We’ve known for nearly a week now that Michigan and Washington would be facing each other in college football’s national championship game tomorrow night. Now we know what they’ll be wearing — and frankly, it’s a bit disappointing.
The Wolverines, as the higher-seeded squad, are the designated home team, and they’ve announced that they’ll be going mono-navy — a combo sometimes referred to as the “big game blues.” As of this writing, the Huskies haven’t yet announced anything, but Niko Tamurian, sports director for the Seattle-based KOMO News, is reporting that they’ll go mono-white.
Considering the various pants possibilities — yellow for Michigan and either gold or purple for Washington — this will be a much worse-looking game than it could have been. (Yes, I know most people refer to Michigan’s color as “maize,” but that’s just branding. Back here in the real world, it’s yellow, so that’s what I prefer to call it.)
As it happens, the first time Michigan ever went mono-navy was for a 2021 home game against Washington. The Huskies went white over purple for that game, which they lost, so that may explain why they’re instead going mono-white for tomorrow’s game.
According to this article, Michigan has gone 15-1 overall when pairing the navy jerseys with the navy pants, including 4-0 this season. But they varied the sock colors in those four games, wearing yellow socks against Indiana, white socks against Purdue, and navy socks — the color they’ll be wearing tomorrow — when facing Bowling Green and Ohio State.
Washington has gone mono-white twice this season, for wins over Oregon State and Michigan State.
Both teams will wear the CFP 2024 logo patch.
Washington is outfitted by Adidas, whose maker’s mark will be appearing in a CFP national championship game for the first time. Michigan is outfitted by Nike but wears the Jordan maker’s mark, which will also be making its CFP national championship debut.
The game is scheduled to kick off at 7:30pm Eastern tomorrow.
(My thanks to Phil for his assistance with this report.)
&1.
And Washington is going gold/white/white. Not mono.
We define the terms differently, Jim. I’ll keep using my definition for the next few months. ;)
I’ll allow it. ;)
That’s mono enough. When jersey/pants/socks are the same color. And not a good look. Yellow and purple sox for the respective teams would look much better.
It may be the worst of Michigan’s current looks, but I don’t hate it. And they did wear their traditional look for their traditional bowl game, so as a Michigan fan, I’m fine with it. At least they’re not rolling out some oddball jersey like they did in the Adidas era.
Snarky comment. :-D
Those who wear socks and leotards will wear blue. Some of the photos show a number of players wearing no sox at all.
Ah yes, the perfect example of modern football uniforms. You have one team with one of the best traditional uniforms of all time and another team that has a fantastic contrasting color palette and they decide to go mono from head to toe.
I hate this trend as much as BFBS and GFGS. It needs to go away.
Has MFMS been coined?
Can read a double meaning into it…
I had a feeling Michigan would do this. Very disappointing. I guess maybe it was inevitable that this season would end with yet another all dark vs all (mostly) white match-up.
Wow, that really IS disappointing. Navy over maize vs. white over purple (or white over gold) would have been a MUCH more attractive matchup.
Preach
As a USC alum, I always considered Michigan’s uniforms having a slight edge over my Trojans, mainly due to their iconic helmet. However, since they introduced these blue pants, and also the white pants, it’s dropped them. If they have to wear the blue pants, it’s better with their white jersey, going blue/white/blue. The white pants just do absolutely nothing with either jersey.
Also disappointing with UW. Their gold pants are always the preferred choice, but yes the purple would also be a better look than the gold/white/white. Usually when a team has a metallic helmet, gold or silver, it looks better to have the pants match the helmet.
off comment: but the glass football bcs trophy looks so much better then current.
The “crystal football” is The Coaches’ Trophy, and it’s awarded by the AFCA to the final #1 team in the Coaches’ Poll. It’s still awarded, but it just happened to be the de facto trophy for the BCS and its predecessors, the Bowl Alliance and the Bowl Coalition, because the Coaches’ Poll was tied to those alliances (which is why Michigan couldn’t actually win that trophy in the 1997 season, something people seem to forget). It’s just that the CFP commissioned a new trophy, and yes, the CFP trophy is vastly inferior to the crystal football.
Michigan’s 2021 game against Washington technically wasn’t the first time they went mono navy. They wore a mono navy alternate uniform in 2014 against Penn State. However, the 2021 Washington game was the first time they want mono navy with their standard jersey.
Had high hopes. Should not have. Insert heavy sigh here.
Yep. So did I. Could have been much much better. Just praying for no ads or annoying sideline reporters.
The purple on purple side paneling really bothers me. It would look so much better Purple and Gold
and socks against the Falcons in white jerseys, pants, and socks. And these are just the examples I can remember right now. Really original and unique.
Sorry the Saints wore black jerseys, pants, and socks today against the Falcons in all white. In the college semi-final Washington wore purple jerseys, pants, and socks against Texas in their usual head to toe white uniforms. So many games these days between mono dark vs mono white. So sad.
They should’ve wore their yellow pants, ridiculous going unitard navy.
As a Steeler fan, I love that you can count on them to wear contrasting pants no matter what, except the Color Rush game. This makes them particularly appealing on the road, IMO.
Michigan used to be this way, and even though I grew up cheering for a rival school, I always appreciated that about Michigan, they’d look great. Now it what could be their finest moment in over a quarter century, they roll out a modern dud…
…Against another modern dud. Agree with a previous poster that MFMS needs coined here, although it might be more appropriate to be MFMFMS?!?
Mono is what current players crave, mono is what they get to wear. Contrast is a distraction, colorful means weak, it is straight edge semi tough streetfighter minimalism that tickles their taste buds. I hope the next generation will swing the pendulum again to more colorful combinations with more contrast.
Nike bastardization continues strong
Yellow and gold pants for both are far superior. That said, if only UM would wear the yellow pants even with the UW all whites, that would also look OK. The scuba/mono blue crap is hideous, particularly with the lack of stripes. I believe some of the UM guys wore yellow socks or leggings with this once (perhaps I’m imagining it), which would at least show a little contrast. Still hate it though, particularly for a team with such a (usually) classic look.
I believe some of the UM guys wore yellow socks or leggings with this once (perhaps I’m imagining it)
It’s mentioned/linked right in the article.
Reading is fundamental…
“I always considered Michigan’s uniforms having a slight edge over my Trojans, mainly due to their iconic helmet.”
– Princeton’s iconic helmet that Michigan borrowed (appropriated, in today’s vernacular). Also, while it may have looked “iconic” in decades past, the yellow wings now look nothing like they did then.
– It’s 9:41 a.m. on January 8th and Michigan still sucks. Go Huskies!
Does anybody know why Washington essentially never wears their gold pants with their white jerseys? It seems like it would be a good look.
It’s a really good look. It’s the same issue with the Lions of the NFL. Silver pants please. I would say the same about any team with gold/yellow/silver/grey helmets. Wear matching pants regardless of the jersey color.