Subtle stylistic change has been part of Tennessee tradition. The strident advocates of black-on-black or black and white, with orange relegated to little more than an accent color, are advocating nothing less than a radical makeover.
I am a cultural anthropologist by training and my research focuses heavily on the role of style in material culture (yes, that includes clothing) as an expression of identity. You may not want to take my word for it, no matter how much academic research I cite as supporting documentation, but Butch Jones has said that you can walk into any high school in the country, clad in Tennessee regalia, and they know instantaneously who you represent. That is a profoundly strong, and accurate, example of the functional role of stylistic marker traits as an unequivocal expression of group identity. Personal experience further corroborates his position. On a return trip from Montana, I walked into the airport in Kalispell and a baggage handler spotted my Tennessee orange fleece jacket. Without my saying a word, he stated "you guys are a long way from home."
Few universities in the country have a more distinct color scheme than Tennessee. Make no mistake about it, radical change will, over time, weaken that association, both in terms of public perception and, more importantly, the Big Orange Nation. Frankly, I don't believe the strident advocates of black-on-black when they say that they are only advocating it for occasional usage. Oregon needed a gimmick, we don't. Oregon had no significant history of sustained success in football prior to the last decade or so. Therefore, a host of uniform combinations, ones that pushed the proverbial fashion envelope in college regalia, became a branding mechanism, one that set them apart as different before their onfield success really began to take root.
