When the Florida Gators take the field against the Georgia Bulldogs Saturday, they’ll do so in some unusual attire.

They’ll be wearing the Nike Pro Combat uniform, which features a lot of futuristic accents, gator-skin patterns, and new sports apparel technologies.

However, while the Gators’ garments will be different than anything that they have worn before, this isn’t the first time that Nike has used “The World’s Largest Outdoor Gathering of People Who Consume Alcohol” to showcase a new Florida uniform.

During Urban Meyer’s first season in Gainesville, Nike introduced the jersey known by many Gator fans as simply “The Sleeve.”

Nike basically took Florida, Miami, and Virginia Tech, and slapped a solid orange sleeve on the uniform of each school, experimenting with three of their marquee schools.

And while the “The Sleeve” never really had much success in terms of merchandise sales (I’ve only see one fan wearing the infamous jersey), it did give the Gators a boost on the field.

Coming off a tough loss to LSU, an orange-sleeved Florida football team defeated the previously unbeaten Georgia Bulldogs 14-10, ending the ‘Dawgs’ bid for perfection and catapulting themselves back in to the SEC East race.

While the Gators ultimately failed to capitalize on their chance to go to Atlanta, the end of the 2005 season played a huge role in gaining momentum for the following 2006 season, which produced the school’s second national title.

So, while wearing these uniforms will probably just create a mild media buzz and help Florida sell a few more hats and shirts, there is an outside shot that they could serve as motivation for a team that is down in the dumps.

Sounds dumb, you say? We’ll just have to wait and see.