chosen at random each week, just like in the past, but this season, there will be a weekly Twitter poll to vote for which of those three #faniforms will become a contest finalist. At the end of the regular season, all of the finalists will be entered into a final vote, with the grand prize being a $125 gift card to Cactus Sports! Reminder, when posting to Twitter, remember to use the hashtag #faniform and tag the Uniformity Twitter account @ASU_Uniformity. Here are this week’s selections! Keep an eye out on Twitter and Instagram for the fan vote! Cast your vote for the best #faniform each week!

Congratulations to @andrewtaylor09 on earning a semi-finalist spot last week! Best of luck to @ProducerWes, @DC_Rapper1, and @sethjones17 in this week’s Twitter and Instagram poll!