New Uniforms For WVU in 2022 Football Season Opener

WVU’s football program is repeating a rollout of new uniforms against Pitt, and hopes the results on the field are similar to the last time the Mountaineers unveiled a special set of togs against its most frequently-faced opponent. On Nov. 26, 2010, West Virginia wore a coal-themed Nike Pro Combat uniform against the Panthers, who sported a steel-themed outfit, and WVU’s white road unis proved victorious in a 35-10 win in the last game in the series played on Panther home turf.

WVU tried to capitalize on that by wearing the same combination against N.C. State in the Champs Sports Bowl on Dec. 28, but dropped a 23-7 decision on that day, ending the short span of that uniform set with a 1-1 record.

Now, 12 years later, West Virginia will open its 2022 campaign with a new, more colorful look, an homage to Country Roads, with bold gold and blue stripes on its pants and helmets, color-blocked sleeves and some subtle inlays as it tries to win its fourth game in a row in the series, which was interrupted after the 2011 season. The uniform combo is scheduled to be used for this game only, which starts the season for both teams on Sept. 1 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.

Two of the best features of the new uniforms are the inlaid roadmaps of Interstate 79 and several other West Virginia highways and byways, which can be seen upon close inspection of the blue stripes, blue numbers, blue helmet sticker and the shoulder blocks of the uniform. The other is an excellent melding of the flying WV inside an outline of the state on the helmets and pants, which is a call-back to the old WVU football logo that adorned helmets from 1970-79, and were also worn as a throwback for single games in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

Many of West Virginia players have favored the all-white helmet-jersey-pants combinations of recent years, but WVU has been just average in the white on white combination, going 23-21 since 2001 according to WVU’s sports information staff. Those have come with both blue and white helmets atop the white-white combo.