In the early 1950s, the Cougars wore a white helmet with a single blue stripe, changing to a solid silver helmet with no stripes, numbers or logos for the second half of the 1950s and through the 1960 season. By the early 1960s, that "single blue stripe" had become a wide banner of blue that essentially spanned the top width of the boxish helmets, and from 1961 to 1963, blue player numbers were added to the sides of the silver helmets.

Starting in 1964, BYU helmets were solid blue; in 1966, a blue "Y" inside a white oval was added to the helmet sides.

In 1969, the helmet colors were inverted — a white helmet, a blue oval and a white "Y." That year, the Cougars were like many other NCAA teams commemorating a century of college football, with BYU players sporting a blue football silhouette with a white "100" inside on the left side of the helmet.

When Edwards won his first of 19 conference titles in 1974, Cougar players were wearing what fans three decades later would label as BYU's "traditional" uniform, seemingly standing and never-changing for the next quarter-century — but not quite so.

One difference back from the early 1970s: jersey numbers were on the arm sleeves just above the Northwestern-style stripes, while sleeve stripes were absent on road uniforms in some mid-'70s seasons.

The Cougar helmet came into the spotlight in 1978, and not just for the start of the "Cougar-head" decals awarded by coaches to players for big plays or major contributions. They replaced the football-shaped stickers used previously.

At the start of that season, the Cougars swapped the blue-oval-and-white-Y logo for a solid-blue "Y" on the sides of the white helmets. But when the football team dropped four games — the most in several seasons — BYU reverted to the white "Y" inside the blue oval that served as its icon logo for the next 20 years.

Also late in the 1970s, the Northwestern pattern was replaced by two stripes and the player's number on the sleeve. But by the early 1980s, the numbers were gone and the Northwestern stripes returned, moving higher up toward the shoulder.

As for the pants, a dual-stripe pattern down the side was common through 1990, with a small BYU/Cougar logo added on the side of the hips for 1984 and 1985.

The 1990s were a decade of change for the Cougar uniform, beginning with considerably wider pants stripes the first several seasons.