U Sports football is a great product that’s not celebrated enough in this country. After a stellar 2023 season culminating in the Montreal Carabins defeating the UBC Thunderbirds in the Vanier Cup, it’s time to look at the logos across Canada and rank them from 27 to 1.
3DownNation’s contributors graded each logo independently on a scale from one to ten. These scores were then averaged out and ranked from worst to best with a high score of 7.4 and a low score of 2.5. CFL podcaster Greg McCulloch, who is a professional graphic designer, was also given a vote.
For programs with multiple logos, the one featured most prominently on the team’s website was chosen for this ranking. The images below are the same ones voters were provided to cast their ballots. All logos were presented on plain white backgrounds in order to remain consistent between schools.
Please note that this list will be published in two parts. Check back tomorrow for the second half.
27. Guelph Gryphons
The Gryphons have a new head coach and it’s time for a new logo as well. Guelph has a sharp colour scheme but this weird hieroglyphic thing is a mess. Why is the animal’s wing not red? Why is its tail not attached to its body? Why is its waist so tiny? A gryphon is a legendary creature with the body and tail of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle. With a name that awesome, there’s no excuse for not having an amazing logo.
26. Queen’s Golden Gaels
Queen’s has strong academics and a very good football team, which means they deserve a much better logo. For a team named after Scottish Highlanders, having a ‘Q’ for a logo is pretty lame. This underwhelming image should be swapped out for a stalky, kilt-clad man carrying a weapon or two, which would also make it easier for the team’s iconic three colours to be represented more evenly.
25. Calgary Dinos
Dinos is a great name that’s unique and pays homage to Alberta’s paleontological roots but this logo belongs on a box of cereal made exclusively for kids under the age of eight. It’s simply too cartoony to be taken seriously. Calgary doesn’t wear this logo on their helmets, opting instead for a wordmark or alternate logo featuring three vertical claw marks. Neither are great logos but both are upgrades over this one.
24. Mount Allison Mounties
If you’re wondering what that thing covering a portion of the ‘A’ is, it’s supposedly a flame inspired by the one on Mount Allison’s university crest. Why does it also look like an ‘A’? That’s a great question. The school’s initials are M.A., not A.A. Weird. Fun fact: legendary CFL player Garney Henley became the athletic director at Mount Allison in 1977 and designed a since-discontinued ‘Winged-A’ logo that was far better than this one.
23. Sherbrooke Vert et Or
Considering Sherbrooke’s name literally translates to “green and gold,” this logo is badly missing some green. The emblem pops nicely on the team’s green helmets, though the colour is completely absent from the program’s official logo. The ‘S’ has a cool design but could stand to be punched up a bit with an outline or maybe a surrounding circle or shield. There’s a good foundation here but Sherbrooke needs to kick it up a notch.
22. Ottawa Gee-Gees
This horse looks pretty intimidating, though our voters may have been put off by the Gee-Gees’ ever-bewildering name. Another way to upgrade it could be the increased use of colour. Ottawa makes a big deal about representing the garnet and grey, yet there’s no grey on their official logo. Adding some grey or perhaps even some black outlining could help this logo pop a lot more.
21. Saint Mary’s Huskies
The design for the huskie in this logo is pretty cool, which is why it’s odd that Saint Mary’s chose to so prominently feature the school’s initials. It’s possible this was done to differentiate them from the University of Saskatchewan, which has the same nickname, though it still seems strange. Everybody loves dogs, so it’d be nice to see one take centre stage in this logo.
20. Acadia Axemen
Axes are intimidating, which is why it’s so strange that Acadia chose to focus on the letter ‘A’ in its logo. The alphabet is boring. Axes are cool. Acadia’s football team wears an alternate logo on their helmets that features a stylized axeman set against the ‘A’ and it’s certainly an improvement, though the logo above is still the one featured most prominently on the team’s website.
19. Montreal Carabins
It’s a common misconception that Montreal’s name refers to carbine rifles, though the school claims it actually refers to medical students. The team’s logo features a depiction of the 22-story tower found at the Roger-Gaudry Building on campus as well as a swooshed letter ‘C’ in white. It’s certainly not a bad emblem but it hardly lives up to the championship nature of the football team it represents.
18. Laval Rouge et Or
The Rouge et Or are a perennial powerhouse in the RSEQ, though their logo barely reaches the middle of the pack according to our voters. The diamond background and ribbon along the bottom are nice touches and shapes rarely seen in sports logos, though the emblem as a whole feels a little bland. Laval fans might be disappointed with this ranking, though their logo achieved at least one important goal: beating the Carabins.
17. Western Mustangs
This is another dominant squad with a middling icon. Western’s shade of purple is awesome but its logo could probably use a bit of an update, especially the Mustang itself. For an institution that made the preposterous decision to change its name to Western University despite being located firmly in the eastern half of the country, it seems reasonable to suggest that they should be open to tweaking their logo.
16. Waterloo Warriors
Does it bother anyone else that the ‘Warriors’ watermark and accompanying helmet don’t fit on the yellow shield? It seemed to bother our voters. The colour scheme is awesome and the alliterative name is great but this logo could probably stand to be polished a bit. The Waterloo Region Minor Football Association recently rebranded as the Waterloo Junior Warriors and their logo is substantially better.
15. McGill Redbirds
What do you get when you slap a university crest haphazardly onto the letter ‘M’? You get, uh, whatever this is. The Redbirds’ logo is certainly inoffensive but surely an institution with as many smart people as McGill could create something better. The school dumped the name “Redmen” in 2019 but never updated its logo. Between the name change and the football team’s recent struggles, this seems like a great time to try something new.
14. Bishop’s Gaiters
We’ve reached the halfway point of our list and a logo that’s clean, albeit a little bland. There’s not a lot for Bishop’s to work with here considering their team is named after ankle guards but it’d still be nice to see something a little more imaginative. This feels like a baseball team’s logo, not a football team’s logo. The Gaiters are a rising football program in the AUS and it’d be nice to see them get an upgraded emblem.
Please come back to 3DownNation tomorrow when we will unveil the second part of our U Sports logo rankings.
