The inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff kicks off this weekend with four first-round matchups on campus sites, including Indiana at Notre Dame, SMU at Penn State, Clemson at Texas and Tennessee at Ohio State.
The teams will be wearing a new patch on their jerseys that includes the College Football Playoff logo and the silhouette of the championship trophy above “Playoff First Round, Presented By Allstate,” as well as the playoff logo on their helmets (as shown above).
The patch is a new feature of the playoff, which expanded from four to 12 teams this season, as every playoff game was previously held at a bowl site and teams wore that bowl’s logo on their jerseys, along with the aforementioned helmet decal.
The patch will be replaced by the traditional Fiesta, Peach, Rose and Sugar Bowl patches in the quarterfinals, as well as the Orange and Cotton Bowl patches in for the semifinal matchups. The national championship will also continue to feature a patch that combines the year and the playoff logo in the No. 0, just like it has since the four-team playoff was introduced in 2014.
If either (or both) of the national championship participants are Nike schools, they’ll also wear the “Diamond Quest” Swoosh on their jerseys and pants. This detail was a staple of the four-team playoff, but sources have indicated the company will only provide new uniforms for the title game moving forward.
In addition to the patch, Notre Dame Stadium, Beaver Stadium, Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium and Ohio Stadium will display the playoff logo and the first round wordmark at the 25-yard lines of their respective fields, though they will not feature the Allstate advertisement like the patch.
Friday night’s game will feature the Hoosiers in their standard road uniforms of crimson helmets and white jerseys and pants, but the Fighting Irish made a few tweaks to their traditional home uniforms ahead of their first-round matchup.
That includes adding names to the back of their jerseys like they do each postseason, though they’re gold instead of white, and a small gold patch above that with a blue “ND” monogram flanked by the Nos. 24 and 25, obviously noting the years.
The first game on Saturday, meanwhile, will pit the Mustangs in their white jerseys – with the helmet decals and facemask on their white helmets and pants color still to be determined – against the Nittany Lions, who appear to be wearing their “Generations of Greatness” throwback uniforms.
The Tigers have yet to announce if they’ll break out their orange britches, though it’s highly likely as they’ve become synonymous with championship games and playoff appearances, while the Longhorns will wear their traditional home design on Saturday afternoon.
Lastly, the first round wraps up on Saturday night with the Volunteers in all-white uniforms against the Buckeyes in their scarlet “Color Rush” set for just the second time. Ohio State has traditionally worn its “Heritage Stripes” throwback uniforms in the playoff, but they’ll only make an appearance if the Buckeyes reach the title game.
That’ll do it for the first round, though our sources have already indicated Oregon will wear chrome helmets, green jerseys and white pants in its quarterfinal matchup against the winner of Ohio State and Tennessee in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1.
Of course, we’ll have a full rundown of those matchups – including Penn State/SMU vs Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl, Clemson/Texas vs Arizona State in the Peach Bowl and Indiana/Notre Dame vs Georgia in the Sugar Bowl – as we get closer to the new year, so stay tuned…
Header photo courtesy of @TexasFootball on X/Twitter.
