There are courtesy of Scout Message Board user SuperStudSteve (ironically, an OSU fan who isn’t even named Steve).

White and Blue Away:

White on White Away:

Yellow on Blue Home:

Yellow on Yellow Home:

The away ones are Adrian Arrington from the Penn State game last year, and the home mockups are Marshawn Lynch with Mike Hart’s head (note the Cal logo on the V-neck).

My Opinion:

White on Blue looks alright, though I’m not sure it’s an improvement over the yellow pants. Personally, I think all away jerseys are getting a little played out (Texas does it best), and am not interested in seeing them (I know we had them in the 70s or 80s).
As far as the home Jerseys, I think the all yellow looks like crap. The yellow-on-blue, on the other hand, I wouldn’t mind seeing a maximum of once a year for a special occasion. The majority of fans who are opposed think the “tradition” of the home jerseys shouldn’t be tampered with. However, like Brian feels toward night games, I don’t think a special occasion-type uniform would bring a certain energy to the team (think: maize out), and couldn’t hurt in marketing the program a bit (it would be a big enough deal to get play on random ESPN talk show #s 1-6).

Let me know what you think in the comments.

Posted under Misc.

According to the Ann Arbor News, a new indoor football facility is planned for the area where the current outdoor practice fields are.

In the ongoing facilities race, this is a step in the right direction for year-round practice, and recruits always love shiny news things. The project is expected to cost $26.1 Million. Link to Regents Action Request.

Downsides: Soccer field moving down by the varsity tennis center, too far to walk. Obviously attendance at soccer games is too high as it is.

Posted under Misc.

Clickondetroit reports.

The $750,000 update is expected to be completed by the start of next season. For the time being, that will rule out possible expansion around the end zones once the renovation is done (that wouldn’t have happened for a very long time anyway).

For those of us desperately wanting a Godzillatron (a la Texas), there is no good news. When Texas renovated Royal Stadium, they built one Godzillatron, which, along with some (relatively inexpensive) audio upgrades, cost $8 million. I still wouldn’t rule out improving the screens to HD capabilities, though the video boards will not become ridiculously large.

Posted under Misc.

Currently being voted upon by student season ticket holders. Here’s a copy of the e-mail sent to students:

“M-Mail
University of Michigan Athletics

Football student season ticket holders for the 2006 season may vote to decide the winning design of the 2007 Michigan football season T-shirt. The maize shirts with the theme “The Team, The Team, The Team” can be viewed and voted on at [link redacted] until Wednesday March 14 at 5:00pm.

You can be part of the largest crowd to watch a college football game by ordering a student football season ticket for the 2007 season. The student season ticket sale begins next week. An e-mail will be sent by Monday, March 19 to all U-M students with ordering information.

Go Blue!

Marty Bodnar
Associate Athletic Director, Ticketing & Marketing”

And the options are:
#1

#2

#3

#4

Also, I am an idiot and don’t know how to prevent these images from breaking the tables. I’ll make Paul fix it later.

[Paul – fixed it]

Posted under Misc.

…and watch the first half of the game, so Paul can ever-so-valiantly bring you what I miss. If the first half isn’t over by about 12:50, you’ll miss out n the end, because I must must go to my 1:00 class.

There are few things more awkward than sitting in a classroom, waiting for class to start, and leaving because you have realized that Lorch Hall isn’t so keen on this “wireless” idea.

I’ll be doing work during the game since I’m skipping class, so my apologies if the liveblog isn’t teh awesomez.

Posted under Misc.

http://www2.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifI’m not one to quote pay sites (see: , which I generally agree with), but in this instance, I think it’s a matter of some importance.

Rumors have been perpetuated on the internet (including those damn bloggers -ed.*) that three players, whose names I will not drag through the mud until this rumor has been in some way substantiated, have been caught with drugs and kicked off the team. Per Tom Beaver, at least the aspect of getting removed from the team is false, and he also stated unequivocally that the law is NOT involved.

Other evidence I can provide, however trivial, circumstantial, or spurious it may seem:

1) I saw one of the players in question yesterday, still wearing his varsity warmups (as most players always do, since they get washed by team trainers), and appearing to show zero concern. Unless this is something that happened overnight or this morning, it is unlikely that he has been kicked off the team.
2) A player (who shall remain nameless, but is not one of the internet-accused) used to hang around my house during the summer, and described the process by which players can be suspended during the offseason. The general idea is that different types of violations charge you with “points,” and after you accumulate a given amount of said points in a time period, you get suspended from the team. Positive tests for marijuana, and getting caught possessing marijuana, were not enough (again, this was in the offseason, which is going on now) to warrant a suspension, much less getting booted from the team. Unless these guys were cultivating or selling massive amounts of weed, or were involved with more illicit drugs, I would doubt the credibility of a rumer that simple possession would get them completely booted from the team.

Thus, even if players were caught with illicit substances, the degree of punishment claimed by this rumor is inconsistent with what I have been told is team policy. As of now, I’d consider this rumor completely unsubstantiated. Updates provided when more news becomes available.

*Brent Musburger

Posted under Misc.

From the Free Press.

Obviously, Appalachian State (HOT HOT HOT L.O.L.!!!!!) was not the first choice for Michigan, fact which was readily apparent to everyone except Brent Musburger’s “bloggers” (i.e. bitchy internet people).

The far more interesting tidbits from that article are the not-so-subtle hints about future series (including away games) with Rutgers, Stanford, and a (slightly-less-obvious-to-discern-which)
team in Texas. Martin raises these “areas” in which he wants to play away games under the guise of playing close to large alumni bases (a laudable goal in and of itself), but it’s also quite clear that they would be huge for exposure and recruiting.

Posted under Misc.

…or how I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb.

Vance Bedford Officially Announced as secondary coach.
Big ol’ Gift given to athletic department.

Posted under Misc.

Appalchian State to fill opening date on schedule.

Bonus linkage from App. State Site.

While there is obvious disappointment over the scheduling of a 1-AA team, several articles have made it quite clear that, of the group of 1-A teams with an open date to fill, none were willing to take on the Wolverines. Such teams denying the non-sexual overtures of Bill Martin included Hawaii (returning a Heisman-favorite QB, didn’t want to screw his chance, probably), Vanderbilt (needed another home game to balance the checkbook, scheduled a 1-AA team), and about four other similarly-prestiged teams.

With two top(ish) teams already on the non-conference schedule, the scheduling of a patsy is not as disappointing as it could have been. The final schedule is as follows:

Sept. 1 Appalachian State (Maize out)
Sept. 8 Oregon (Maize out)
Sept. 15 Notre Dame (Maize out)
Sept. 22 Penn State* (Maize out)
Sept. 29 at Northwestern* (Maize out)
Oct. 6 Eastern Michigan (Maize out)
Oct. 13 Purdue* (Homecoming) (Maize out)
Oct. 20 at Illinois*
Oct. 27 Minnesota* (Maize out)
Nov. 3 at Michigan State*
Nov. 10 at Wisconsin*
Nov. 17 Ohio State* (Maize out)

(Maize out existence and emphasis mine, only once for hilarity/truth).

Posted under Misc.

The Freep reports that Hawaii, thought to be an option for the season opener next year, has been eliminated.

Interestingly, the article also says that Martine tried to score USC for the first game at some point in the past.

As of right now, the most likely opponent is sounding like Appalachian State. I will demand my money back if we play a 1-AA team.

Posted under Misc.