White-out games are a staple of college football. Sure, other teams do [insert color here] outs, but there’s nothing like seeing 60,000-plus fans draped in all white, cheering in one voice. Penn State has arguably the most iconic version of this, of course, and there are no shortage of schools who try to replicate the Nittany Lions’ success.

But a curious thing happened along the way this season. It seems like each week a team will announce a white out only for the visiting team to announce it will also wear white. While visiting teams haven’t been required to wear white since 2009, they still get the right to do so if they choose. And lately a lot of them having been choosing to do so seemingly to troll their opponents.

First it was Miami (Fla.) crashing the white out at Florida’s season opener.

The White Out Trend Takes Root

Florida ended up scrapping the white out, but things only got worse for the Gators in Week 1. The Gators had announced that they would be wearing white for their first game against Miami on August 31st, asking fans to “Stay cool” and “wear white”. Miami responded with a social media post, showing a picture of their team in white uniforms and announcing that they’d also be wearing white for the game. The response to the Gators’ announcement on social media suggested that Miami was intentionally trying to counter Florida’s white out, a move that would surely have sent shockwaves through Gator Nation.

Western Kentucky's Anger

In Week 2, it was Eastern Kentucky trying to spoil Western Kentucky’s white out — and the Hilltoppers were seriously peeved. Western Kentucky announced on Twitter that they would be wearing white for their game against Eastern Kentucky, but the Hilltoppers didn’t get the last word. Eastern Kentucky, the visiting team, announced they would also be wearing white.

Western Kentucky ultimately went on to beat Eastern Kentucky 31-0. They may have won in white, but it’s clear that they weren’t happy that their opponent was trying to “crash” their white out.

Colorado and Baylor

For this week’s homecoming game at Colorado, the Buffaloes made a big showing about their all-white look and kept telling everyone planning to attend to wear white.

The visiting Baylor Bears heard the message loud and clear. Baylor posted a picture on Twitter of their team in white uniforms, with the caption, “All white up in the mountains ⚪️⚪️⚪️#SicEm”. This post was a clear response to Colorado’s earlier announcement that they would be wearing white for the game.

Colorado hasn’t called off the white out, but it did notably change the jersey combo on it’s game day post:

The Penn State White Out

At least Penn State won’t have to worry about this issue. The most well-known white out in college football features the home team wearing blue tops.

Replicated, never recreated.

This is the Penn State White Out.

It appears the white out is becoming a trend that many teams are using to troll their opponents. If this trend continues, we may see a lot more visiting teams wearing white in the future.

The Future of the White Out

Will the white out become a victim of its own success? Is the white out becoming overused and losing its impact? Will fans still be excited to wear white if they see it every weekend? Only time will tell.

What’s clear is that this is a trend worth watching. The white out, once a symbol of unity and fan passion, is now being used as a way to troll opponents. Will this trend continue? Or will it become a thing of the past?