Auburn football is a bit of a mess at the moment. After an offseason filled with rumblings concerning the potential firing of head coach Bryan Harsin (6-7 in 2021, his first year with the Tigers) the university instead lost athletic director Allen Greene, who announced his resignation in August.
Harsin managed to get his team out to a 2-0 start despite the static, but wins over Mercer and San Jose State — the latter by only eight points after trailing at halftime — left the program in need of something to invigorate an exhausted, frustrated fanbase. So the team’s official Twitter account began teasing something fans hadn’t seen on a regular basis since 1970; orange jerseys.
First came the all-orange profile picture:
🟠 #NewProfilePic 🟠 pic.twitter.com/rsZb5BC2p8
— Auburn Football (@AuburnFootball) September 13, 2022
Then came some not-so-subtle hints; retweets of the softball and volleyball teams clad in orange:
We can confirm that orange jerseys are pretty 🔥#WarEagle pic.twitter.com/rRUlk46zT6
— Auburn Softball (@AuburnSoftball) September 14, 2022
It made sense. Saturday’s game against 23rd-ranked Penn State is an orange-out at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Bringing back orange as a primary uniform color would be an easy way to engage fans and, more than likely, sell a bunch of merchandise.
Except it doesn’t appear Auburn’s going to do that. It seems like orange will stay a complementary choice after all. Here’s a retweet that specifically mentions the team’s orange facemasks:
The orange facemask for @AuburnFootball #uniswag pic.twitter.com/F09XlltTKJ
— UNISWAG (@UNISWAG) September 14, 2022
And here’s, uh, whatever this is — a suit jacket? — that seems to confirm the orange will be confined to stripes and highlights rather than a whole jersey’s worth of fabric.
🟠🔵⚪️
ᴛʀᴀᴅɪᴛɪᴏɴ#WarEagle🦅 pic.twitter.com/VQUAlxyDkY
— Auburn Football (@AuburnFootball) September 15, 2022
After days of teasing a new uniform variant, Tiger fans weren’t happy about the apparent bait-and-switch.
You teased us for nothing
— Conan O’Brien’s illegitimate son (@pleasesueme) September 15, 2022
— Brent Jordan (@Brentski_15) September 15, 2022
Booooo
— Connor (@sides_c) September 15, 2022
Old money just can’t take it… pic.twitter.com/fkuiiDl8v3
— Alan Clemons (@AlanClemons12) September 15, 2022
— Hayden, but Orange 🟠 (@HFulwood) September 15, 2022
Pulling for Penn state now
— Steven 🐝🟠 (@stevenbarbs) September 15, 2022
Social media department for trolling the fanbase all week
— Kristofer Co🅿️eland (@kitcopeland51) September 15, 2022
😐😐😐😐😐
— Andrew✌🏻 (@Apoww99) September 15, 2022
I hope we lose now
— will (@willh_au) September 15, 2022
don’t worry guys they’re gonna tell us we’re on impractical jokers any minute now https://t.co/xBIvhxtjPG
— caroline (@carolineconnerr) September 15, 2022
I gotta say trolling the entire fanbase during a season that, well, lacks excitement and enthusiasm is certainly one way to get people excited https://t.co/NivEJ2Kq4D
— Alex Husting (@AlexHusting) September 15, 2022
Still running out in the orange unis can’t fool me https://t.co/kvLplJ3z4m
— Jay Teel (@jaynotleno_) September 15, 2022
