What do you get when you convince 25,000-plus students at Michigan Stadium to all wear maize for a Michigan football game? A pretty kick-ass student section.

What do you get when you convince them all to wear blue? A slightly less awesome group of fans.

But I guess the bottom line is that either of these options is better than the alternative of an unorganized mash of Maize and Blue. So I'm ready to begrudgingly endorse the plan for a Blue Out at Michigan Stadium this weekend against the Buckeyes. I'm willing to join the athletic department, Michigan Replay and the Detroit Free Press, all of which have supported Saturday's blue outfits.

Especially to the fans who know, like I do, that a Blue-Out is second fiddle, I implore you to reconsider this weekend and dig up that blue Michigan shirt. A united student section - heck, a united stadium if everything works out - would be a sight to see at Michigan Stadium.

Like many of you out there, I don't like wearing blue to football games. I don't like that it doesn't show up on television like Notre Dame's bright green or Wisconsin's scarlet red student sections do. I don't like that it feels as if the Maize Rage is just doing this because the Athletic Department said so - probably just so Bill Martin's crew can honor its contract with the M-Den or something stupid like that. I don't like that there are so many cool things 112,000 people could do with colors, but instead the powers that be chose to go simple. (For the record, in the future Michigan Stadium could be divided into a maize student section and blue everywhere else. Or the people who sit on the 'M' at the 50-yard line could wear maize shirts, which would look ridiculously awesome). And I don't particularly like that Vince from the Maize Rage sends out an e-mail calling me a "moron in a pink shirt" just because I realize all this and he doesn't.

But I'm willing to put all that aside for one game of true solidarity among Michigan football fans.

Ohio State is currently favored by 2.5 points, even though they have to travel to "enemy territory." So because Michigan Stadium can be pretty tame, the Wolverines need all the help they can get. I never thought I'd write a column directing Michigan fans what to do, but I've heard some cool ideas over the last couple of days, and this is the best forum to share them. This isn't a typical list about cheering when Michigan is on defense or not doing the wave - ever - so take a few minutes to look over some novel ideas to make Michigan Stadium a little more hostile this weekend.

Towels: I heard that the athletic department has bought - I use the term "bought" loosely because they probably got them sponsored - 25,000 maize towels to wave. This looks cool. Trust me. If there is a towel on your seat when you get to the stadium - or if someone hands you one when you come into the stadium, wave it as much as possible. The great thing about towels is that you can yell while waving them. Genius. I would even support students bringing their own towels or yellow shirts to the game to swing around your head like a helicopter. Ah, the wisdom of Petey Pablo.

Bottles with coins: Some students told me about their plan to bring bottles of water and a pocketful of coins to the game, drink the water and put the coins in the bottle. This is an excellent noise-maker, and I support it fully as long as the coin-filled bottles stay in the stands and don't find their way onto the turf at Michigan Stadium. That means that even if there is a bad call, you have to resist chucking the bottle at the ref. This is kind of like waving the keys on third down, only it's way louder and actually, you know, cool. Plus, as long as the bottle is sealed, both the bottle and the coins are legal items to bring into the Big House.

The Claw: Keep doing the claw. It looks sweet, and is a huge improvement. It's one of the few things that makes the Michigan students stand out from other student sections around the country.

Wear Blue: Clearly, the first two-thirds of this column was about wearing blue to the game, but I just wanted to reiterate. Get out your blue t-shirts - or more likely, blue sweatshirts - and head to the game hyped.

Ian Herbert can be reached at iherbert@umich.edu.