Nebraska Football 2012: New Alternate Jerseys Won't Threaten Husker Tradition

The news came out recently that Nebraska was going to be getting new "futuristic" uniforms for one game in 2012. Understandably, fans of the red and white are a little reluctant to see any changes made to the uniforms which have remained basically unchanged for the past 40 years or so—even if the players will probably think it's cool.

Tradition is important to Husker fans, and when that's the case, the last thing you want is to see your team do an Oregon impression. When a team becomes unrecognizable, it loses its identity in many fans' eyes.

But fear not, Husker fans, because the uniform manufacturer is adidas, and even though the new alternate uniforms haven't been released yet, it's reasonable to assume that they'll be tasteful.

Let's think of the nightmare scenarios for Nebraska, where minor accent colors (or new colors entirely) are turned into the feature color of the uniform, and the helmets look like art projects. It happened to Georgia, Michigan State, Oregon and Boise State all last year alone, and it's pretty clear that's not what Nebraska wants.

But none of those schools wear adidas; they're all Under Armour or Nike.

One adidas team—in the Big Ten, as luck would have it—that unveiled new alternate uniforms in 2011, however, is Michigan. Let's take another look at those uniforms.

Are they new and different? Sure, absolutely (adidas called them "throwbacks," but Michigan's uniforms have never looked like that). Are they Michigan jerseys? Unquestionably, yes, and that's evident even from a distance, or when you're watching on TV.

More importantly, could these uniforms belong to anybody but Michigan? Not a chance. 

Sure, Notre Dame had new adidas jerseys for the game, too, and that giant shamrock on the helmet was, to put it charitably, a problem. It was quintessentially Notre Dame, but it was also a giant green shamrock on a Notre Dame helmet.

Being that Nebraska fans are just as protective of their own helmets' appearance as Notre Dame fans are, sure, there's some cause for concern. But again, adidas' change was entirely within the unique identity of Notre Dame football; we're not talking about gold helmets on Michigan State players here.

At worst, we'll probably see something like the block "N" on Nebraska's helmet instead, and if that seriously upsets you, you have so few problems in this world.

The bottom line is this: Nebraska fans should expect a Nebraska uniform from adidas when the new alternate is unveiled. The adidas folks aren't stupid about tradition. But they'll also be different enough that the players will enjoy them and the replicas will sell, and those are both good things for the athletic department as a whole.

That's the way of college football.