Last week, Tom Osborne announced that the program of his life, the Nebraska Cornhusker would wear a “futuristic” alternate uniform for a home game next year, which made this fan very happy. While I like traditional uniforms, I do think that alternate uniforms (even throwbacks) are necessary to appeal to young people (i.e., recruits), and that uniforms are in need of regular updating. But since many Husker fans do cling to the traditional uniforms, this is a debate that has to happen with care and respect.
To the fans who with to maintain the glorious tradition of the classic, unchanging red uniforms…this is not about you. Nebraska could go all Oregon and have different uniform combinations every week, and you wouldn’t suddenly throw on Michigan Wolverine gear or an Iowa Hawkeye jersey. Every Nebraska fan over forty, Osborne and Bo Pelini already have you, and don’t need to impress you. They need to impress four-star and five-star recruits who can help a team win National Titles. I still assume that is your goal, Husker Nation, winning the Big 10 and the National Title? Because great players win the National Title, not having the same uniforms.
To politely disagree with another blog, I doubt this is like the Yankees dropping the pinstripes, i.e., a fundamental uniform change. To be clear, a good alternate uniform at least keeps a team’s primary color, even if it is emphasized less or changed to a different color. Oklahoma State’s combat uniforms from last year all used the traditional Cowboy Orange in some form, and even most Oregon uniforms still use some green (except, of course, those horrid carbon grays from 2010, which even I didn’t like). As long as the alternate uniforms use traditional scarlet in some way, they’ll be consist with what Nebraska has always worn.
Can we get over the all-white uniforms from 2002, and the Colorado game in 2007? While I wasn’t in love with those unis (at the time, I had a college roommate from Wisconsin who claimed Nebraska had stolen the Badgers’ design), stop holding to the foolhardy belief that Nebraska has lost all but once since wearing the whites-with-red-gullet attire? They lost those games because they didn’t have good players those year; find a better argument against alternate uniforms.
As someone who has consistently wanted to see Nebraska have alternate uniforms, I would be okay if Nebraska had one or two throwback games a year. I’m surprised that throwback didn’t become an annual staple after the 300th sellout, where the Huskers wore uniforms were acclaimed by most fans. Young people do love throwbacks, and both tradition-rich programs Michigan and Notre Dame have worn throwbacks. Wearing throwback uniforms once or twice a year for a couple of years would be a great way to satisfy the fans who like tradition and fans who want different uniforms, and could serve as a test case for the alternate uniforms.
Which of these uniforms do you want to see Nebraska wear?
But when Nebraska comes out with their alternate uniforms, I ask these fans: give it a chance, and I don’t just mean one game. Let’s use the alternates for a couple of years before we decide if we want to keep them. And let’s have throwback day too.
There is an element of this uniform debate that I have begun to feel strongly about, and it is one that I feel now should be discussed. On their permanent helmets, Nebraska should switch to a larger, stylized “N” with that is common on most of their fan apparel and at the center of Memorial Stadium. Dave Kolowski wrote in his book Diary of a Husker that Bill Byrne (who just came from Oregon) had proposed this change to Tom Osborne in the mid-90′s but Osborne refused.
To those who disagree, go into your closet and pull out all of your Husker gear. Just count how many shirt and sweatshirts have the large “N” on it; I’m betting the majority do. Repeat the same exercise at Nebraska Bookstore or some other Husker outfitter and you get my point: while the small “N” may be have always been on the helmet, you could argue that the large “N” is more traditional now.
I know how many of you may be up in arms about this, but this change is a lot less radical than an alternate uniforms. I’m just suggesting taking a symbol that is much more recognizable, uses the same colors, and using it where it deserves to be. And for all of you who think the all-white uniforms look week, hold the small “N” next to the large, bordered “N” and ask yourself which one looks more intimidating?
In closing, I’d like to share a point that Colin Cowherd said on ESPN Radio about Oregon football. Cowherd (who worked sports in Portland as Oregon’s program rose in the late 1990′s and the early part of the last decade) has said the thing that got the Ducks out of the Pac 10 abyss wasn’t clinging to tradition, but instead focusing on what made the program better in the future, uniforms included. Husker fans, tradition is a wonderful thing, and young people do like it. But if you loose sight of the future and put tradition ahead of where you’re going, you ignoring what your players want and making the program about you. Need I remind you when Steve Pedersen did that?
Good piece Derek. I love talking uniforms and agree with your thoughts above for the most part. But I disagree on the helmet logo. It is interesting that what I call the sans-serif N (i.e. the current helmet logo) appears almost nowhere else in the school’s overall branding. Almost all of the merchandise features the iron-N (that’s the marketing dept.’s term). I much prefer the sans-serif N because of it’s distinctiveness. It’s simple and spartan and, when placed against the white field of the helmet, it looks open and occasionally lonely. In that way, I’ve always thought it was a good representation of the state as a whole. And the fact that it is basically reserved only for the Nebraska football helmet makes it even more special.
I don’t like the iron-N, while much more modern, for one simple reason: It’s not distinctive. Many schools have a similar block-letter featured prominently in their logos. Here’s a quick count off the top of my head: Miss. St., Michigan, Missouri, Minnesota, NC State, Stanford, Washington, USC, Utah, Connecticut, Rutgers, Syracuse, Houston, Marshall, Memphis, Idaho, and probably more. Not all of those logos are exactly like Nebraska’s, but they’re all basically from the same block-letter family. Conversely, I can’t think of a single school other than Nebraska that has a simple, one-color, sans-serif letter on their helmet or in their logo. To put it another way, the current helmet logo feels much more “Nebraskan” to me than the current branding logo the university uses everywhere else.
Osborne seems truly attached to the look of Nebraska’s helmet and I guess I agree with him. I wouldn’t mind seeing it switched for one game, but I’d fight a full-time switch tooth and nail.
Brandon, you make a very good point about sans-serif N (thank you for introducing me to the term), that is a unique symbol in college football and if Nebraska is going against the grain in this regard, that can be a good thing. (Now that I think of it, LSU doesn’t have the biggest letters on their helmets either.) But, I would also say that if many other schools are using the iron-N, it proves my original point, that it’s the logo that fans most identify and want to see. As I understand it, Missouri is putting the Tiger head on its helmets so that their fans can see it clearly But either way, I would like to these points get put to the fans and players, and see what they think. Maybe reviving the sans-serif in the marketing and apparel for Nebraska could help it strengthen its position on the helmet. I appreciate your knowledge on logo, and keep up the good work over on Big Red Network.
Funny you should bring that up. I’d love to see more of the sans-serif N used in the university branding. You see it mostly on adidas’ official coaches gear these days. Pelini typically wears the skinny N on his hat if I’m not mistaken. I too would be very interested to see if the fans had a preference of one N over the other. Might be time for a BRN poll.
Would be great to see that poll; also, I would be interested to say a national poll of CFB fans to see which N they recognized quicker. the iron-on N is the one that ESPN/ABC and all the other networks use in their promotions, so I would be curious to see which the average CFB fan/HS recruit identified with Nebraska.
I’m a self confessed Uni-snob. (BTW, check out Paul Lukas’ excellent Uniwatch blog for lots more Uni-geeks like us)
My biggest beef with these futuristic alternative jerseys is that they do more to promote the Nike brand, than the Nebraska brand. Nike University (aka, Oregon) sold it’s soul long ago, and lord knows every team in the country has worn black for black’s sake, whether or not black was part of their color palette. But I hold extra respect for schools and programs that have just said no to becoming walking billboards for Nike/Adidas/Reebok/UnderArmour.
I think that some change is good, and that evolution is natural part of any uniform. But I prefer to see alternates that have some design consistency to the program tradition. Consistent colors, alternate logo’s (Herbie Husker, Lil’ Red, or the corn cob head dude http://www.huskerj.com/mascots-logos.htm would be fine) , or small tweaks like the sans-serif N, are fine with me.
The basic litmus test for me is this: Could a college football fan flipping channels on a Saturday afternoon identify the team by seeing the uniform? If yes, then I’m OK with it.
Tom G., I agree that there is a benefit for Nike and the other apparel companies when alternate uniforms are used, but that doesn’t necessarily have to be bad for Nebraska. And you’re right on an alternate uniforms: if Nebraska was going to do something different, the besbest thing for Nebraska to do is a throwback. Fans will embrace it, recruits will like it, and Addidas will make more money. Do throwback day once a year for a couple of years, maybe a day with all read or all white unis, and then try a true alternate uniform. Thanks for the link to past mascots; I think it would be great to see herbie decal or a cornstalk decal on the mascot.
You raise an interesting point about the (seeming) conflict between what Nebraskans want and what a national audience wants. The helmet N versus the everywhere else N is a good example of this divide.
Another example that comes to mind is from the mid-90s, Bill Byrne era: In an effort to boost the revenue from licensed merchandise, the university almost completely stopped selling anything that said “Cornhuskers”. Instead, the shirts, sweatshirts, hats, and everything else said “Huskers”. The logic was Huskers is less agrarian than Cornhuskers, and therefore, would sell better nationwide.
As the retro look has come into style, things that say “Cornhuskers” are easier to find, but from my experiences, still a definite minority of the merchandising options. Some will say that’s okay, because after all, the pregame chant is not “Cornhusker / Power”, but “Husker / Power”. But I still wish Nebraska kept the corn in Huskers to pay proper tribute to the team, it’s history, and the thousands of farmers that live here.
That’s a very good example and I feel very much the same. Five or six years ago I went on an eBay mission to snatch up all the Herbie Husker merchandise I could find. The University, of course, wasn’t using the old overall-Herbie at the time (part of the greater detasseling you mentioned above) but I loved everything he represented. He wasn’t cool, he wasn’t fit, he didn’t look good on TV chyrons, and he certainly wasn’t modern. And that’s why I loved him.
Now there’s a nice retro-based Herbie niche market and the modern Herbie has his place, but I’ve always lamented the same link to our agrarian roots that was lost when Herbie lost his overalls.
Feit, you raise a good pint about the Cornhuskers/Huskers seperation, but that likely would have happened anyway because of twitter. I would also add to that that Nebraska hadn’t had a corn mascot since the 1960′s, so it’s not surprising that they would eventualy deemphasize “Corn” part. Maybe if fans start wearing corn cob suits to games, it could bring them back!
Derek Johnson
Good piece Derek. I love talking uniforms and agree with your thoughts above for the most part. But I disagree on the helmet logo. It is interesting that what I call the sans-serif N (i.e. the current helmet logo) appears almost nowhere else in the school’s overall branding. Almost all of the merchandise features the iron-N (that’s the marketing dept.’s term). I much prefer the sans-serif N because of it’s distinctiveness. It’s simple and spartan and, when placed against the white field of the helmet, it looks open and occasionally lonely. In that way, I’ve always thought it was a good representation of the state as a whole. And the fact that it is basically reserved only for the Nebraska football helmet makes it even more special.
I don’t like the iron-N, while much more modern, for one simple reason: It’s not distinctive. Many schools have a similar block-letter featured prominently in their logos. Here’s a quick count off the top of my head: Miss. St., Michigan, Missouri, Minnesota, NC State, Stanford, Washington, USC, Utah, Connecticut, Rutgers, Syracuse, Houston, Marshall, Memphis, Idaho, and probably more. Not all of those logos are exactly like Nebraska’s, but they’re all basically from the same block-letter family. Conversely, I can’t think of a single school other than Nebraska that has a simple, one-color, sans-serif letter on their helmet or in their logo. To put it another way, the current helmet logo feels much more “Nebraskan” to me than the current branding logo the university uses everywhere else.
Osborne seems truly attached to the look of Nebraska’s helmet and I guess I agree with him. I wouldn’t mind seeing it switched for one game, but I’d fight a full-time switch tooth and nail.
I really like this response about the sans-serif N. Well put.
Brandon, you make a very good point about sans-serif N (thank you for introducing me to the term), that is a unique symbol in college football and if Nebraska is going against the grain in this regard, that can be a good thing. (Now that I think of it, LSU doesn’t have the biggest letters on their helmets either.) But, I would also say that if many other schools are using the iron-N, it proves my original point, that it’s the logo that fans most identify and want to see. As I understand it, Missouri is putting the Tiger head on its helmets so that their fans can see it clearly But either way, I would like to these points get put to the fans and players, and see what they think. Maybe reviving the sans-serif in the marketing and apparel for Nebraska could help it strengthen its position on the helmet. I appreciate your knowledge on logo, and keep up the good work over on Big Red Network.
Funny you should bring that up. I’d love to see more of the sans-serif N used in the university branding. You see it mostly on adidas’ official coaches gear these days. Pelini typically wears the skinny N on his hat if I’m not mistaken. I too would be very interested to see if the fans had a preference of one N over the other. Might be time for a BRN poll.
Would be great to see that poll; also, I would be interested to say a national poll of CFB fans to see which N they recognized quicker. the iron-on N is the one that ESPN/ABC and all the other networks use in their promotions, so I would be curious to see which the average CFB fan/HS recruit identified with Nebraska.
I’m a self confessed Uni-snob. (BTW, check out Paul Lukas’ excellent Uniwatch blog for lots more Uni-geeks like us)
My biggest beef with these futuristic alternative jerseys is that they do more to promote the Nike brand, than the Nebraska brand. Nike University (aka, Oregon) sold it’s soul long ago, and lord knows every team in the country has worn black for black’s sake, whether or not black was part of their color palette. But I hold extra respect for schools and programs that have just said no to becoming walking billboards for Nike/Adidas/Reebok/UnderArmour.
I think that some change is good, and that evolution is natural part of any uniform. But I prefer to see alternates that have some design consistency to the program tradition. Consistent colors, alternate logo’s (Herbie Husker, Lil’ Red, or the corn cob head dude http://www.huskerj.com/mascots-logos.htm would be fine) , or small tweaks like the sans-serif N, are fine with me.
The basic litmus test for me is this: Could a college football fan flipping channels on a Saturday afternoon identify the team by seeing the uniform? If yes, then I’m OK with it.
Tom G., I agree that there is a benefit for Nike and the other apparel companies when alternate uniforms are used, but that doesn’t necessarily have to be bad for Nebraska. And you’re right on an alternate uniforms: if Nebraska was going to do something different, the besbest thing for Nebraska to do is a throwback. Fans will embrace it, recruits will like it, and Addidas will make more money. Do throwback day once a year for a couple of years, maybe a day with all read or all white unis, and then try a true alternate uniform. Thanks for the link to past mascots; I think it would be great to see herbie decal or a cornstalk decal on the mascot.
You raise an interesting point about the (seeming) conflict between what Nebraskans want and what a national audience wants. The helmet N versus the everywhere else N is a good example of this divide.
Another example that comes to mind is from the mid-90s, Bill Byrne era: In an effort to boost the revenue from licensed merchandise, the university almost completely stopped selling anything that said “Cornhuskers”. Instead, the shirts, sweatshirts, hats, and everything else said “Huskers”. The logic was Huskers is less agrarian than Cornhuskers, and therefore, would sell better nationwide.
As the retro look has come into style, things that say “Cornhuskers” are easier to find, but from my experiences, still a definite minority of the merchandising options. Some will say that’s okay, because after all, the pregame chant is not “Cornhusker / Power”, but “Husker / Power”. But I still wish Nebraska kept the corn in Huskers to pay proper tribute to the team, it’s history, and the thousands of farmers that live here.
That’s a very good example and I feel very much the same. Five or six years ago I went on an eBay mission to snatch up all the Herbie Husker merchandise I could find. The University, of course, wasn’t using the old overall-Herbie at the time (part of the greater detasseling you mentioned above) but I loved everything he represented. He wasn’t cool, he wasn’t fit, he didn’t look good on TV chyrons, and he certainly wasn’t modern. And that’s why I loved him.
Now there’s a nice retro-based Herbie niche market and the modern Herbie has his place, but I’ve always lamented the same link to our agrarian roots that was lost when Herbie lost his overalls.
This links to an old, dead blog so I promise I’m not begging for hits, but I actually wrote about those overalls at length a long time ago. So, here it is, if you REALLY want to dig into my thoughts on old-Herbie: http://hiplainsdrifter.blogspot.com/2008/02/on-value-and-idealism-of-overalls.html
Enjoying the conversation on this post.
Feit, you raise a good pint about the Cornhuskers/Huskers seperation, but that likely would have happened anyway because of twitter. I would also add to that that Nebraska hadn’t had a corn mascot since the 1960′s, so it’s not surprising that they would eventualy deemphasize “Corn” part. Maybe if fans start wearing corn cob suits to games, it could bring them back!
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