Has Michigan ever worn throwback or alternate uniforms

Submitted by ChicagoB1GRed on

and what do UM fans think about about occasionally tweaking one of CF's most iconic uniforms?

If they've been tried, how did the Wolverines perform, and did (or would)the game result affect your attitude about an occasional new look?

Nebraska once wore all red(lost), occasionally worn all white road (we call them "surrender whites" because of the usual loss), even went a whole season with all white roads sporting a huge wide stripe (7-7 season), so alternate uniforms aren't popular.

One the other hand, last year NU wore 1962 throwback uniforms honoring the anniversary of the 300th consecutive home sellout started during the Bob Devaney era, they were very well received.

MGoShoe

August 1st, 2010 at 2:41 PM ^

...are throwbacks.  No alternates required.  There's a running joke on here about wearing all maize unis.  It...will...never...happen.

Don

August 1st, 2010 at 3:29 PM ^

I'd advocate firing him on the spot.

Shoe's right, though—we're already in throwback mode; the only school in the conference that's more throwbacky is Penn State.

MGoShoe

August 1st, 2010 at 5:02 PM ^

...1959 - 1968, according to The Helmet Project.

 

Michigan's record during that period:

 

Year W L T Win % Big 10
1959 4 5 0 0.444 7
1960 5 4 0 0.556 T5
1961 6 3 0 0.667 6
1962 2 7 0 0.222 10
1963 3 4 2 0.444 T5
1964 9 1 0 0.900 1
1965 4 6 0 0.400 T7
1966 6 4 0 0.600 T3
1967 4 6 0 0.400 T5
1968 8 2 0 0.800 2
 Total 51 42 2 0.547 5.1

Not that hot, but the 1964 Rose Bowl winning team finished the season ranked number 4 by the AP and the UPI.  The 1968 team finished ranked 12 and 15 by the AP and UPI respectively.

MGoShoe

August 1st, 2010 at 5:41 PM ^

...then the 1956 team finished the season ranked 7th in both polls. So in 13 seasons, there was 1 great season and two good seasons.  On average, Michigan was a middle of the pack Big Ten team with an average conference standing of 5 and a .549 winning percentage

Here are the records:

Year W L T Win % Big 10
1956 7 2 0 0.778 2
1957 5 3 1 0.611 6
1958 2 6 1 0.278 8
1959 4 5 0 0.444 7
1960 5 4 0 0.556 T5
1961 6 3 0 0.667 6
1962 2 7 0 0.222 10
1963 3 4 2 0.444 T5
1964 9 1 0 0.900 1
1965 4 6 0 0.400 T7
1966 6 4 0 0.600 T3
1967 4 6 0 0.400 T5
1968 8 2 0 0.800 2
Total 65 53 4 0.549 5

 

 

LGenius

August 1st, 2010 at 4:55 PM ^

against somebody some time in the mid 90's. It looked alright, but I wasn't a big fan. Give me my classic uniform, no need to ever change it.

Don

August 1st, 2010 at 9:38 PM ^

That's because it doesn't exist except in your memory. I haven't negged you and I'm not going to, but you're simply completely 100% mistaken about the blue pants. As Shoe has pointed out, we didn't wear blue pants back in the early forties, and I've been following Michigan football since the mid-60s, and I know we've never, ever worn anything other than yellow/maize pants of varying hues during that time. I'm pretty familiar with team photos taken during the 1950s and they weren't wearing blue pants either.

My grandfather attended UM from 1901 to 1905, and in his photo album there's a shot taken right on the sidelines during the game between Michigan and Chicago in 1904. While it's obviously in black and white, I think it's clear that even that far back, we were not wearing blue pants. Without doing the research I suppose we can't rule out that blue pants might have been worn at some point in the first three decades of the 20th century, but I'd guess you weren't around then. Although if you were that might explain things...

jerseyblue43

August 1st, 2010 at 7:47 PM ^

Are you thinking about the Detroit Lions?  They did that once during the Barry Sanders years I think.  But I will go drink a bottle of clorox bleach right now if you can find a picture or other proof that michigan wore all blue during a game.  Never happened.

SAvoodoo

August 1st, 2010 at 8:50 PM ^

I don't think it's enough to get a big glass of bleach poured but in the early 40's the uniforms looked dangerously close to all blue...(though certainly not in the 90's)

http://bentley.umich.edu/athdept/football/fbteam/1940fbt.htm (all blue?)

compared to http://bentley.umich.edu/athdept/football/fbteam/1946fbt.htm (certainly not all blue)

full archive... http://bentley.umich.edu/athdept/football/football.htm

Don

August 1st, 2010 at 9:47 PM ^

If your answer is Al Gore, that means you're from an alternate universe in which Michigan did wear blue pants during the '90s. I suppose that means that in your universe Coach Mo didn't have the meltdown in the restaurant, LC never became HC, and John Cooper has won two national titles at OSU. I think I prefer this one, although it did mean we had W for eight years.

Seth

August 2nd, 2010 at 10:59 AM ^

Michigan actually wore throwbacks for several home games last year:

Western Michigan: Michigan kicked off the 2009 season wearing simple navy blue jerseys with maize numbering in honor of the 1939 uniforms:

Notice the similarity in navy blue-colored jersey with maize numbers on the front and back, plus the maize pants and navy blue socks.

Also, in honor of former Wolverine great Tom Harmon, one of our backs agreed to juke the entire opposing defense out of its collective jock strap.


Notre Dame: To celebrate this classic rivalry between college football's two winningest programs, and the general greater winningness of the more winningest of the two winningest programs of course, the Michigan Wolverines ran out and touched the banner in the same classic unis that the team wore in 1991 for "The Catch."

Michigan QB Tate Forcier also agreed to turn a crucial 4th down and short into a long touchdown in honor of Desmond Howard's accomplishments.


Ohio State: Both Michigan and Ohio State came out for the renewal of this classic rivalry in their respective uniforms from the 1950s, as best seen from this classic photo from the 1950 matchup:

The key thing to notice is the helmets. Michigan's had wings on them, and Ohio State's didn't have as much bird poop as they do today.

Here's another shot:

Notice anything different between that and, say, this:

As such, Michigan and Ohio State played a close game determined largely by the teams' respective punters (though OSU cheated and used an arm-punter instead).


FUTURE:

In 2010, Michigan plans to unveil throwback 1938 uniforms where Michigan will sport the iconic wings from Fritz Crisler's era, and in the Michigan State game this year, M's running backs will run down the tunnel sporting the classic black spikes that have traditionally trampled Spartans every season.

jmblue

August 2nd, 2010 at 3:13 PM ^

Contrary to popular belief, Crisler's innovation was not the colored wings - those were widely used before he arrived (since the old leather helmets used to feature extra padding up there).  His innovation was the three stripes, which made the helmet more visible, especially from behind. 

931 S State

August 2nd, 2010 at 3:22 PM ^

Last year there was rumor that M would wear white pants for the Illinois game.  I wasn't a huge fan of the idea at the time, but in retrospect maybe that would've been the minor change in the universe that would have gotten Roundtree (?) across the goal line and put the game away.  Fahk.

jmblue

August 2nd, 2010 at 4:58 PM ^

It was Iowa.  I don't think there was talk about us wearing white pants against Illinois.

The only change in the universe we needed for the Illinois game was for the line judge to be in better position to see Carlos Brown on third down.  He was in.