Slippery Rock University can take one positive thing away from its loss at the University of Michigan’s “Big House” last Saturday.

The special jerseys The Rock wore during its 45-23 loss to Mercyhurst won’t be seeing the field again this season.

SRU, which traditionally wears green-and-white, wore gray jerseys with green-and-gray arm sleeves along with a gray chrome helmet with a green “S” logo.

Mercyhurst, which is also traditionally green-and-white, also switched things up, wearing blue pants.

SRU coach George Mihalik said that The Rock didn’t want to wear Green out of respect for Michigan.

“We wanted to find a unique way to show appreciation for our gracious hosts at the University of Michigan,” Mihalik said in a press release issued by the university. “We thought that in order to respect the Wolverines’ great rivalry with Michigan State, we wouldn’t wear our traditional home green uniforms in their stadium.”

Not wearing your colors out of respect for Michigan’s rivalry with Michigan State is absurd.

Gray isn’t in the color scheme (outside of the painted end zones) for SRU. Neither is black, which The Rock has broken out several times inthe past few years in various sports.

If it’s not in the color scheme, teams shouldn’t bring it out as a primary color.

The Rock has a nice classic look with it’s green-and-white threads.

If the Wolverines’ fan base was concerned by SRU’s colors, why did they adopt them as a mascot?

Or help The Rock set the Division II football attendance record by having 61,134 people show up for its game at “The Big House” against Shippensburg in 1979.

People were drawn in by the name of the town, but probably had some follow-up questions.

Surely someone would have looked up or asked what The Rock’s nickname or colors were.

Imagine how Michigan would feel if the university found out Slippery Rock has a gigantic white “S” in the hill above Mihalik-Thompson Stadium’s visiting bleachers that looks similar to Michigan State’s block letter logo.

Since Phil Knight starting pouring all of that Nike money into Oregon’s football program, college teams have been shifting around their look.

The Ducks have 384 different uniform combinations available for games.

Seems like most schools have followed suit. Many teams have worn all black uniforms, even if their primary colors are way off.

Louisville, which is traditionally red-and-white, wore all black uniforms for a home game against the University of Miami earlier this season.

Even one of college football’s most proud traditions to the end of the season — the Army-Navy game — has been hit by some hideous special uniforms.

There’s nothing wrong with trying new things, but a big part of the appeal of college football is traditions.

Playing a game in a special environment isn’t a great reason to trample on it.

Josh Rizzo is a sports writer for the Butler Eagle.