One of the most famous images in Bulldog lore---Herschel running over Bill Bates in Knoxville---features the red pants, which, when coupled with the white jersey and the red helmet, make for a striking road uniform.  

The silver britches tend to look washed out when worn with a white road jersey, like Tennessee's all-white road uniforms, and I like the contrast:  red jersey with silver britches, white jersey with red britches.  

If I were you, 82, I'd show them to Mark Richt, Damon Evans, and anyone else who might listen.  Dawg Sports is behind you all the way!  

Our difference of opinion regarding the red pants comes down to a matter of interpretation.  You seem to see it as a deviation; I view it as a restoration.  To my way of thinking, the red britches represent not a detour from tradition, but a return to tradition.  

We're completely on the same page where the underperforming teams of the Jim Donnan era are concerned; I have no desire to see a return to the 1998 Outback Bowl black pants or the 1999 L.S.U. game white pants, even though both of those games were Georgia victories.  The red jersey/black britches look from the 1998 Florida game made us look like Texas Tech (a team we should not want to emulate) and I consider the Jim Donnan helmet stripe the Georgia football equivalent of the mark of Cain.  

However, I don't believe the late 1970s were a period of poor performance for the Red and Black.  While 1977 was Vince Dooley's first and only losing season, the rest of the second half of the decade went pretty well.  

The 1975 Bulldogs won nine games, suffered one conference loss, and went to the Cotton Bowl when the Cotton Bowl was still a major bowl game.  

The 1976 Georgia squad won the S.E.C. championship and went to the Sugar Bowl to face eventual national champion Pittsburgh.  

The 1978 "Wonderdogs" suffered a single regular season setback and came from behind to win numerous games, led by tailback Willie McClendon.  

The 1979 'Dawgs may have been last in the A.C.C., but they fell one win short of finishing first in the S.E.C. and going to the Sugar Bowl.  

I might feel differently if the red pants had been abandoned one game sooner than they were.  If the 1979 season ender against Georgia Tech, rather than the 1980 season opener against Tennessee, had marked the occasion of the final appearance of the red britches, I likely would share your view.  

History told a different tale, though.  Had the Goal Line Stalker begun his legend wearing silver britches, I, too, might view the red road pants as an historical aberration, a mere fad from the '70s like the pet rock or the mood ring.  

The reality is quite different:  Herschel Walker made his Georgia debut wearing red pants.  There are, to put it delicately, worse players and weaker eras to which "throwback"-style uniform changes could pay homage.  

Stylistically, though, I prefer sticking with tradition . . . hence, my support for the restoration of the traditional white helmet stripe, for Coach Dooley's revival of the silver britches tradition in 1980, and for the return to the use of red pants for road games.  

By the same token, Jmac, I didn't care for the look from the 1998 Florida game, for three reasons.  First of all, as I noted before, it made Georgia look like Texas Tech, which is a huge step downward for the 'Dawgs.  

Secondly, the Gators beat the Bulldogs, 38-7, so, obviously, the red jersey/black pants look carries all sorts of bad mojo and should never be used again for that reason alone.  

Finally, the combination of black pants with red jerseys was a first.  Prior to October 31, 1998, Georgia had never in its storied history worn such a uniform.  For a school like Florida to show up wearing jerseys with one orange sleeve is no big deal; the Gators have only had a tradition since the 1990s, so who cares if they dress like Cher?  

The Bulldogs, however, have had a tradition since the 1890s.  Uniforms with no antecedent prior to Halloween 1998 probably ought to be avoided purely on principle.