Notre Dame vs. Wisconsin 2020-21

[Discrim]

So for the first time in a freakin eternity, Notre Dame and Wisconsin will be facing off on the gridiron next season.  For whatever reason, instead of holding either game on campus, the 2020 game will be at Lambeau....as part of ND's Shamrock Series, meaning the Irish are the "home" team.  I figure nothing like this will happen uniwise, but I figured I'd take a College to Pro-style approach, so the Irish are based on the 40s Packers, as a nod to alum Curly Lambeau, while the Badgers took cues from the Lombardi Pack, though given that they don't typically utilize a third color, I used a light gold similar to the shade used in UW's academic mark...which makes the whole thing look like a 49ers reject.  I might have been better off going with a white/red version of the Powerball jersey, tbh.

 

The 2021 game, meanwhile, will be at Soldier Field...where the Badgers will be the home team.  Given that a lot of people hated the navy helmets worn in the most recent Yankee Stadium game, I figured sticking with gold domes but using the baseball ND would work nicely.  For the hell of it, the jersey and socks are mint green.  Wisconsin's set is based on the big V and stripes from the late 20s Bears, though as I'm not sure the NCAA would've allowed for a smaller upper-chest number, the striping is in a darker cardinal, making this something more akin to the late 90s Patriots.  I'm not super confident in my ability to make a helmet look like its leather counterpart, so I extended the tonal look to the helmet, using the darker cardinal as the shell color, with a little anachronism with the early 60s front and back W's.

 

You may scream now.

[FCMacbeth]

That template, though, is amazing! May I use one for my future concepts? Promise I will credit you.

[WideRight]

Instead of "Catholics vs. Cons" (ND v. Miami back in the day), this will be "The Catholics vs. The Curds". 

 

[ClevelandBaronsNHLfan]

I like both of the Notre dame concepts but the second Wisconsin concept has too much red

[packerfan21396]

I think changing the gold helmet and pants of the Lombardi Badgers to red and instead of using gold as a third color, using black might make them more Wisconsin and less 49ers.

 

For the 20s Badgers though, I'd suggest just a brown or tan helmet with optional red W to make it a clear 20's design rather than a 20s-60s mashup. As for adopting a leather stripe style, though, the NCAA did allow this to occur:

So, I'd reccomend a number border or something going that route.  Otherwise, the 1920 Badgers looked like this:

And thus it might be more legible to have red numbers with leather borders on the front of those.

 

Otherwise, great concepts and I would be extremely conflicted if these came to fruition...

[Discrim]

Yeah, I'll probably go in that direction and see how that works out, given that the fact that there's no home equivalent to worry about slipped my mind for some reason.  

[MJWalker45]

NCAA banned small numbers after adidas did the N/W jerseys for Wisconsin vs Nebraska a few years back and the big M's for Michigan. For Wisconsin's Soldier Field unis, just go with the white helmets and red W's. And I'd go with the Bears pattern over Wisconsin 1920's pattern. It just looks better.

[Discrim]

Far as the Chicago set, the only question was whether a small chest number would've still been allowed, and that question's been answered (thanks @MJWalker45).  Otherwise, I got the look I was aiming for, so I'm not planning on any tweaks.  I might do some more neutral site concepts in the near future, though I make no concrete promises.

 

The Wisconsin GB set has been modified to red helmet/pants with black striping, which definitely looks more like Wisconsin, if nothing else.

[packerfan21396]

It most certainly does look a lot more like Wisconsin, but maybe too much like Georgia.  Flipping the white and black on the pants and helmet might help, but then again, it might look less like the Packers.  Great update, nonetheless.

[MilSox]

The Badgers briefly wore gold in the 40s. But it did coincide with their only (split) national championship season in 1942. Maybe base the gold uni on that?

 

Otherwise, pick two Lambeau era unis to base them on. Both versions of Notre Dame look good. But something based on the Packers current throwbacks would probably look better for UW. 

[Discrim]

22 hours ago, NicDB said:

Otherwise, pick two Lambeau era unis to base them on. Both versions of Notre Dame look good. But something based on the Packers current throwbacks would probably look better for UW. 

The other directions I was seriously considering for UW were either the '36 Pack or the Powerball uniforms, given that the NCAA's ban on smaller front numbers would make something Acme Packers-based next to impossible.  Honestly, that was among the more frustrating parts of College to Pro when I did that semi-regularly: some teams and templates can be surprisingly adaptable (I figure I can make anything involving Tennessee workable), others not so much (or why I never got around to Deion Sanders).

[WSU151]

On 2/14/2020 at 1:21 AM, Discrim said:

The 2021 game, meanwhile, will be at Soldier Field...where the Badgers will be the home team.  Given that a lot of people hated the navy helmets worn in the most recent Yankee Stadium game, I figured sticking with gold domes but using the baseball ND would work nicely.  For the hell of it, the jersey and socks are mint green.  Wisconsin's set is based on the big V and stripes from the late 20s Bears, though as I'm not sure the NCAA would've allowed for a smaller upper-chest number, the striping is in a darker cardinal, making this something more akin to the late 90s Patriots.  I'm not super confident in my ability to make a helmet look like its leather counterpart, so I extended the tonal look to the helmet, using the darker cardinal as the shell color, with a little anachronism with the early 60s front and back W's.

 

You may scream now.

 

How does a tan W look on the front and back of the helmet?

[packerfan21396]

On 2/18/2020 at 11:02 PM, NicDB said:

The Badgers briefly wore gold in the 40s. But it did coincide with their only (split) national championship season in 1942. Maybe base the gold uni on that?

I don't think the world is ready for the return of the chrome pants...

[MilSox]

21 hours ago, packerfan21396 said:

I don't think the world is ready for the return of the chrome pants...

That image just pisses me off.  Not because the uniform doesn't look great, but because with all the fancy pants tech that goes into modern uniforms, yet proper golds and silvers are still eluding us.