Under Armour has signed referee outfitting deals with all the major college football conferences. Its logo is seen here on referee Land Clark's jersey and cap on Sept. 3 during a game between the UCLA Bruins and Texas A&M Aggies.

BALTIMORE — When Oregon hosted Virginia in a college-football game Sept. 10, it was in the most Nike of settings.

Both teams wore Nike-designed uniforms prominently displaying the signature swoosh. Nike’s headquarters was less than two hours away.

But Under Armour, which relishes tweaking its much larger rival, used a back door to give the national television audience more than a few peeks of its logo in another example of how the Baltimore-based company finds creative ways to get exposure for its brand.

During each of the game’s 22 penalties, a referee in black-and-white stripes directly faced the camera to announce the infraction and on the front of his uniform, next to an American flag patch, was Under Armour’s logo. The interlocking “UA” also appeared on the game officials’ backs and caps.

Nicknamed “zebras” because of their uniform stripes, college football officials — referees, umpires, linesmen and judges — aren’t nearly as riveting to fans as quarterbacks or receivers. But airtime is airtime, and networks almost always give the referee a microphone and a starring role, albeit a fleeting one, whenever a flag is thrown.

Under Armour has been zebra hunting in recent years, negotiating deals to outfit game-day officials working the Big Ten, Southeastern Conference, Atlantic Coast Conference and all the other seven conferences within the Football Bowl Subdivision, college football’s top tier with 128 teams.

Analysts say it’s a typical Under Armour move — opportunistically carving out less-traveled territory to compete with Nike, which is far more entrenched in the sport.

Because of digital video recorders and other devices, sports fans increasingly can skip through commercials. But referees — and the logos on their uniforms command prime spots during games.

“With DVR penetration over 50 percent now, in-program brand exposure is becoming more and more coveted by advertisers, particularly when it’s endemic to the event being broadcast,” said Jonathan Jensen, a sports marketing consultant and assistant professor in the University of North Carolina’s sports administration program. “So it’s a savvy move by the folks at Under Armour in that respect.”

Under Armour’s pursuit began with a deal with the SEC — one of college football’s marquee conferences — about four years ago.

“We did not make officials’ shirts and pants at that time, so it was just a hat and footwear deal,” Under Armour said in response to an e-mail query. “We have gradually signed each of the other Division I FBS conferences, and this is the first year that we have deals with all 10 conferences — head-to-toe product. Every Division I FBS football official is outfitted in Under Armour.”

Under Armour also sells officials’ apparel, footwear and gear to youth and school leagues.

Neither Under Armour nor Nike outfits game-day officials in the wildly popular National Football League. Those officials’ pants, shirts and jackets are manufactured by Ripon Athletic of Berlin, Wis. The company’s deal with the NFL doesn’t allow it to display its logo on the uniforms.

Nike holds a contract to provide on-the-field apparel for NFL players. Under Armour has a much smaller role with the NFL: outfitting players participating in the league’s annual scouting combine. Under Armour also gets mileage as an official outfitter of gloves and footwear, and players such as quarterbacks Cam Newton and Tom Brady and receiver Randall Cobb wear their products.