When the 2005 versions were unveiled, Edwards weighed in with his dark-blue approval. And Mendenhall added: "By wearing this uniform, we're honoring the tradition of BYU football. By keeping our current colors, we're embracing the future of BYU football."

Since 1999, BYU has been labeled — sometimes with honor, other times with derision — as Nike's "poster child" for oft-altered uniform design. That 1999 season, the uniforms not only featured the darker "BYU Blue" but also tan as a primary accent color in ribbing, piping and striping.

Major changes included a total change in helmet design — a dark blue shell, a tan stripe, a tan oval outline surrounding a white "Y" on the side — and the infamous white "bibs" on the front of the blue home jerseys. The new-look uniform included jersey numbers on top of the shoulders, tan stripes running down the sides of the jerseys and pants and a Cougar-head logo at the "V" neckline.

NCAA rules revisions the following year restricted white on home jerseys to be used only as a number, an outline, on a neck brace or part of a school logo. It was good-bye to the BYU bibs.

Another tweak for 2000: Jersey numbers were trimmed in tan, which also was used for ribbing under the arm to the side of the neckline. Road whites featured identical blue ribbing and stripes.

Last year, Nike seemed to go "Garanimals" as the Cougars' four possible uniform combinations mimicked the mix-and-match line of children's clothes. At home, the Cougars could wear blue jerseys and blue pants or blue jerseys and white pants, while road options were white-on-blue or white-on-white.

Gone were the jersey ribbing, side stripes and Cougar neckline logo, as jersey numbers moved from the shoulder to sleeve and shoulders instead sported a UCLA-stripe pattern. A small oval-and-Y logo took over at the neckline, while pants included a block-letter "BYU" logo above the left thigh and three stripes — two wider tan ones sandwiching a blue one — running down the leg.

Altering the attire isn't a recent Cougar phenomenon, nor is the different shades of home-jersey blue for BYU.

One needs only to make a visit to the university's Legacy Hall in the new Student Athlete Center and look at the gear donated by Cougar football players. Displays of jerseys ranging from Marion Probert in the 1950s and Eldon Fortie and Marc Lyons from the 1960s to a host of standouts from the 1980s and 1990s through the early 2000s show the variations of colors and hues as well as materials and mesh.

The blue used as the predominant color in home jerseys has transformed, from a Prussian blue in early years to the royal blue of the second half of the 20th century to the "BYU Blue" of late.

Just as evident of change is the helmet, a high-profile focal point.