Spoiler: nobody answers "the bumblee ones" (and lives)

The Question:

With all the uniform-related news going around this week, I thought I'd ask about Michigan football's road jerseys, the not-so-constant in what's otherwise been a remarkably consistent wardrobe. Which of Michigan's road uniforms would you prefer they wear? Would you make any tweaks to a past look? Alternates—looking at you, Sugar Bowl uniforms—are very much eligible.

--------------------------------------

The Responses:

Not sure of original source; Adam found it on the board.

Adam Schnepp: Ah, yes, Michigan's ever-changing road uniform. The wearable lab where the apparel supplier can tweak and tinker and see what whets the appetite of the jersey-buying masses.

My ideal road uniform is one that Michigan's essentially already wearing in practice (at right). I love the look of the all-navy numbers, but I'd add the blue-maize-blue shoulder striping Michigan wore from the mid-70s to the 90s.​

I know Ace mentioned alternates as candidates for primary road jerseys, but in a world where multiple night games are likely it's hard to think alternates go away so I'll pick one of those while I'm at it. If Michigan wants to wear a "legacy" jersey on the road let's make it:

1) something they actually, you know, wore

2) something that integrates the wolverbear:

[Via the MVictors Uniform Timeline]

Go back to 1962 and there it is: block M on the sleeves, wolverbear on a patch, otherwise clean design. A legacy jersey I might actually buy despite knowing that I usually look like a doofus in jerseys.

[after the JUMP: we take piping very seriously]

--------------------------------------

The Adam Plan.

Seth: My first choice would be for Michigan to wear the blues wherever possible, or maybe just for OSU and MSU (I realize this gets weird if you can't get blue or black teams to wear alternates). Weird is good, and I don't mind the admittedly arrogant suggestion that Michigan's a home team wherever we play (at some Big Ten stadiums this is true).

Second choice would be another vote for the Schnepp Plan, sans Wolverbear. When I saw those in practice I thought they looked way more Michigan than anything we've worn since.I wouldn't even use shoulder stripes. Without all the stripes to offset, your eye is drawn to the blue numbers and the yellow pants. Going classic is usually going boring, but Michigan is certainly among the few schools that could pull off a statement like "we're the yellow and blue team...of sports." Anyway the helmets have enough going on for the rest to be an understatement.

Yellow, by the way, should be that goldenish color of American corn (there's a name for this) that's been faded by the sun.

My last request—and this goes for all the jerseys—is the numbers should be way larger. This was an Ohio State thing that Bo brought to Michigan in 1969: make the numbers extra large, like as huge as the shirts can take. Kinda puts an extra scare in the minds of teams coming to play the old power program.

--------------------------------------

Dave Nasternak: Probably my favorite Michigan road uniform is from the 2000 Orange Bowl (still would LOVE to own a white #10 with an Orange Bowl patch). The blue numbers outlines in maize and both colors trimming the edges with Block Ms on the sleeves...really liked those.

Nike also did some experimenting over the next few years with adding a maize stripe down the side and worked in some maize piping. All of those were fine, for the most part. They were generally pretty clean and the differences were rather minimal. I get that marketing will want to make slight adjustments to sell "this year's" jersey. That's fine, I guess. Like most other MGoContributors, though, I wasn't a huge fan of most of the alternate jerseys over the past few seasons.

I suppose if I had to choose one, perhaps the Alabama 2012 uniforms? I wouldn't want these to be the primary road uniforms, but I would probably be fine with them being worn once every couple/few years.

As far as the Legends Jerseys go, I'm with Brian in that I liked the idea as a whole. I think the implementation could be a little better (more infrequent use, maybe only Seniors? only 2-3 at a time?). Also, what about helmet numbers every so often? Maybe once out of 4 years?

--------------------------------------

Ace: I really liked the look of the Sugar Bowl uniforms, which are what I had in mind when I mentioned alternates:

Remove the helmet numbers and the patches, make the uniform numbers a bit wider—perhaps by getting rid of the maize trim—and I think those are pretty great: clean, sharp, and simple but not Penn State simple. I'm a big fan of those shoulder stripes.

Otherwise, I'm down with something along the lines of what Adam suggests. I liked the simplicity of the last Nike away jerseys before Michigan made the switch to Adidas, if only they'd done away with the pointless maize piping. While I have remarkably fond memories of the 1997-2000 era uniforms that Dave posted, I think they've got just a little bit too much going on—and, with today's short, tight sleeves, the block-M emblazoned, double-piped shoulders probably wouldn't look nearly as good as they did back then.

--------------------------------------

Brian: I'm with Ace on this one: when the Sugar Bowl uniforms (no Z!) were announced, my immediate thought was "I wouldn't mind it if those were the permanent road jerseys." It strikes a nice balance between busy and plain that I don't think any of the other options have. 

The plain whites are really plain; the Brady whites have a tiny bit too much frippery. I'm not a huge fan of the multi-hued block M on a white background. (The Block M on the pants is perfect and should stand as the only one on the uniforms, IMO.) The white and maize next to each other are a bit confusing visually. The large blue stripes on the Sugar jerseys give them a tiny bit of a winged helmet effect and are large, clear design elements. Dump the patches and helmet numbers and it's a winner.