Michigan's Outback Bowl Uniforms

Twitter, blogs and sports talk radio erupted yesterday in a panic about the uniforms Michigan will wear in the Outback Bowl. The vast majority of it was negative. Here's a few of the bloggers.

MVictors
BrianGoBlog
MaizenBrew

I'll start by saying I kind of like them. I like the maize numbers and I have no problem with the blue shoulder yokes. Of all the things they could have done to the helmet, a matte finish is not so bad.

That being said, I will jump on the "Why does Michigan need to do this" bandwagon. Traditional powers shouldn't have to do this. Alabama, USC, Notre Dame, Penn State, Ohio State haven't had special Bowl Uniforms. I wonder if M had been the home team, if there would have been Maize shoulders on a navy jersey.

I think the jerseys led to some hyperbole. This tweet cannot be true.

Total number of jersey designs worn by @umichfootball 1969-2010: Three.Total number of jersey designs worn by Michigan 2011-present: 7!
— Hoover Street Rag (@hooverstreet) December 18, 2012

Off the top of my head I can thing of 5 designs M wore in those years. Let's see how many it really is.

1. 1969 through 2010 Home jersey (all the others are white/away jerseys)
2. 1969 through 1973 "no stripe-no M" 
3. 1974 and 1975 thin Blue-Maize-Blue stripe with white pants 
4. 1976 same tops with maize pants
5. 1977 through 1996 "Schembechler Stripes"
6. The exception was the 1993 Rose Bowl which were more like the 74-76 striping. This is the only single game one off I find in the pre-David Brandon era.
7. 1997 through 2004 Block M and Maize/Blue stripe
8. 2005 through 2007 Single blue stripe on sleeve, maize piping, maize outline on blue numbers, no M almost 69-73ish in simplicity (except for the piping and outlined numbers)
9. 2008 through 2010 - thicker piping at jersey torso - and switch to adidas

Now 9 jerseys in 40 years is not quite 7 in 2, but it is more than 3...