What started the desire/tradition to wear white uniforms at home?

TIA.

 

I would type it up in my own words...but it is easier to cut and paste. So here you go....

White Jerseys — LSU is notable as one of the few college football teams that wears white jerseys for home games as opposed to their darker jerseys (in their case, purple). Most other NCAA football teams wear their darker jerseys in home games, even though football is one of the few college sports that do not require a specific jersey type for each respective team (for instance, college basketball requires home teams to wear white or light-colored jerseys while the away team wears their darker jerseys), and is similar to the NFL in letting the home team decide what to wear. The tradition started in 1958, when Coach Paul Dietzel decided that LSU would wear white jerseys for the home games. LSU went on to win the national championship that year. Since then, LSU continued to wear white jerseys at home games. Then in 1982, new NCAA rules prohibited teams from wearing white jerseys at home. Because of this, LSU wore purple jerseys during home games from 1983 to 1994. The team's fans believed wearing purple jerseys brought bad luck to the team and complained often from 1983 and through the 1994 seasons. In 1995, LSU's new coach, Gerry DiNardo, was determined to restore LSU's tradition of white home jerseys. DiNardo personally met with each member of the NCAA Football Rules Committee, lobbying LSU's case. DiNardo was successful, and LSU again began wearing white jerseys at home when the 1995 season began. In LSU's first home game with the white jerseys, unranked LSU prevailed in a 12-6 upset victory over #6 Auburn. In 2000, LSU's new coach, Nick Saban, altered the tradition of the white home jerseys: now LSU only wears white jerseys for the home opener and for home games against SEC opponents. Saban's successor, Les Miles, has continued this pattern. For non-SEC home games other than the home opener, LSU wears purple jerseys at home.
The rule allowing LSU to wear white at home has one stipulation: the visiting team must agree for non-conference games. On two occasions, LSU was forced to wear colored jerseys at home. The first time was in 1996 against Vanderbilt, who was still angry at LSU for hiring Gerry DiNardo, who left Vanderbilt to become LSU's head coach after the 1994 season. LSU wore gold jerseys for that game (a 35-0 LSU victory), and fans were encouraged to wear white in an effort to "white out" the Commodores. The next season, the SEC amended its rule to allow the home team its choice of jersey color for conference games without prior approval of the visiting team.


In 1998 and 2000, Florida coach Steve Spurrier exercised this option and forced LSU to don a colored jersey at Gainesville. The Tigers wore gold in 1998 under Gerry DiNardo (lost 22-10) and purple in 2000 under Nick Saban (lost 41-9). In 2009, LSU wore its purple jerseys at Mississippi State.
In 2004, Oregon State did want not to suffer in its black jerseys in the humid weather of Louisiana in late summer, forcing LSU to wear its purple jerseys for a nationally-televsied game on ESPN. However, by this time, LSU had worn its purple jerseys at home several times under Saban.
In 2009, the NCAA relaxed its rule that previously required most away teams to wear white. The rule now states that teams must simply wear contrasting colors[3].

 

Sup T? Good to see you posting here.

White jerseys evolved out of necessity. Ya C, when the crik was low we couldn't always get them washed in time for the following game.

 

Four weeks, three days...

Hell, I'm looking forward to September 1st and there are some crap games on that Thursday night. Friday doesn't get any better for that matter.

 

Saw you on the USC board recently. Man it's getting to where I can't even read there much less post. Talk about a bitter bunch, rightfully or not. :lol: