Before I start this, let me say that I’m actually a fan of Iowa State’s black jerseys.

I appreciate it when a team branches out from their traditional jerseys and does something unique and to me, that’s what Iowa State’s black uniforms are.

Every time they’ve been brought out in past seasons, you know that things are about to go down and see some of the best football Iowa State has ever played.

That being said, I feel like Iowa State is really starting to overplay the black jerseys this season after hinting at the black jerseys in the twitter post about the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl patches.

For reference, by the season’s end, the Cyclones will have played in eight home games (six regular season games, the Big 12 Championship and the Fiesta Bowl) and they will have played six of those eight games using a form of those black jerseys.

Iowa State busted out the black jersey’s for both games against Oklahoma and the games against Baylor, Kansas State, West Virginia and now the Fiesta Bowl against Oregon.

The only two home games it didn’t use any combination of the black jerseys was against Louisiana (Sept. 12) and Texas Tech (Oct. 10).

One of the biggest selling points about these jerseys were all about how Iowa State has never lost a game wearing them, which you can no longer say at this point after the Big 12 Championship loss.

Now the Cyclones still have a really good winning percentage in those jerseys, but I feel like now the jerseys are starting to lose that “it factor” around them and what really makes those jerseys special.

When Iowa State went into the first game against Oklahoma, in October nonetheless, and announced it was going to be rocking the black jerseys, you knew things were going to get real.

But now at this point, it feels like the black jerseys are starting Iowa State’s primary home jerseys and the only time it’ll ever hint at showing cardinal and gold is if it’s a road game.

And honestly, if Iowa State was allowed to wear the black jerseys whenever it wanted, I’d be willing to bet that it would’ve brought them out for the road games against Oklahoma State and Texas.

I want to reiterate that I do actually like these jerseys and I still look forward to seeing them come back in future seasons, but simply overdoing it just makes it feel repetitive and not quite as special.

Also, if Iowa State really liked those black jerseys to have something that stands out, there’s so many other options they could use for potential jerseys designs.

One of my personal favorites only ever saw one game of action and hasn’t ever seen the light of day since.

Those would be the Jack Trice tribute uniforms from the 2013 season, which is something that I liked the look of and it holds historical context that’s been immensely important to the Cyclones. Iowa State wore these once against Iowa during the 2013 season.

Even if it didn’t want to bring back the Jack Trice tribute jerseys, Iowa State has plenty of other options for alternative jerseys.

The Cyclones have worn cardinal jerseys, black jerseys and white jerseys, but you know what color of jersey Iowa State hasn’t busted out yet? Give me some gold colored jerseys with cardinal numbers.

If they just didn’t want to create new jerseys, it could always bring back older jerseys as a throwback and pay homage to some of the Iowa State football alum that helped pave the way for Iowa State’s success today.

How about a throwback to the Todd Blythe era Iowa State jerseys? Or what about the mid-2010s Jeff Woody and A.J. Klein era jerseys?

I get that the players love these black jerseys and if they feel like that they look, feel and play better with these jerseys on, then I can’t really fault them for wearing them in one of, if not the most, important football games in school history.

I just think Iowa State needs to slow down on breaking out the black jerseys every chance it gets because it’ll eventually extinguish all of the hype and surprise behind these jerseys.