For years, two teams were known for wearing white at home - the Dallas Cowboys and the LSU Tigers. With league mandated apparel deals, teams across the NFL regularly wear white at home now. But in college, it's still primarily LSU. That means Texas will wear Burnt Orange on the road for the first time since 1971.
Texas last wore its home uniform on the road against UCLA at the Los Angeles Colosseum. UCLA also wore its regular powder blue home jersey in the 28-10 Longhorns victory. Wearing your colored jerseys on the road was more common back then. But in the early 1980s, the NCAA changed the rules.
With Texas wearing burnt orange jerseys at LSU this week — the Tigers wear white at home — folks have asked when the Horns last traded their icy whites
for burnt orange in a true road game. My research points to 1971 at UCLA, when Texas wore burnt orange and Bruins wore blue 🤘🏻 pic.twitter.com/XRPryCb9G4
— John Bianco (@UT_Bianco) November 11, 2026
In 1982, the NCAA had altered the “jersey rule,” requiring teams to wear the school color jerseys for home games. LSU, who traditionally wore white at home, wore purple jerseys for all home games from 1983 to 1994.
In 1995, when Gerry DiNardo became LSU’s head coach, he spearheaded an effort to let the Tigers wear white at home, personally meeting with each member of the NCAA Football Rules Committee to make his case. It worked and the Tigers were allowed to wear white jerseys again beginning in 1995.
LSU does wear purple jerseys at home once a year for non-conference game.
“All I’ve known is LSU in white jerseys. It always looks weird to me when they wear a purple jersey,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said Monday.
Texas was supposed to don the Burnt Orange at LSU in 2020. But the season was disrupted by COVID-19.
Contact/Follow us @LonghornsWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas news, notes and opinions. Follow Trey on X: @TreyLuerssen.
This article originally appeared on Longhorns Wire: Texas to wear Burnt Orange jerseys on road for 1st time in 55 years
