Maybe there is hope for Under Armour after all.

On Sunday, Notre Dame sent out a teaser for the Ohio State game with the #IrishWearGreen hashtag alluding to some sort of Jerry Maguire movie reference and possibly new green jerseys. This Monday morning, the Fighting Irish definitely committed to the bit with a full comedic video reveal that’s actually really funny and well done, plus oh yeah all new green uniforms.

Our long national nightmare of the blue numbers is officially over!

JERSEYS: A+

This is pretty much the perfect green jersey for Notre Dame in my opinion. Finally, we get to see the 2002 green jersey rise from the dead and get a second chance at life.

It doesn’t appear that the shade of green has been altered very much–although removing the blue numbers automatically makes it appear at least a little different and more vibrant. Is it too bright? Nonsense! Notre Dame should always wear a bit of a bolder kelly green, similar to the Ireland Rugby team. Going a little darker would be okay too, but the key feature should be the green popping in person and on the screen.

Obviously, the jersey is the same layout* as the standard uniform. The white numbers and monogram outlined in gold was the smart and sensible decision. You can’t go wrong with this look (although the same styling should be put on the back with a nameplate).

*It’s subtle but this is the first look at what is believed to be slightly larger player numbers on the jerseys. If you look at a picture of Audric Estime from last year you’ll see the bottom of his “7” barely covers the end of his shoulder pads in his midsection while these new numbers are significantly taller and reach further down to his massive abs. 

PANTS: B

For now, this is technically a one-off uniform for the Ohio State game. However, we can probably assume (especially if Under Armour is still outfitting the team in 2024 and beyond) that this uniform set will be used again in the future. I’ll set the over/under at 1.5 more games beyond Ohio State.

In a vacuum, the pants are fine. Put together with the green jersey the monotone isn’t my favorite look. I don’t hate it, I don’t love it, and it is something different at least.

ACCESSORIES: B+

Don’t sleep on this part! The white base layer shirts, white towels, and white socks help the look to be a lot more clean and fresh. With the monotone green jersey and pants that contrast with the white (especially on the numbers and logos) helps out a lot.

With the gold helmet and white secondary colors the overall look isn’t as dominated by green (after a first glance at least, or as much as it could’ve been potentially) and I think it’ll look pretty sharp on the field.

I would’ve gone further and used white cleats and even white gloves, too. Definitely the cleats though, as wearing the white socks and going with green cleats feels a little bit off. But, I’m surprised they didn’t wear green socks so I’ll take it.

FINAL GRADE: A-

The jersey alone is a big, big step in the right direction and for that I am grateful. If we’re only judging the uniform as it’s seen today I would maybe bump things down to A or even B+ due to the pants but the jerseys at least being in the rotation now is a huge victory.

If we pair these green jerseys with the standard gold pants–which God willing they will do at some point–I would rate that as nearly perfect. They’ve opened the door to this possibility so it’s exciting.

Plus, the green pants aren’t terrible. They could use them with a white jersey with green numbers in a look that would be very welcome. Or use them with another one-off different green jersey design down the road. At least there are some options and at least we have a great green jersey again.

Now we wait for Shamrock Series uniforms coming soon.