Jersey Debate: Black vs. Gold

It's a question that comes up before almost every home game: "What jersey is UCF wearing this weekend? Black or gold?"

Often times, play-by-play voice Marc Daniels is tasked with asking head coach George O'Leary a fan-submitted jersey question on the weekly radio show. Like clockwork, O'Leary will deny his role in choosing the jersey color (that's all on equipment director Robert Jones, he'll say) and then will mock fans who actually care about such matters.

In 2013, UCF Marketing spent the entire season promoting the USF home finale as a "blackout," which was even printed on the game ticket. UCF even had ordered black helmets ostensibly for the occasion. Fans, excited to participate in such a promotion, made Bright House Networks Stadium a sea of black. Players were pumped about the possible all-black look. And what did the team come out wearing? Gold jerseys, though they did wear the black helmets.

It wasn't a huge surprise as it seemed O'Leary was irritated by uniform talk in the days leading up to the game.

"Uniform wise, this is what we'll do," O'Leary replied last November when asked the jersey question during his weekly radio show prior to the USF game. "We're going to wear a helmet. We're going to wear a jersey. We're going to wear pants. Everybody happy? You'll be surprised what we wear... It's amazing the letters I get about this, and these are grown men asking these questions. I can understand some fashion people caring, but these other guys, come on."

This year, UCF has moved away from officially promoting color-scheme games though unofficially the student fan group "The Gauntlet" is pushing a blackout for Thursday's ESPN game against BYU.

For its entire history, save for one game in the mid-1990s, UCF was exclusively a black-jersey football team. O'Leary, who seemed to prefer a lighter-color look from his days at Georgia Tech, incorporated a gold jersey into the rotation beginning in 2005. After the 0-11 season in 2004, players and fans alike seemed ready for a change.

These days, fans are tiring of the gold, evident by the countless topics started on the UCFSports.com message boards as well as fan polls which have shown more than 90 percent of fans prefer black. UCF wore black just once in 2013 - the season opener against Akron - and has chosen to wear gold in every home game since, including the two "home" games so far this season (in Ireland vs. Penn State and Bethune-Cookman).

Players, both in interviews and off-the-record comments, seem to overwhelmingly prefer the black jerseys. They'd also like to have names on the back, but that's a different topic for another day.

To break down the jersey debate, UCFSports.com takes a look at jersey selection during the George O'Leary era, year-by-year. Which home color has UCF worn more? What's the all-time winning percentage in each jersey?

2004 (0-11)

2004 was the first year of UCF's relationship with Adidas and they had one just home option, the traditional black. UCF, winless in O'Leary's first season, played five home games (West Virginia, Northern Illinois, Akron, Ohio, Kent State). That was also the final year of player names on jerseys.

Black: 0-5

White: 0-6

2005 (8-5)

The team wore all white for both Media Day and Fan Day in August, then finally debuted the new gold jerseys for the Marshall home opener. Fans remember that game well: The 17-game losing streak was broken and a new one began. It's probably not a stretch to say O'Leary may have associated black jerseys and names on the back with losing, because once he made the switch things turned around.

The home wins in gold were Marshall, Memphis, Tulane and Houston. Losses were the C-USA Championship vs. Tulsa and the Hawaii Bowl vs. Nevada.

Gold: 4-2

White: 4-3

2006 (4-8)

The last year in the Citrus Bowl. UCF opened up vs. Villanova, wearing the gold jerseys of course. Next up was Florida on the road, then the first home game vs. USF. Gold was worn again. That was a 24-17 loss to the Bulls as running back Kevin Smith got benched for a curfew violation. UCF finally brought out the black jerseys for the Oct. 13 Friday night game vs. Pittsburgh, which was billed as a blackout. The game was a total disaster. Pittsburgh opened with a kickoff return for touchdown and never looked back, winning 52-7. It's not like UCF was doing anything wearing gold that year, but was O'Leary convinced back then that black jerseys were bad news?

Besides Villanova and USF, gold jersey games were Southern Miss (L), Rice (L), East Carolina (L) and UAB (W).

Black: 0-1

Gold: 2-4

White: 2-3

2007 (10-4)

First year playing on campus at Bright House Networks Stadium. Just like 2005, the black jerseys were permanently shelved but this time was because they were not ordered. UCF wore gold for every home game (Texas, Memphis, Louisiana-Lafayette, Tulsa, Marshall, UTEP, C-USA Championship vs. Tulsa), as well as the Liberty Bowl. Losses were Texas and Mississippi State/Liberty Bowl.

Gold: 6-2

White: 4-2

2008 (4-8)

Just like 2007, black jerseys are completely out of the picture as the equipment office did not order them. Every home game was played in a gold jersey, including South Carolina State, USF, SMU, East Carolina, Southern Miss and UAB. And all were losses, except for South Carolina State and SMU.

Gold: 2-4

White: 2-4

2009 (8-5)

UCF wore gold for 22 consecutive dark-jersey games from 2006 to 2009 before the black jerseys returned for the Nov. 14 game vs. Houston. Maybe that made the difference because UCF upset the No. 12 Cougars 37-32, the program's first win over a ranked team. UCF then kept the black jerseys the next week for the home finale vs. Tulane. White jerseys include all road games and the St. Petersburg Bowl vs. Rutgers.

Gold: 4-1

Black: 2-0

White: 2-4

2010 (11-3)

The first all-black season since 2004 and the first year of Nike affiliation. UCF wore black jerseys for every home game (South Dakota, NC State, UAB, Rice, East Carolina, Southern Miss, SMU) and in the Liberty Bowl vs. Georgia. They also wore black for the road game at Marshall as the Herd were promoting a white-out. The only black jersey losses were NC State and Southern Miss.

Black: 7-2

White: 4-1

2011 (5-7)

The season was black-dominated, but gold made a return after being completely absent in 2010. UCF's first three home games, all wins, were played in black: Charleston Southern, Boston College and Marshall (monsoon game). For a day game in late October, the gold was brought out for Memphis. Black was worn again for Tulsa (loss), and it was all gold - jersey and pants - for the home finale vs. UTEP. Former offensive lineman Theo Goins called the all-gold their "Chicken McNugget" look.

Black: 3-1

Gold:- 2-0

White: 0-6

2012 (10-4)

After beginning the season with two road games, UCF's home opener vs. FIU was played in black. The next home game, a noon kickoff with Missouri, was played in gold. Every remaining home game (ECU, Southern Miss, SMU, UAB) was played in black as was the Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl vs. Ball State.

Black: 6-0

Gold: 0-1

White: 4-3

2013 (12-1)

The black came out for the season opener vs. Akron, but that's the last time we've seen it. UCF wore gold for all of the remaining home games: South Carolina, UConn, Houston, Rutgers and USF. The USF game was perplexing - the school promoted a "Blackout" for its first ever conference game vs. the Bulls, and even had special black helmets for the occasion. The black helmets with gold "Mohawk," gold jersey and black pants were widely panned by fans, some who said it was UCF's worst uniform look of all-time.

Black: 1-0

Gold: 4-1

White: 7-0

2014 (2-2)

UCF opened the season in Dublin, Ireland against Penn State. Designated as the "home team," UCF wore their gold jerseys with a special shamrock/pot of gold helmet. The gold jerseys were worn again for the Bright House opener vs. Bethune-Cookman. Will O'Leary surprise everyone with black against BYU?

Gold: 1-1

White: 1-1

Black vs. Gold

Since 2005, when given a dark-jersey option, UCF has worn gold jerseys 41 times and black 23 times. O'Leary's first season of 2004 is omitted from the comparison because UCF did not have the gold option until 2005. UCF did not have black jerseys available in 2007 and 2008, but that was because they chose not to order them so those years are included. Below are the won/loss totals and winning percentage in each jersey since 2005.

Black: 19-4 (.826)

Gold: 25-16 (.609)

White: 30-27 (.526)

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