Wild Ducks

There was nothing wrong with your television. The uniforms Oregon wore in a 42-34 win at Mississippi State really were fluorescent yellow with green trim. No wonder the Ducks raced to a 28-0 first-quarter lead. The Bulldogs must have needed that long for their pupils to adjust.

The new unis—the color is called lightning—come from Nike, which supplies apparel to the Ducks and tests products with Oregon teams. ( Nike is headquartered in Beaverton; chairman Phil Knight is an Oregon alum.) "We're always presenting them with innovations and ideas," says Todd Van Home, Nike's creative director for apparel. "They say yes to some and no to others."

Oregon said yes to yellow and to all-white togs that will be worn on the road, to go with the Ducks' normal all-green home unis. The players' reactions to the lightning uniforms—which the Ducks will don occasionally at home or on the road—have been mixed. "I probably like them more than a lot of other guys do," safety Keith Lewis says. "If you keep an open mind, they kind of grow on you."