Arizona might not have the sartorial splendor of Oregon, but the Wildcats do now have four different helmets and went through the 2012 season without repeating uniform combinations.

The Cats debuted one new helmet color this season — copper — and re-introduced red helmets, which hadn’t been worn at UA since 1980.

For those superstitious about such things, Arizona went:

– 4-2 in white helmets
– 3-1 in blue helmets
– 1-1 in red helmets
– 0-1 in copper helmets

To the right is a chart of the uniform combinations for each game.

For those more visually inclined, we picked consensus All-American running back Ka’Deem Carey as our uniform model and present to you one picture from each game for your perusal.

Scroll to the bottom to vote for your favorite uni combination:

Vs. Toledo, Sept. 1 — 20 carries for 147 yards, one touchdown. Photo by Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

Vs. Oklahoma State, Sept. 8 — 26 carries for 132 yards, three touchdowns. Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Vs. South Carolina State, Sept. 15 — 13 carries for 71 yards, one touchdown. Photo by Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

At Oregon, Sept. 22 — 21 carries for 79 yards. Photo by Scott Olmos-USA TODAY Sports

Vs. Oregon State, Sept. 29 — 17 carries for 118 yards, two touchdowns. Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

At Stanford, Oct. 6 — 29 carries for 132 yards, three touchdowns. Photo by Jason O. Watson/Getty Images

Vs. Washington, Oct. 20 — 29 carries for 172 yards, one touchdown. Photo by Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

Vs. USC, Oct. 27 — 28 carries for 121 yards, two touchdowns. Photo by Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

At UCLA, Nov. 3 — 16 carries for 54 yards, one touchdown. Photo by Andrew Fielding-USA TODAY Sports

Vs. Colorado, Nov. 10 — 25 carries for 370 yards and five touchdowns. Photo by Rick Scuteri-US PRESSWIRE

At Utah, Nov. 17 — 26 carries for 206 yards, one touchdown. Photo by Russ Isabella-US PRESSWIRE

Vs. Arizona State, Nov. 23 — 25 carries for 172 yards, one touchdown. Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Vs. Nevada, Dec. 15 — 28 carries for 172 yards, three touchdowns. Photo by Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Arizona Athletics tweeted the following just before 8 p.m. Sunday: “It’s Game Week vs. ASU and that means it’s a #RedOut”

Attached was the above image, showing an Arizona player wearing a red helmet, red jerseys and red pants.

It’s that time.

There were rumors of red helmets this summer, when a picture of one from the equipment room was tweeted by quarterback B.J. Denker. Athletic director Greg Byrne responded at the time that the red helmet was just a “mock-up,” but we heard differently and have been expecting these at some point this season.

Arizona debuted copper helmets for the first time against Oregon State. The Wildcats have not worn red helmets since the 1980 season, which was Larry Smith’s first as the UA coach. Arizona wore only white helmets from 1981 to 2004, when first-year coach Mike Stoops introduced blue helmets.

Now, the Cats can wear four different lids — blue, white, copper and red.

Arizona takes on rival Arizona State on Friday night at 8 p.m. from Arizona Stadium.

After the initial tweet, Arizona Athletics sent out the picture of Matt Scott below from the team’s practice:

Ka’Deem Carey scores against Oregon State in his copper helmet on Sept. 29. Photo by Rick Scuteri-US PRESSWIRE

Matt Scott after Sunday’s practice with his new red helmet. Photo courtesy of Arizona Athletics

Arizona Wildcats Greg Byrne created quite a buzz when he disclosed recently that the football team would, on occasion, wear copper helmets.

In an interview with coach Rich Rodriguez last week, I asked him about the possibility of red helmets — last worn by Arizona in 1980.

“I’m aware of that as well,” Rodriguez said.

Perhaps more aware than he let on.

Incoming junior college transfer quarterback B.J. Denker (and other players) tweeted a photo of a red Arizona helmet on Sunday afternoon, with the picture quickly making the rounds on the message boards.

Arizona already has choices of blue, white, copper … and now, red?

We’ll see.

As for that copper helmet, Rodriguez said, “I guess I had a hand in it.”

He added: “It was presented to me, and they wanted to know if I would be in favor of it. I said, ‘Sure.’ The copper industry has been important in the state of Arizona, and I thought it was a neat idea, a neat concept.”

Rodriguez said there hasn’t been enough time to change the uniforms for the 2012 season, but that “next year we’ll look at some different types of designs” without tweaking the main color scheme — cardinal and navy — and the block “A” logo.

Rodriguez said he knows that any changes to uniforms becomes a major discussion among fans.

“I think it’s fun and exciting for the fans and players,” he said. “As coaches, we’re worries about getting stops and first downs, but it’s fun to talk about.”

I stumbled across a couple of YouTube clips that feature game highlights from Arizona’s early Pac-10 days, including USC’s 1980 victory over the Wildcats.

This logo was used only for the 1980 season.

That was the last season in which Arizona wore red helmets, and it was the only season in which they wore helmets of any color with that particular “A” logo.

It was the first season of the Larry Smith coaching era in Tucson.

Once you get by the USC cheerleaders in the KOLD-TV highlight clip, you’ll see highlights of Marcus Allen‘s big day in the second-ranked Trojans’ 27-10 victory. I had never seen highlights of this game (or much from this era), and, seeing that the video had only 30 views on Sunday night, you probably hadn’t either.

As an historical note, it was USC’s first-ever appearance in Tucson.

(More video after the jump)

Lucky for us, the same person — Shaun Donahue, who must be this guy who runs this production company — posted another KOLD-TV news clip, this one from 1979 that shows highlights from the Arizona-Stanford game (see below).

The Cardinal won 30-10 behind quarterback Turk Schonert, with help from his freshman backup. A kid named John Elway.

Arizona’s Reggie Ware gets the best of Elway on one play, stepping in front of a receiver for an interception. Later, in the video clip, Elway hits Stanford great Ken Margerum for a touchdown pass.

Take note of the 1:39 mark of the video. That’s where KOLD is showing the 1979 Homecoming queen, who is presented her tiara at halftime by the 1978 Homecoming queen. The latter person would be Kathleen “Rocky” LaRose, who has been a fixture in the athletic department for more than three decades and served as interim athletic director for about five months until Greg Byrne was hired in May.

Anyway, I think this is interesting stuff. Have any more, Shaun?