A Critical Analysis of the Orange Out T-Shirt Designs for The Louisville Game

Back in April, Syracuse announced that the Friday, September 9 home game vs. the Louisville Cardinals would be an official Orange Out. In the past, such things were left up to fans to figure out which orange shirt to wear to the game. This year, the Syracuse Orange held a contest asking fans to submit designs for the official orange t-shirt. We submitted a few ideas but they decided not to go with any of them...

SU has released six finalists for the official shirt and now it's up to you to vote for the one you'd like to see. Before we all vote, let's take a look at each possibility to determine whether or not it's got the goods to rep us as a whole.

Richard O

Somebody knows a thing or two about social media marketing, not only include a hashtag but also an official football handle. The SUA suits must've been happy about that. There's nothing wrong with cute Otto, per se, but I do wonder if we want our message to be "Hey Louisville, we're just here to have fun, let's go eat ice cream after this." The kids will love this shirt. The 40-year-old guy who just got off work at the salt mines* will not.

*Are we still doing that?

Michael G.

Probably the most "professional" design of the bunch. There's a lot going on here. The Carrier Dome is now the Carrier Silo because it needs to contain the Orange Out (now with lightning bolts). Calling this the 2016-2017 football season is VERY ballsy, unless Michael thinks we're going to end up in the Outback Bowl somehow.

Josh L v1

This one's probably the most out-of-the-box choice just because whouda thought you could get that whole quote on there? Kudos to Josh for making it happen cause it tells a great story and helps make this not just an Orange Out but also a kind-of Dino Babers Intro shirt as well. Kinda like that the front just speaks for itself. Would even say you could lose the Otto in there and just go Block S.

Josh L v2

So if you like the front of Josh's first design but yearn for simplicity, perhaps this is your choice. Nice work to make Otto "front and back" as well. In this instance I'd keep Otto around because otherwise you're just left with the Block S and the 44.

Kevin D.

This one certainly checks all of the boxes. You can look at it whenever you want and know which game it was, what we were doing, what the date was and whether or not your last name is Orange Nation. Can't help but feel like it needs a little something more. A little wow factor. A little pop. A little pizazz. What I'm saying is that this shirt needs Riley Dixon's face on it somewhere.

MiKayla T

The front certainly has a cool, professional look. That looks like a great logo for our eventual Little Caesars Bowl victory t-shirt and I'd be down with that. I don't know if the back lives up to the front, however. If you're going to give me blue on the front you've got to blue me in the back as well. Wait, what?

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In the end there can be only one and if you're asking for my vote...I'm going with Josh L v1. My request to take Otto out of the numbers stands but in terms of it being a unique t-shirt that stands out from the rest of the t-shirts in your closet and provides a simple, solid, and powerful message, I think it hits all the right buttons.