Illinois one ups Nebraska football with its own Memorial Stadium celebration

Last season, the Nebraska football team celebrated the 100th anniversary of Memorial Stadium by rolling out some throwback uniforms. Unfortunately, nearly every fan who laid eyes on them found them extremely underwhelming.

The uniforms simply didn’t offer enough of a different look to what the Cornhuskers sport now. Many people felt as though Trev Alberts and the athletic department simply didn’t try all that hard to really envision the past.

Those who were annoyed by the lack of effort by the Nebraska football team are almost certainly a bit more annoyed today after Illinois rolled out their alternate uniforms to celebrate the rededication of their own Memorial Stadium.

Nebraska football one-upped by Illinois in throwback uniform reveal

On Wednesday, the Illini showed off their throwback uniforms. While the jerseys could use some work and look a little bit too much like overalls that Minions from Despicable Me might wear, the helmets are very, very good looking.

They are painted to look like the leather helmets that were worn when Illinois’ Memorial Stadium first opened. The jerseys are made to match that style as well, but simply don’t look as good.

However, Illinois has a leg up on the Cornhuskers thanks to those incredible helmets. By the way, the helmets were painted by an artist from Imperial, Nebraska.

You can check out both reveals above, but it’s pretty clear that Illinois’ situation was handled with much more care and it certainly seems as if it was handled by someone who gave a crap. 

This isn’t meant to be a shot at Trev Alberts, or whoever under him oversaw the Huskers version of this. It’s possible they cared very much, felt that the rather lame attempts at a throw back uniform were indeed very loyal to the time period they were meant to evoke and just got it wrong.

I just wish the Nebraska football program got a mulligan.