Texas Tech football: Counting down the Red Raiders’ best uniform combos of all-time
No. 7: Late 2000s all-black
Throughout the last 20 years, the Red Raiders have made all-black uniforms a fan favorite. That combination always seems to rev up the crowd, especially at night and that’s why head coach Matt Wells has decreed that this will be the look his team dons for every night game.
But the best all-black look was the one from the end of the Mike Leach era in the late 2000s. Perhaps I give this uniform the nod over the other all-black looks because it was the one that symbolizes the greatest era in the modern history of the program.
The Red Raiders wore all black in two of the biggest wins of the Leach era. Of course, the first is the 2008 triumph over No. 1 Texas in Lubbock.
Played on the night after Halloween, that game was a blackout in the stands and that was fitting as hundreds, if not thousands, of the wildest and raucous fans in the nation went out of their way to paint up like Heath Ledger’s version of the Joker. And what a visual it made when tens of thousands of fans stormed the field clad in their black attire to celebrate the 39-33 win.
A year prior, Tech took down No. 4 Oklahoma 34-27. And just like the Texas game in ’08, the blackout crowd stormed the field to celebrate a monumental victory.
Some people look back on the red stripes that ran from the shoulder of this uniform down to the knees as tacky or cliche as it was a common touch among football uniforms of that time period. However, because this look was what Tech sported in two of the defining wins of the last 20 years, it makes the cut for our list.