Conference Tournament Champions, Ridiculous Comebacks...all in black

Miami decided to bring out their black jerseys for their first round ACC tournament game with Virginia.  Miami, a team looking outside looking in on the field of 68, needed to win the ACC tournament in order to get a spot in the tournament.  Down by 10 with 42 seconds left in the 2nd half, the Black Jersey Theory kicked in, and Miami went on a 10-0 run to force overtime against the Cavaliers, ultimately winning in overtime.  Check out their magical black jersey comeback here.

Miami's Black Jerseys against Virginia

This comeback reminded college basketball fans across the country of another 10 point comeback in the final minute from the 2001 season.  It was #2 ranked Duke visiting #10 ranked Maryland.  Duke, down 10 with 1:00 on the clock, came back on a 10-0 run to force overtime relying on the sharp shooting from Jason Williams. Oh yeah, they wore black jerseys.  See the "Miracle Minute" highlight here.

"I love black jerseys!" -Carlos Boozer

Not quite the level of comeback as these previous two, but on March 11, 2011, the Louisville Cardinals brought out their black jerseys for their Big East Tournament semi-finals matchup against the 4th ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish.  Before the game started, I had a feeling the Cardinals would wear their black alternate jerseys, and I tweeted again:

Notre Dame will lose if Louisville wears these jerseys#blackjerseytheory http://tinyurl.com/4hjtcyq

Down by 16 at one point, Louisville rallied in the 2nd half to force overtime and beat the Irish by 6 to move on the the Big East championship game.

Hansbrough wishes ND wore black jerseys

Louisville played in the Big East Championship game the next night against UConn.  They did not wear black jerseys, thus they lost. 

In the Pac10 tournament, The University of Washington Huskies found themselves back in the title game trying to repeat as Pac10 Tournament Champions.  The Huskies, who normally wear purple (away) and white (home) jerseys, brought out their black alternate jerseys against the 16th ranked and regular season Pac10 Champion Arizona Wildcats.  I'll let you guess which team hit the buzzer beating jump shot in overtime.  The Huskies won 77-75.  Check out the buzzer beater here!

Isaiah Thomas hit the game winning buzzer-beater against the Wildcats

Let's backtrack to a week before the big time conference tournaments and take a look at the WCC Title game featuring St. Mary's and Gonzaga.   The Gaels and Bulldogs split the season series and were both 11-3 in conference.  One of the teams had to make an adjustment, and Gonzaga coach Mark Few made a genius coaching move and decided to wear black jerseys.  Gonzaga won 75-63 and is officially dancing.

These ones are sweet

Pac-10 Teams Copy Oregon And Wear Black

The 2010 college football season was a big season with more schools wearing black jerseys, especially on the west coast. Stanford and Washington (twice) brought out their own versions of black alternate jerseys.  Let's take a look at how these three games worked out for them (do we even need to?).

September 18, 2010
Stanford 68 
Wake Forest 24
Sadly only 39,061 people were in attendance to see this fashion statement because Stanford has a pathetic fan base.

Heisman Runner-Up Andrew Luck loves black jerseys

November 18, 2010

Washington 24 

UCLA 10

Future potential 1st round pick Jake Locker has never lost wearing black jerseys

December 30, 2010: Holiday Bowl

Washington 19 

#17 Nebraska 7

Winners wear black

2008 Georgia Bulldogs Unveil Black Jerseys...go 2-0

SEC power Georgia is not known for their ridiculous uniform combinations like Oregon is. They stick to the basic red home and white away jerseys with the same color pants; however, in 2008 they increased their swag level and wore black jerseys for the first time ever. 

The first time the jerseys were worn were on November 10th, 2007 against the 17th ranked Auburn Tigers.  The Bulldogs won 45-20 in the game known as the "Deep South's Oldest Rivalry."  Georgia liked the uniforms so much they wore them again in Nokia Sugar Bowl against undefeated Hawaii. Georgia obviously won, beating the 10th ranked Hawaii Rainbows 41-10.  So that's 2 wins against ranked opponents by an average of 33 points.  Black wins games. 

Knowshon Mareno in the Nokia Sugar Bowl 

Oregon's Black Jerseys

Since this blog focuses on jerseys, what better school to talk about than Oregon?  The University of Oregon Ducks football team is best known for their awesome uniform combinations with a big thanks to "Uncle Phil" Knight.  A student can go to Oregon for four years and never see the the same uniform combination. 

Oregon's Uniforms (click to enlarge)

Oregon has worn black alternate jerseys on specific occasions since 2006, all resulting in wins.

11/4/06 Washington
9/15/07 Fresno State
10/27/07 USC
11/15/08 Arizona
12/30/08 Oklahoma State (Holiday Bowl)
11/14/09 Arizona State
11/6/10 Washington


You may say that they won these games because they were played in Autzen Stadium, known as one of the toughest places to play in the country, but since 2006 Oregon has lost 4 games at home wearing non-black jerseys.

home losses:
11/18/06 Arizona (Green Tops)
9/27/07 California (Green Tops)
12/1/07 Oregon State (Yellow Tops)
9/20/08 Boise State (Yellow Tops)

another game in which they could have worn black:
2010 Rose Bowl.  Lost to Ohio State. (Green Tops).

7-0 while wearing black.

Dixon in all blacks vs UW in 2006

Jonathan Stewart in black against Fresno State in 2007

J-Stew again with the black top in 2007

LeGarrette Blount in black vs Arizona in 2008

Blount, wearing black, jumps over a Cowboy defensive player...

...then continues to run for the touchdown

Jeremiah Masoli in black vs ASU in 2009

Darron Thomas in Black vs UW in 2010

What is The Black Jersey Theory?

The Black Jersey Theory is very simple.  Teams that wear alternate black jerseys for sporting events win games...it's almost a guarantee.  If a team's normal colors are red and white, and they whip out the alternate black jerseys for a big game, they're going to win.  The theory doesn't apply to schools who have black as one of their two primary colors because they would wear black jerseys about half the time.

Black jerseys have been very common in college athletics over the past decade.  Schools have been deciding to get more creative with their jerseys to attract attention and bring excitement to their programs.  Wearing different jerseys gets the players, along with the fans, more excited about games, resulting in wins.

Origin of the Theory: Chicago Blackhawks

The motivation for this blog all started, at believe it or not, my first ever NHL game.  We were sitting at center ice in the 300 level and showed up just in time for the national anthem.  The players took the ice after the anthem for their warmups, and I quickly made a ridiculous statement via twitter:

"The Blackhawks will win this game b/c they are wearing black jerseys #blackjerseytheory"


Even though "black" is in the name of their mascot, their primary jersey colors are red and white.

Of course, the Blackhawks beat the Carolina Hurricanes 5-2, and The Black Jersey Theory was official born. 

Black Jerseys > White Jerseys