The Atlanta Falcons released new uniforms this week. For the most part, they’re fine, with the exception of the gradient jersey that starts off red and fades to black. That one is lame.

The Falcons had long ago announced they would be releasing new uniforms and many had hoped that they would go back to the classic plain black uniforms. And while that was one of the new combinations shown off this week, that will not be Atlanta’s full-time uniform.

Naturally, this led us to thinking about Georgia’s own recent uniform combinations. Over the past 20 years, the most famous change to the Georgia uniform was the black jerseys that were introduced during the 2007 season.

However, the 2008 Alabama game put an end to that during the Mark Richt era, as the Crimson Tide — which had Kirby Smart and Scott Cochran on its staff — got out to a 31-0 halftime lead in Athens.

The Bulldogs never wore the black jerseys again under Richt. Georgia did don alternate uniforms two other times after the Alabama defeat, and the Bulldogs happened to lose both of those games when they decided not to wear their traditional red or white jerseys.

When Smart took over prior to the 2016 season, he did begin to reintroduce the black uniforms into the program. Georgia has worn the uniforms during G-Day scrimmages and recruits have frequently taken pictures in the jerseys.

But only in a 2016 game against Louisiana-Lafayette has Georgia put on the fabled black uniforms in a game that mattered.

“We did it once against one of those buy-teams (Louisiana-Lafayette, 2016), but for energy and enthusiasm,” Smart said in 2018. “I don’t think you need energy and enthusiasm against Auburn  — if we do we’ve got some other problems. I just don’t think that’s relevant.”

In the video, which you can see at the top of the page and below as well, we further elaborate on why Georgia shouldn’t mess around with new or alternative uniforms, as the Falcons helped show that it’s not always so easy to pull off.

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