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NC State Football 2010s Uniform Retrospective: Part 1

Philip Rivers jogs onto the field Photo by Craig Jones/Getty Images

I first posted one of these a couple of weeks back for the MBB program. You can find the results of the polls in that post here.

For the NC State Football portion of this series, I decided to break it up into three parts because what in the hell else am I going to fill my down time right now? This FB uniform series is going to be broken into: (1) Favorite Helmet, (2) Favorite Jerseys, and (3) Favorite Home & Away Helmet/Jersey Combo.

Sooooooo Part 1, helmets:

2010:

FBC-FLAST-NCST Ethan Hyman/Raleigh News & Observer/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

2011*:

North Carolina State v Tennessee Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

*The picture is from 2012, but these helmets were introduced in the 2011 season.

2013*:

Richmond at North Carolina State Ethan Hyman/Raleigh News & Observer/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
Clemson v North Carolina State Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
North Carolina State v Florida State Photo by Don Juan Moore/Getty Images
NC State vs. UNC Ethan Hyman/Raleigh News & Observer/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

*I’m calling the White Helmet/Red Block S/Double Black Stripe helmet from the 2013 FSU game a “Ghosted White Helmet” because I never really understood why State wore those. They weren’t part of any uniform reveal IIRC.

State just decided to wear them kind of out of nowhere, and then proceeded to get totally pantsed by a dominant FSU team that was the eventual 2013 National Title winner. I went to that game in 2013, got there at the end of the 1st quarter, saw that State was down 35-0, and made it til the mid-way mark of the 2nd quarter before deciding that it was a better use of my time to check out what type of alcohol that Tallahassee had to offer.

2014*:

NCAA FOOTBALL: DEC 30 Belk Bowl - NC State v Mississippi State Photo by Jim Dedmon/Icon Sportswire/Corbis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
NCAA FOOTBALL: DEC 26 BITCOIN St Petersburg Bowl - NC State v UCF Photo by Mark LoMoglio/Icon Sportswire/Corbis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Boston College at North Carolina State Ethan Hyman/Raleigh News & Observer/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

*I’m sorry. I don’t care how good a person you might be, but if you thought that the two gradient - metallic gray / red - abomination helmet that State introduced in 2014 was a good look - well then I’d be willing to say that I flatly don’t think I’d like you. They even came complete with wolf eyes on the back of them. Burn those. Burn them with fire. Never let them see the light of day again.

2015:

Syracuse at North Carolina State Ethan Hyman/Raleigh News & Observer/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

2017:

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: OCT 05 Louisville at NC State Photo by William Howard/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
COLLEGE FOOTBALL: SEP 30 Syracuse at NC State Photo by William Howard/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
North Carolina State v Boston College Photo by Tim Bradbury/Getty Images

2018*:

North Carolina State v Syracuse Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images
COLLEGE FOOTBALL: NOV 08 Wake Forest at NC State Photo by Michael Berg/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

*The white oversized Tuffy head helmets were worn with the “Ice Wolf” Uniforms in 2018 and then again with the “Stealth Wolf” Uniforms in 2019.

Throwbacks:

I decided to toss a throwbacks section in here because I’d personally love to see State wear a different throwback helmet once a season. However, the only time in recent memory that they broke out a throwback helmet was the 2016 monsoon game against Notre Dame as pictured below:

Notre Dame at North Carolina State Ethan Hyman/Raleigh News & Observer/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

There are also the following throwbacks:

Red Diamond S Helmet

Red Script S Helmet

White Script S Helmet

NCSU Senior Associate AD Fred Demarest posted a tweet last year of a graphic in Reynolds that showcased all of the different helmets that the Pack has worn throughout the years. I’d love to see some kind of large scale graphic in one of the concourses at Carter-Finley that shows all of the different helmets as well. I think they’ve got something like this inside the Murphy Center, but I’ve never had the fortune to tour the “Palace that Chuck the Chest Built”.

Polls:

Poll

Favorite white helmet?

This poll is closed

  • 11%
    2010 White Helmet / Red Block S
    (23 votes)
  • 1%
    2013 White Helmet / Stars & Stripes Block S
    (4 votes)
  • 4%
    2013 Ghosted White Helmet / Red Block S
    (9 votes)
  • 1%
    2013 White Helmet / Full Tuffy
    (4 votes)
  • 13%
    2014 White Helmet / Tuffy Head
    (28 votes)
  • 43%
    2018 White Helmet / Oversized Tuffy Head "Ice Wolf" & 2019 "Stealth Wolf"
    (88 votes)
  • 21%
    Throwback White Helmet / Red Diamond S
    (44 votes)
  • 1%
    Throwback White Helmet / Red Script S
    (4 votes)
204 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Favorite red helmet?

This poll is closed

  • 11%
    2011 Red Helmet / Ghosted White Block S
    (18 votes)
  • 10%
    2013 Red Helmet / White Block S / White Facemask
    (17 votes)
  • 11%
    2014 Red Helmet / White Block S / Black Facemask
    (18 votes)
  • 50%
    2017 Red Helmet / Tuffy Head
    (83 votes)
  • 9%
    Throwback Red Helmet / White Diamond S
    (16 votes)
  • 6%
    Throwback Red Helmet / White Script S
    (11 votes)
163 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Favorite Alternate Color Helmet?

This poll is closed

  • 3%
    2014 Metallic Gray-Red Helmet / Red Block S
    (5 votes)
  • 3%
    2015 Camo Gray Helmet / Red Block S "Iron Wolf"
    (5 votes)
  • 32%
    2017 Matte Black Helmet / Metallic Tuffy Head "Black Howl"
    (51 votes)
  • 10%
    2017 Camo Gray Helmet / Tuffy Head "Iron Wolf"
    (17 votes)
  • 50%
    2018 Matte Black Helmet / Tuffy Head
    (79 votes)
157 votes total Vote Now

My personal take on the football helmets is that the Tuffy heads are obviously here to stay. They pop on TV much better than those of the Block S variety, and the entire Athletics Department has obviously been pushing that logo much more than the Block S over the last ~3 or so years. #branding

From a season to season perspective, I’d love to see red/white alternating Tuffy helmets as the primary looks, with one game a year where State wears the full 2017 “Black Howl” uniform set (I like these a lot more than the black uniforms/helmets they wore in 2018 and 2019), and one game a year where they wear a throwback helmet (Block S, Script S, or Diamond S).