Tennessee football: Uniform combination for LSU game an interesting choice

Although it’s not the first time they have worn this combination away from home, it’s the first time they are wearing them on the road. Tennessee football is rolling out one of its signature uniforms, and the notable return of them will happen Saturday at the LSU Tigers.

When the two teams kickoff in Baton Rouge, La., on Saturday at noon, the Vols will pull out their Smokey Greys. They haven’t worn these since losing 41-0 to the Georgia Bulldogs in 2017 as the Butch Jones era was unraveling.

Lucky for Tennessee football, their last win in the uniforms was the 2016 Music City Bowl, when they beat the Nebraska Cornhuskers to finish 9-4. The program announced this combination Monday evening on Twitter.

Given how the Jones era ended, it made sense for the Vols to want to go away from these uniforms. However, they don’t have to forget everything about Jones, and these colors perfectly represent Rocky Top in the fall.

They are able to wear them on the road because LSU wears their traditional white jerseys when they are at home. However, in spite of the potentially good omens that come from this, it’s the wrong decision by Danny White and co. if this is the only time they wear it.

Sorry, but these should be worn at home. The Smokey Greys fit in with the color of the Great Smokey Mountains in October. Those mountains are obviously nowhere in sight in Louisiana, so it just doesn’t give off the same vibe.

It’s not like Tennessee football doesn’t have the chance to wear them at home in October. Their next three games will be at home after this one, and two are SEC games in the Alabama Crimson Tide and Kentucky Wildcats.

If they approached this right, they would wear the Smokey Greys for Alabama and then bring out the black jerseys they wore last year for Kentucky since that game is the Saturday before Halloween. They could’ve pulled out the Smokey Greys for the Florida Gators too.

With the Nike Smokey Greys, the Vols are 3-1, having beaten Georgia in 2015, Florida in 2016 and Nebraska in 2016 before losing to Georgia in 2017. However, they are 3-3 overall with the Smokey Greys, as they lost to Georgia and the Vanderbilt Commodores in 2013 while still wearing Adidas.

Wearing them on the road is definitely an interesting choice and a new tradition. Of course, how it works out for Tennessee football may impact whether or not they do this again. They should at least wear these one more time at some point over the next three weeks.