Ohio State unveils 2012 Rivalry (e.g. Pro Combat) uniforms for the Michigan game

After much speculation and weeks of analyzing leaks, Ohio State's 2012 alternate uniforms are finally here.

Ohio State officially announces "Rivalry" (formerly Pro Combat) uniforms

We knew that the uniforms we've seen mock ups of and t-shirts depicting for the better part of the last week and change were coming. Now we have official confirmation. Per Buckeye Sport Bulletin's Jeff Svoboda, the Ohio State athletic department issued a release Monday which confirmed the existence of the uniforms as well as confirmed specifics about what they would entail:

OSU notes say this weekend's jerseys will be scarlet and large gray numbers, black stripes on the sleeves, plus a wider helmet stripe.

Still no word on whether the helmet stripes would be black (as the pictures would seem to suggest), or grey, as folks who've seen t-shirt up close have been reported seeing. The latter would certainly be less jarring to the system of traditionalists, though to be fair, the very notion of alternate uniforms for a matchup of The Game's standing are probably a bit difficulty for them (and others) to process.

The uniforms will be revealed at a Beat Blue pep rally this evening at the Ohio Union.

Report: Ohio State to wear "Rivalry" (formerly Pro Combat) uniforms vs Michigan

A source close to the Ohio State football program has confirmed that Ohio State will wear Rivalry (formerly known as Pro Combat until this season) uniforms for their biggest rivalry game of the year, the Saturday November 24th clash with the University of Michigan. In spite of past years' grandioseness and the already emergence of Rivalry uniform related merchandise making its way to the public, it sounds as though like Nike is wanting to make the occasion lower key this year...well at least as low key as Nike is capable of operating at:

"The difference between that and the current one-off jersey is that Nike won't be making a big deal about it, previewing it, making websites devoted to it, and having back stories devoted to the reasons why they made each school's jersey," said a source close to the program.

The report goes on to state that because so many teams are wearing so many varieties of alternate uniforms more on the regular now, the Pro Combat series didn't make as much sense to continue en masse as it had in years prior.

Source: The O-Zone

Ohio State 2012 Pro Combat uniform helmets revealed

First we got a glimpse into what the uniforms looked like. Now more detail on the black facemasked reportedly chrome helmets.

Ohio State Pro Combat 2012 uniforms helmets to be chrome

The athletic aesthetic obsessive compulsive association otherwise known as Uniwatch Blog had an A+ tidbit in their Monday Morning Uni Watch info dump regarding Ohio State's purported 2012 Nike Pro Combat Rivalry uniforms, which they're widely speculated to be wearing against the Michigan Wolverines during Urban Meyer's The Game debut:

Ryan Robey bumped into Ohio State WR Evan Spencer at an airport and said Spencer hinted that OSU will have new uniforms for the Michigan game on Nov. 24. "He also said chrome helmets might be a reality for the Michigan game but that Ohio State will never wear black jerseys ‘because of the alumni,'" says Ryan.

That certainly fits in line with the way the uniforms appeared in the official Ohio State athletic department team store leak we saw earlier this week. While the black face mask will still probably have to grow on many of us, the idea of an alternate material helmet is certainly intriguing, to say the least.

Ohio State team store seems to corroborate 2012 Nike Pro Combat uniforms

The Buckeyes are purported to be donning some retrothrowfutureback duds in two weeks against Michigan.

Did ESPN All-Access: Ohio State Training Days Reveal New Uniforms For 2012 Or Beyond?