I wonder if the players have seen any concepts yet. According to one player I talked to, Adidas created some "sick" black uniforms for the 2011 season, which Nebraska declined to use. They're still sitting in the stadium somewhere.
I think a lot of this has to do with recruiting and player interests. Some players I talked to love the idea of alt unis, and really wish the AD would look into it more than they do. Oregon's Nike contract has been monstrously successful for them. Although anybody who comes to Nebraska should know (and come to expect) most of us don't like a lot of variability, I think a lot of recruits out there are interested in places that will offer some form of alt unis. It's fun for the players but also for a lot of the fans/media.
I do not disagree with you that Oregon's Nike contract has been monstrously successful for their program. And I do not disagree with you that many of today's recruits are interested in places that will offer some form of alternate uniforms. With that being said I would argue that Oregon did not become the
Oregon program that we all recognize today because of their many varieties of alternate uniforms. I would argue they became the Oregon program that everyone now respects today because of the style of play that they choose to run on their offense and because....THEY WIN.....and have been winning a lot of games lately on a consistent basis.
Did their vast array of uniforms help market their program and university? Absolutely it did, but I would argue those numerous alternate Oregon uniforms would not have had the same marketable effect on the nation and with recruits if Oregon was producing mediocre and below average records year in and year out.
Marketing such as an alternate uniform change gives a program a quick buzz, but winning...and winning big consistently is what takes good programs to being great, and it is what keeps great programs and proud programs like Nebraska, Michigan, Oklahoma, etc at the top of the nation's psyche when they think of that current year's top teams.
Nebraska in my view has slipped a little here over the last decade. Not because of what uniforms we chose to wear, but what our win-loss record has been for the last 10 years, and our revolving door of offensive styles of play from the option, to the west coast, to multiple/west coast, to multiple/pistol/option. Oregon's style of play for the most part has remained the same. Their spread offense is part of their identity, and because they have been winning on a consistent basis
(average of at least 7 wins since 2005) their program in recruits eyes is that of a consist Top 25 team. Oregon's uniforms just happen to be the cherry-on-top so to speak when it comes to enticing many of those recruits to their program.
So it is my view that Nebraska's one game step into the alternate uniform world will definitely create a buzz for the program. In fact it already has, just look at this thread, and we haven't even seen the actual design yet. But recruits won't choose to come to Nebraska because we decided to do an alternate uniform. Your big time talented recruits will eventually choose to come to Nebraska when we start winning 10 or 11 games consistently, when we start playing with a consistent offensive identity again that doesn't change every 3 or 4 years. Highly ranked recruits will choose to come play for this university on the plains when Nebraska begins competing for BCS bowl games and National Championships again.
That is why kids come to play for Nebraska, not because of some alternate uniform scheme, no matter how cool it might be. That is why when those Cornhuskers take the field in Memorial Stadium every fall, they truly know who they are playing for.