Now is the right time for CSU Football to move on from the State Pride uniforms

CSU Football has likely worn the “State Pride” uniforms for the last time. 

According to Kevin Lytle of the Fort Collins Coloradoan, Colorado State does not plan to use the theme in the Pac-12 era, which is a decision that will surely generate intense opinions both ways. 

On one hand, the alternative design was highly popular locally and always generated positive responses nationally when the Rams would break out the threads. They have been considered one of the more unique designs in college football over the last decade and gotten a ton of love for being swaggy. For a program that hasn’t received much positive attention for its play on the field, one could say the State Pride uniforms were the most consistent thing that CSU did well to generate good ‘PR’. 

Conversely, though, the uniforms looked nothing like CSU’s actual school colors, and there is an argument to be made about brand confusion. During a time when all of these schools in the new Pac-12 are trying to elevate nationally, there’s something to be said about consistency and establishing familiarity, especially if it correlates with success. Most of the biggest brands in the sport don’t deviate very much from their standard looks because they’re already iconic. They’re iconic, though, because those teams win. 

Personally, I believe that the Colorado flag craze has run its course in 2026. That’s not to say that it was a bad design, because the state flag is rad and I absolutely loved the uniforms when they were introduced. It just feels like the trend is a little overdone at this point. After 15 years of plastering the flag on every t-shirt, water bottle and bumper sticker that we could, the impact feels a little less significant than it once did. Not to mention that just about every team in Colorado has done some version of their own State Pride uniform by now.

Ultimately, I’m no expert when it comes to branding or marketing. I’m just a guy who really loves college football. But as someone who romanticizes the pageantry and traditions of the game, I do appreciate that we’ve seen CSU lean more into its Green & Gold identity. 

There are a lot of cool alternate uniforms out there today, including the pumpkin and alfalfa throwbacks that CSU wears to honor its roots on Ag Day. And it’s a fun thing to have some variety here and there for the players and fans. But if you’re a college football purist, you understand the concept of a uniform / logo representing something greater. Your school colors are really supposed to mean something. Wearing that uniform is supposed to mean something. 

In the race to keep up with Oregon, it’s become normalized for schools to throw all of that tradition out of the equation. We see certain programs wear a new uniform every week, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s just different. This is going to get mocked by some as an old man’s take, but I like turning on a game and seeing the Rams in the colors I’ve always known. The classic green helmet with gold horns is a look that I associate with some of my favorite sports memories of all-time. There’s a genuine emotional connection that goes back to my childhood and my days on campus. 

It would be fun to see the green pants come back into the mix. Pulling out the all-green combo against BYU this September would be a nice little homage to the fun game the teams played at Hughes Stadium back in 2008. Plus, it would be a good compromise to allow some more variety in uniform combinations while staying true to the school’s colors. But while it might be a little controversial at the moment, I agree with CSU’s decision to leave the State Pride uniforms in the past. It was a fun tradition and well executed, but it’s time to move forward. 

Assuming that this past season was the last time that the Rams will wear the uniforms, CSU’s record in the alternates was 3-4 going back to 2017. They were first worn in the infamous collapse against Boise State in 2017 and most recently worn in the loss to 2025 loss to Washington State. The only year that the Rams didn’t wear them was 2020, when CSU only played one home game in a campaign condensed by the pandemic.