So...the jerseys. Was it worth the freakout?

Yes. No one on TV could read the numbers. Made us look silly.

The uniforms were an abomination

I liked the jerseys themselves.

But the yellow numbers on a white background should be saved for the next time we play in a dome, or maybe a night game.  The mid-day sun was too bright and washed out the maize.

matte helmets looked very nice.

No decision non-personnel related is "freakout" worthy, save blowing up the Big House or relocating campus to the moon.

Those were my favorite alternate uniforms ever!    I can't do the stripe thing.  But I really loved yesterdays, and the matte helmets were super cool.  I once had a nice matte red nailpolish that I loved.   Matte cars next!  (kidding)

yea the numbers where hard to see. When Vincent Smith got steam rolled, I thought it was Denard for a few minutes

maize-ish numbers often impossible to read.
 

Could have worn the home jerseys.

Completely aside from the issue of style, the main practical purpose of a jersey is to communicate clearly and immediately the number of the player who's wearing it. The fact that the numbers were hard to read is a major fail.

Combine that with the weird lemon-yellow nature of the maize and the pathetic "Oooh, the cool teams are doing matte helmets, so we have to as well," the unis sucked ass.

Freaking out? No, that's stupid, and I'm too old to lose one minute of sleep over it. Disgusted? Absolutely.

Our uniforms were not broken, but Brandon has decided they needed fixing anyhow. That's what you get when your AD comes from a marketing background.

You couldn't read the numbers at all from the stands.

Loved them. The helmets need to stay matte IMO. Look so clean. 

Hope they sell minis of the helmets.

Loved the helmets, it was hard to look at the color arrangement in the Florida sun. I think the pants should of been blue.

I usually think since I'm not a 13 year old girl I don't care about the fashion but not being able to easily read the numbers was a real problem.

They were absolutely terrible.  Regardless of the fact that we already had the best uniforms in sports and thusly don't need to play around with the design for a "special" game, when the game starts out with the commentators poking fun at them, you know we screwed the pooch on this one.

If you are going to be a program that emphasizes tradition, like us, then you should be traditional.  This is one thing I love about Penn State.  It makes no sense for us to try to compete with the Oregons of the world, when our strength is in the opposite direction.  Plus, I had to stand two feet away from the television just to see the uniform numbers.  And I hated the matte helmets.  But at least we don't have a mascot yet.

Was not impressed.    The fact that the numbers were unreadable was downright laughable.  

I caught the ESPN Gameday montage before kickoff that featured season highlights.   I was preparing lunch for my kids, so I was't entirely focused on the TV, but a caught a clip out of hte corner of my eye that showed a UM dude (Rawls, maybe?) getting smacked hard by a 'Bama defender.   Only it took me about 10 seconds to digest the fact that it was Michigan player.   Two highlights later, it clicked that those were *our* uniforms.   My team.   And I was sad that my synapses didn't fire quick enough for me to recognize my alma mater on the gridiron.    

Loved the matte helmet, hated the uniforms.

I think the jerseys would have been okay with blue numbers. The numbers were almost impossible to see unless they zoomed in on a player who happened to be standing still. If the announcers didn't say who made a play on defense, I usually had no idea who it was.

I didn't hate the helmets, but I like our normal ones better.

Also, unrelated, but my lord do I hate when they show sideline interviews during a game instead of action on the field. At one point, they were interviewing Lattimore without showing a play that happened on the field and then they never explained what happened. If I recall, it was a penalty on us. The score was 21-13 at that point fergodsakes.

We obviously disagree and so does anyone that cares about easily reading the players' numbers.

...and the sunshine washed out EVERYTHING on the Michigan uniform on TV...they looked like highlighter yellow blurs, and not in a good way.  Maybe it was better in person, but I can't imagine being able to deduce a player's numbers if you were anything beyond 10 rows from the field.

Look at all the other games that were on yesterday...only NIU wore UNI4MZ (and they probably figured they earned the gimmick since it was their first BCS game).  UGA, Nebraska, Wiscy, Stanford, Florida State...even South Carolina (believe it or not, they ALWAYS dress like that).  Classic, boring, easily identifiable, nothing distracting from the play on the field.  Seemed to work for them...can't imagine why a program with over 130 years of gridirion history feels so insecure about its place in the game to the point where it feels the need to "Oregon-ize" itself in a "look at ME" attempt to get a little more attention.  

ESPECIALLY in a second-tier game likethe Outback Bowl.  I mean, if you HAVE to design a "special" outfit for a game, couldn't you at least make sure it's a bigger game?  UTL?  Sure, okay.  BCS-level game like the Sugar Bowl?  I could see it.  BCS championship game?  If you MUST.  But an early start on New Year's Day against anothr team that didn't even compete for their conference championship (like us)?  Seems like a reach to me.  But what do I know?  I was born when Bo still coached at Miami (NTM).

No. People just like to stomp their feet and piss and moan about nothing. It's a fact....changes are going to happen over time. DEAL WITH IT. The players like special uniforms to wear. The recruits like it. It makes the university money. Get over it people.

Thought the team played well about 98% of the time. Unfortunately the lapses we did have resulted in td's.

Looking fwd to what team 134 can do.

up close. From a distance, they were clearly a mistake. I rank this right up there with coffee pots that can't pour without spilling coffee all over the counter.

I liked how the blue shoulders almost paid homage to our traditional home uniform. I loved the block M on the sleeve, as well. Change the numerals to blue and you'd actually have a nice looking, functional jersey that could be used on a permanent basis.

Alternate uniforms for the Outback Bowl was beyond stupid. Not that I liked the previous alternate ones but who the hell makes a new uniform for a mediocre bowl game? I also had to roll my eyes when these things were first revealed and Dave Brandon said that we haven't had new alternates since the Bama game, like he wants credit for waiting 11 games before making the team wear new ugly. I can only imagine what he's going to make for next season's night game against ND.

My eyes were truly opened at the Air Force game back in September when I saw how many fans were wearing UTL jerseys. People must be buying these ugly ass things so I don't see it stopping any time soon.

They looked ok, but I will go on record, for the first time ever, complaining about these jerseys, and REALLY hating them.

The yellow number on white jersey scheme made the numbers almost completely invisible, especially when the sun hit the jersey - and I couldn't tell who was who the entire game. This greatly effected my viewing experience.

If we never have a jersey with unreadable numbers again the freakout will be worth it.  Aside from that they were fine I guess.  I just dont see any need to change them ever.  Is the amount of money made from alternate jersey sales significant?  I would guess not really.

Bring back Nike.

The worst feature of the jerseys was the pseudo-luminescent tropical verison of maize numbers on the backs.  They made it impossible to see the players' numbers from the stands without looking at the TV screens.  Unfortunately, I had no such problem seeing number "7" for SC.

Thought that matte helmets looked good when first unveiled, liked them less in the game. They looked blacker.

Brandon has pushed this alternative uni thing almost far enough now to do a throwback uni, and one game a year we'll look like Michigan. 

First and foremost, I think we can all agree that Adidas has no business doing these types of jerseys, they seem to miss the mark each and every time they put one out.  Adidas should fire whoever is running that department!

I understand everyone's iconic/tradition-laced rants, but times are a changin'.  I believe Michigan has taken the right approach with having special jerseys for big games.  Now, with that said, their uniform changes have been horrible...with last night's being probably the best to date.  Even at that, if we are going to make bold changes, why not wear navy pants last night?  I'd like to see more of an approach to the uniform changes like Navy has taken.  Seems like everytime they do a special uniform it is off the charts.  

In conclusion, Adidas needs to step up their game or it's time to bring Nike back!

The uniforms were abominable. I was so pissed off that I actually turned off the game before halftime.  Can you imagine that?  A fan turning off his own team because they look so fucking dreadful and utterly un-Michiganlike? 

Fuck Brandon and fuck all the money grubbing whores running the athletic department now.

I wish I were kidding but it's becoming more apparent that the M football that I loved is dead.  I'm living on fumes and if this shit is the inevitable future then I'm out of here.  Enough is enough.

almost as badly as the secondary.

Indifferent. I root for the team, not uniforms. Some of you sound like bitches.

They looked ok, would have been much better with blue numbers so you could actually read them. Brandon deserves an F on this one. How the hell do you approve jerseys that can't be seen on TV?

At first I didn't have a problem with changing the away uniforms because there wasn't anything really iconic about them aside from the helmets but how can you trust a designer that doesn't even take into account that it is impossible to see maize on white. It is like they just tried to find something different and then went with it, instead of testing it out AT ALL. I liked these much more:

I am glad that people protested the jerseys.  As others have said, you couldn't read the numbers.  I also simply don't want Michigan to use alternate jerseys ever, so I want every such jersey to be protested just on principle...That said, I certainly wasn't focused much on the jerseys during the game. 

If the numbers had been blue, they would have been more tolerable.  Not being able to tell who just did what, and having the announcers mocking them on national TV was terrible.

No. I liked them. Neg-Away

and comments that the unis are ugly, adding that they make the players look fat. . . She even said, "They did something to the helmets, too." Now granted, my kid is bright, but.

Between these and the hockey jerseys for th GLI, it's almost as if DB held a design contest to see who could put as many block M's as possible in a uniform. For the good of "the Brand," of course.

The Revolution will be synergized!

I heard my grandfather say "what happened to the shiny helmets??!" But the new helmets looked great, jerseys looked like trash. I am still waiting for the white pants to come out, I personally think it looks awesome

I was at the game. I couldn't tell who was who. It was horrible.

Numbers were unreadable, and NOT FUCKING MAIZE.  Look at what the cheerleaders were wearing, get the pantone number, and buy some fucking maize material for some pants.

Is this stuff thought out ahead of time, or really just a test to see if fans will buy anything?  Why would someone buy this, the MSU shirt from last year, or the bumblebee abomination from Jerrah world?

Alternate unis are just silly for a football team with the tradition we have (or USC, or Alabama, or Penn St., or OSU for that matter).

The brand has already been built with winning football games for more than 100 years.  We're debasing that brand by putting our football players in clown costumes so we can sell worthless shit.

I did think yesterday's game was very exciting, and am looking forward to a great season next year.  As long as I can tell who's playing.

1) Stop fucking with the uniforms

2) Win games

3) Profit

If the numnbers were blue, lose the matte finish on the helmets and I could live with them.  It is not like the home blues, where we actually do have a tradition of varying up the away uniforms.  The yellow numbers could barely be seen or read with any accuracy during the broad cast.  I mean, didn't they think that playing in the sunshinse state, where it might actually be sunny, there wouldn't be a reflection off the numbers?  

These incarnations as a whole were horrible.  Frankly, I never in my life remember a time in my fandom where we even spoke about the jerseys. Now, its "whats next" as the season and games approach.  Times have changed, and for the worst in my epinion.  

Numbers couldn't be read, and it was aggravating trying to see who was who on the field. Other than that I thought the jerseys looked okay. The matte finish was nice.



They were definitely a lot better than the Bama jerseys as well as the 2011 MSU jerseys

As a whole not awful save for the numbers. They were terrible. I really didnt mind the matte finish. I was eh about them before but honestly the matte looked good.

I disliked both the uniforms and the helmets. While I could read the numbers, it would have been a lot easier if they had been blue. My personal reality, however, is that I don't care that much . . . this isn't a hill I would die on. I'd gladly trade a win yesterday for playing the next season in these uniforms.

We should take all that time and energy used in making these fancy uniforms and put it into, you know, playing football better.

We're not Oregon. We can't throw out ridiculous uniforms whenever we want. Every once in a while? Sure. Tis the culture, whether we agree with it or not.



But what I really want to see is some throwback from the real old days, when uniforms were plain blue with the blocky maize numbers and the paints were truly maize, much darker than this neon yellow. Take the field looking like we're right out of the 40's (with some modernity for safety/comfort/performance) on the day we honor Tom Harmon.

They may not have looked too bad, but a statistic Brandon should look at is that we are only 2-3 now playing in alternate uniforms... I'm sick of them, though.

Misgivings about looks aside (hockey jerszeyzzz!!one!!!11), I Couldn't see the numbers from distance, which is kind of a big deal...

I thought it was rather sweet of us to pay homage to our neighbors to the south, the Toledo Rockets.

We were the home team but thought it a better idea to wear a one off cheesy uniform than the classic iconic Michigan blue? That says it all to me about Brandon.



On a side note with bowl games why aren't both teams allowed to wear their home uniforms. Unless there's two teams with virtually similar unis like USC and Iowa state this really shouldn't ever be an issue. The home uniforms are almost always the more significant of the choices and it would make bowl specific jersey sales probably escalate as well.

Watched the game with a girl who had never watched UM before. She asked why our numbers were neon yellow. 

That's a fail in my book. 

These are the most Wal-Mart looking jerseys we've had yet.  I am waiting for Brandon to take off the wings and stick a block M on the helmet.  And then come the camo jerseys.  Both are coming.  I just know it.

Hoke's record wearing traditional home uniform is much better. Couldn't read numbers. I'd rather have a more productive team so I would care more about small details such as these. Granted they may not have changed during a season, but the Bo era had many uniform changes to both helmet and jersey. Doubt it was much of a topic.

They really didn't look as bad as I thought they would, but the numbers absolutely should have been blue.

I did not like the uniforms. Just use the normal away jerseys. You couldn't read the numbers, the shoulder pad design was bad, overall ugly!! Just stay with the usual jerseys! 

I don't usually give a damn about this sort of thing, but these jerseys were cartoonish.  Aside from just being plain ugly, they looked like the tacky type of jerseys that a D2 school (or Toledo, as pointed out above).  They do not look anything like something that a traditional power in college football would wear.  As a program that emphasizes our great tradition, our winningest record of all time and all of the other great accomplishments from decades ago, why would we wear jerseys of a MAC / WAC team?

Also, obvious fail on not being able to see the numbers. 

Also, also, I had a few people over to watch the game.  My friend's wife, who knows nothing of college football, kept commenting on how ugly our jerseys are.  Another friend, who is a ND fan, kept making fun of us for wearing what looked like knock-off Michigan merchandise that is sold at Wallmart or Meijers.  Sadly, I had no response.

Aesthetcally, they were better than expected. Not being able to read the numbers reminds me of the Seinfeld where George gets the Yankees to wear cotton uniforms that shrink after the first wearing. Do they really not think these things through?

Change the letters to blue (or at least thicker borders), make all the yellows match, preferably a less bright yellow, keep the matte helmets and I think it's a reasonable bowl uni.

It seems to me that the jerseys were approved in a fluorescent-lit conference room, and they turned out to be a total fail out on the field with the numbers being unreadable in sunlight.  Boo, uniformz.

I liked the helmets. I even liked the close-up shots of the players which showed the helmets with the shoulders. Ordinarily, I would not have been so keen to see our numbers, except I was always straining to see if Denard was in the backfield, or under center, or playing the electron receiver position. Unfortunately, there were dreads at most of those positions, which made it nearly impossible to tell. However, I did notice that as the shadows drew longer, the numbers became clearer, an old elvish trick.

Don't worry about it. It's all part of the B1G's Master Plan!

Brandon has hopped aboard Delaney's innovative strategy to make the B1G more attractive to television eyeballs in the South, where the population is growing. So the B1G is encouraging a few small changes to cater to this new fanbase:

Now that the state of Michigan has adopted exemplary Southern-friendly laws to appeal to its sister states in the South, the school is changing its name to The University of Michissippi. 

The winged helmets will be dropped in favor of yellow helmets with a script, "Ole Mich" on each side.

The jerseys will be a less Yankee shade of blue, and instead will sport the school's official sky blue and yellow colors, sporting a variety of interesting designs and of course the "Ole Mich" logo.

Our fellow B1Gers at the newly-renamed Michissippi State will ring cowbells at games, which is "udderly" more fitting for a Southern-style agricultural school. The school's packaging major will offer a concentration in fried chicken take-out bucket design.

The long term goal of the conference is to absorb such legendary football schools as Jamaica's University of the West Indies and the fabled University of Havana.

I didn't like the Alabama game jerseys at first, but after seeing the uniforms yesterday, I loved them. The things they wore yesterday were a disgrace. Same thing with the jerseys the hockey team wore on Saturday. C'mon adidas.

As for matte vs shiny helmets...I didn't mind the matte, but shiny will always win.

I didn't "freak out" when they were announced and I'm not freaking out now.  Didn't really like them then, still don't, and just generally going on with life.  It was a one game thing.