When should Purdue have released these Gold Jerseys?
Under the lights, in front of a sold out Ross Ade, with first place in the B1G West on the line, riding a three game win streak — Purdue won their first game in gold in 20 years.
It was the perfect return for the Gold Jersey.
However, it wasn’t the return — it was the repeat.
For Homecoming 2021, through cryptic social media posts and an aggressively denying uniform tracker, Purdue brought out brand new Gold Jerseys for the football program. A Noon Game in the rain, Minnesota put a damper on what should have been the most inspiring uniforms in Purdue Football’s rotation.
What exactly made that the stage right for the Gold Jersey to return?
In 1986, the Purdue team was surprised with a one-off, Old Oaken Bucket inspired, gold jersey to celebrate Rod Woodson’s last game and to inspire the team to spoil the great season Indiana was having. The team pulled off a shocking 17–15 victory and would finish the year 3–8.
In 2003, Purdue redid their gold jerseys with Black numbers instead of white. Nike made replicas for fans, hype videos features players in front of amazing green screen effects wearing them — Tiller had his wish to see Purdue’s unique color at center stage.
After an unexpected home opener loss to Urban Meyer and Bowling Green, the team would return in the next home game wearing Black jerseys and taking the field to Back in Black. Those gold jerseys wouldn’t ever been again.
That’s some world building. Thats not just dropping a jersey because you feel like it.
So when should the current Gold Jersey have returned?
They are on the same template as the rest of the set, so hypothetically, they were feasible since 2016. For the sake of the argument, let’s say they have been sitting in storage since 2016 and the numbers/names could all be stitched on within a week’s time.
I’ve gone back and looked at each year and highlighted which game had the right story lines to justify breaking out the Gold.
2016
After an expected win against Eastern Kentucky, Purdue comes back a week later to host Cincinnati. While the season would go off the rails and lead to Darrel Hazell’s firing midseason, the Bearcats would have been a decent opponent to bring the gold jerseys back.
With the Black Military Appreciation Helmet and black pants, we would have had the same uniform as we’ve seen with these gold jerseys to date.
However, with very low expectations and confidence from the AD, it was pretty clear that nothing would be wasted on a lame duck coach.
2017
The program was electric for Brohm to host the Wolverines. Giving the Purdue semi-faithful* the first look at the Chrome Helmets, proves that the department was ready to put on a show fashion wise for this event.
The uniform budget for 2017 was highly extended for the Chrome Lids, and the loss punches a hole in the sails for the rest of the season.
Minnesota ended up becoming the Tiller Memorial game with the throwback striped helmets which was better for the moment. Tiller was the driving force behind getting Purdue to wear more gold during his tenure, but the casual fan wouldn’t really make any connection to it.
*True fans would have been there for the opener with Ohio, but understandably not everyone pays attention to a non-conference, non-P5 game.
2018
The Tyler Trent Game was the first Blackout game since the previously mentioned Cincinnati game in 2016, and honestly was the best option for the stakes. Gold Jerseys might have honestly been too big for that moment.
The next home game against Iowa featuring the chaotic Chrome/Grey/Anthracite combo would have much better served by bringing the gold out. The walk off field goal, the third home ranked win and fighting for bowl eligibility (and retaining Brohm) set a beautiful stage for the return.
2019
After a rough opening loss and then a week three loss to TCU, Purdue didn’t sit in a spot where they could really debut the gold jersey to any fanfare against Minnesota, the only game that made sense for an alternate look — and they went with the Black/Grey/Black for this game instead.
The homecoming game featured the Cradle of Astronauts uniform which was incredibly well received because of the university lore, not the football program.
2020
Throw out the year, no butts in seats, no gold on backs. The planning for the Throwbacks were completed in the early days of the pandemic, so it was a surprise to release them, but I’m assuming the players wanted the opportunity.
2021
The inspired 2021 season didn’t become inspired until immediately after the Minnesota loss — by beating #2 Iowa on the road and then soon after knocking around #3 MSU at Ross Ade.
They had a merchandise run, but no one in the stadium really even knew it had been 18 years since a Purdue program took the field wearing gold — though shout out to Trevor Peters for trying to help hype things up using my tweets during the pregame coverage.
Instead of Minnesota, Purdue should have broken off the chains on the gold jerseys for Wisconsin.
With high energy after the road win at Iowa, Purdue could have used the power up to try and ruin the Badger’s Win streak at Ross Ade — not beating them at home since 1997.
They could have been dubbed the Hammer Down Cancer jerseys due to the foundation’s focus on yellow as the color for all cancer survivors. It would have made people less critical of the Vegas Gold jersey and increased support. It would have made it less about it being ‘a gold jersey’ and more of it feeling like a one off auction item.
2022
No notes, Nebraska was the perfect game.
Ultimately, the uniform match up was set weeks in advance. I’m sure the NCAA had to certify that Gold and White contrasted enough, and no one wanted to swap plans midseason. This inflexibility really took out the special energy the return for the gold jersey and would have made content and hype much easier if they actually wanted to make it a thing.
They were treated as if they were just some simple thing, when if they were, it wouldn’t have taken 18 years to return.
