Arizona still mocks ASU’s all-gold combination in 1989. Photo by Michael Meister/azcentral sports
Former Arizona football player and assistant coach Heath Bray likes to refer to Arizona State’s colors as mustard and rust, while he proudly touts that the Wildcats wear the colors of our country.
Good luck finding any of those hues, except as an accent, Saturday night.
ASU is wearing white helmets, black jerseys and black pants.
Arizona is wearing copper helmets for only the third time, and the first on the road. The Cats also will don white jerseys and white pants.
So much for maroon, gold, cardinal and navy.
Anything is better than the all-gold jerseys ASU wore in 1989.
“I remember in 1989 when they came out in warm-ups in maroon jerseys and no shoulder pads,” former Arizona linebacker Donnie Salum told the Tucson Citizen in 2005.
“We were wondering if they just weren’t taking us too seriously. Once the game started, they came out in their yellow uniforms, which (ESPN broadcaster) Chris Berman called their ‘banana uniforms.’ They were the ugliest uniforms you will ever see.”
ASU quarterback Paul Justin had guaranteed a victory before the game, but the Wildcats rushed for 285 yards and pulled away for a 28-10 victory.
“They looked real cute,” senior linebacker Chris Singleton said of ASU after the game. “Like a bunch of bananas.”