2025 Uniformity – Week 5: Sun Devils to Wear Blackout Uniform Against TCU

Week in Review

Breathe in, breathe out. And now, I’ve finally caught my breath from that win over Baylor last week. It was a closer game than it should have been, as the Sun Devils endured self-inflicted wounds (including a penalty habit they can’t seem to shake) and ineffective play calling in the red zone. Otherwise, the Devils dominated the game in almost every facet. The defense held a Baylor team that came into the game averaging over 500 yards per game to 357 total yards and forced three turnovers. ASU also held a 36:24 to 23:36 time of possession advantage. They had multiple trips to the red zone, but looked pedestrian in their efforts to punch the ball in the end zone during most of those trips. In all, the Sun Devils dominated the game, but failed to dominate the scoreboard, which is something that needs to be fixed going forward. At the end of the day, once Jesus Gomez’s last-second field goal split the uprights, the Sun Devils earned their first Big 12 win of the season on the road, and that’s a beautiful thing. Speaking of beautiful, let’s talk about those uniforms.

The Sun Devils broke out the Sparky helmets in Week 4, the earliest they’ve worn Sparky in a season since its final season as the sole helmet in 2010. After experiencing much heavier use at the end of the 2024 season, when worn in four consecutive games, the vault appears to have opened a little wider. Wearing the Sparky helmet also seems to offer a bit more flexibility than in years past. It had been reserved for games of significance in the past, whether it was Homecoming games, Territorial Cup games, or a ranked matchup and postseason games last year. This game held significant importance as it was the Big 12 Conference opener and the start of the Sun Devils’ campaign to defend their Big 12 Championship title. The look matched the game result: it was a win. Wearing Sparky is never a bad thing. The Sparky helmet is one of the most recognizable, iconic, and celebrated helmets in college football, among fans on a national scale. It was a great look to be worn for starting out conference play with a win.

Gold Sparky/White/Gold: A

The Week to Come

Uniform

Arizona State returns home and will welcome TCU, a team that has shown ample firepower on offense thus far this season, most recently beating SMU in a hard-fought game. Both ASU and TCU have high aspirations this season, and this game will be an early tone-setter with the winner gaining more momentum as they head deeper into an extremely competitive Big 12 schedule. The level of importance for this game is often matched by a bold uniform choice. This is a perfect scenario for a Blackout game, and that’s just what it is going to be. When the Sun Devils take the field against the Horned Frogs, they will do so in their first head-to-toe Blackout uniform since 2018.

The black jerseys feature gold “Sun Devils” print in Sun Devil Bold font across the chest, gold player numbers with no outline 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 black fabric accents that represent the rays of the Arizona state flag.

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

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

Helmet

This is a never-before-seen paint finish for a black helmet. In the past, the black helmet has always been matte, except for a gloss finish introduced in 2014. This year’s model features a satin finish, and it is by far my favorite black helmet shell that ASU has ever offered. The black helmet features standard-sized black pitchforks with gold trim. The facemask is black, and the front bumper has a black base and gold word mark that reads “Sun Devils.” The decals on the back of the helmet include a transparent Big 12 logo with a gold border, a gold PT*42 shield honoring the legendary Sun Devil, Pat Tillman, a gold Warning label which is in the shape of the state of Arizona, features gold text, and has a small, maroon pitchfork with gold trim over Tempe, and an American flag. The decals on the back of the helmet are rounded by the gold “Arizona State” text black base rear bumper.

Cleats and Socks

The Sun Devils will wear black cleats against TCU. There are two different types of cleats that will be worn. The first pair 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).

The top pair is the adizero Impact. It features an iridescent sole, the black base has three white stripes with mesh texture stylizations on the outside of the shoe, and there is an identical white three stripe mark on the instep as well. The black laces are speckled with white, there is a black 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 black sole and base with white mesh stylized three stripes on the outside of the foot, and black laces.

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

Gloves

The Sun Devils will wear 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 black adizeros feature a maroon pitchfork with gold trim on the palm of each glove. They also have three gold stripes logo on the back of the hand, a gold adidas logo on the corner of the wrist strap, and a black, 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 black adidas Freak gloves feature the same maroon pitchfork palm design as the adizero, three gold stripes on the back of the hand, and differ by having a gold adizero wordmark on the black 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

Blackouts have been weird since 2019, when black helmets were shelved due to budgetary constraints. Ever since then, it has been a toss-up as to what color helmet, facemask, and decal combination we would see matched with black jerseys and pants. That lasted until last season, when the 2024 Blackout game had very little about it that was black at all. The Maroon Monsoon and Blackout games were held back-to-back weeks, and both featured all-maroon uniforms, with the only distinguishing color features being that the Blackout version of this uniform had black decals and facemasks. ASU athletic director Graham Rossini took responsibility and promised to be better in the future. And just like he has done in every other aspect of his tenure thus far, Graham has delivered.

Not only have the black jerseys and pants returned, but the long-awaited revival of the black helmet is upon us. This is the first black helmet option and first head-to-toe Blackout uniform that the Sun Devils have worn since 2018. It’s been missed. I’ll always love the primary maroon and gold colors more, but there have been some special Blackout games in the past, and this one against TCU has the makings of another one. My only critique is that I do miss the maroon outline around the gold numbers, but I also kind of love the way they look without it. That being said, I can’t wait to see a true Blackout on the field once again.

What Color #Faniform ASU Fans Should Wear: Black

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 Branded Bills cap with the state of Texas split in half by color. West Texas is maroon and contains a maroon pitchfork with gold trim, while East Texas is gold and contains a maroon baseball Devils script. He also wore a gold Texas Devils Sparky shirt under an off-white polo that had the maroon pitchfork ASU letter mark logo. He also featured a white Hotel 1928 shirt, highlighting his stay at the Chip and Joanna Gaines-owned establishment. Finally, he wore white ASU adizero Evo SL shoes.

#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 @@SNDVL5 on earning a semi-finalist spot last week! Best of luck to @Cawley_TV, @tp3SunDevil, and @BumblinDevil in this week’s Twitter and Instagram poll!