Arizona State's 'Roses & Devils' Throwback Uniforms Are the Best Jersey Reveal of the College Football Offseason

via Sun Devil Football / adidas

Arizona State posted two words on Saturday morning, "Roses & Devils," and then showed the uniform. Anyone who remembers Arizona State's only trip to the top of the Pac-10 knew immediately what it was. This is the 1986 look, the uniform the Sun Devils wore to beat Michigan in the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day 1987, brought back for the 40th anniversary of that season, and it is the best throwback jersey any program has put out this offseason.

Correction, September 12: an earlier version of this post tied the uniform to the 1996 Jake Plummer team and the 1997 Rose Bowl. The school's own materials, and the "1987" stitched inside the collar, point to the 1986 season. We have fixed the history below.

Every uniform photo in this post, including the cover image, comes from Arizona State's official reveal. These are the school's images, not ColorWay Sports originals.

What "Roses & Devils" Actually Means

The name is doing real work here, and it is not just alliteration.

The 1986 Sun Devils went 10-1-1, won the Pac-10 outright under head coach John Cooper, and earned the program's first trip to Pasadena. On January 1, 1987, Arizona State beat Michigan 22-15 in the Rose Bowl, quarterback Jeff Van Raaphorst was named the game's MVP, and it remains the only Rose Bowl the school has ever won.

That is the team. Roses, and Devils. Forty years on, adidas put the uniform back on the field, and the jersey carries the year inside the collar: "1987" with three roses.

The Uniform, Piece by Piece

via Sun Devil Football / adidas

The helmet. Gold shell, white facemask, and the full-body Sparky decal on the side, the cartoon devil leaning on his pitchfork rather than the modern pitchfork-only mark. There is a small maroon pitchfork low on the back of the shell and a pair of commemorative decals on the front left. This is the piece Arizona State fans have been asking for.

The jersey. Maroon, with ARIZONA STATE in white block letters straight across the chest, and gold numbers outlined in white underneath. The shoulders carry a white-gold-white stripe set that wraps the sleeve. The Big 12 patch sits on the right chest, the adidas mark on the left.

The pants. Gold, with a maroon and white stripe running the leg, and the tail of the jersey striping picking the pattern back up where the two meet.

via Sun Devil Football / adidas

Why the Chest Wordmark Is the Whole Thing

Most programs put the school name across the chest and it reads as filler. Here it is the load-bearing detail.

Arizona State's modern jerseys have leaned on Sparky and the pitchfork as chest marks, which is a logo-forward approach that a lot of adidas schools share. Going back to plain white block letters does two things at once. It clears the space so the gold numbers can be large and legible, and it dates the jersey instantly, because straight block type across the chest is a 1990s convention that almost nobody runs now.

The color split is the other reason this works. Maroon and gold is a two-color palette with no neutral hiding in it, so the white striping and the white wordmark are the only places the eye gets to rest. Put a gold helmet on top of a maroon jersey and gold pants and you get maroon sandwiched between two blocks of gold, which is why this reads clean from the upper deck instead of muddy.

via Sun Devil Football / adidas

Our Grade: A

The helmet alone would carry this. Cartoon Sparky is one of the great mascot decals in the sport and it has been reduced to a pitchfork for most of the last decade, so seeing the whole devil back at full size on a gold shell is the reveal.

What pushes it to an A rather than a good-not-great throwback is that every piece agrees. The striping on the sleeve, the striping on the pants, and the outline on the numbers are all the same white-and-gold logic, so the uniform reads as one design instead of three separate decisions. That is the thing most throwbacks get wrong, and it is the same thing Cal got right with the Joe Roth set.

It is not a perfect A-plus only because the modern jersey cut leaves the shoulder striping less room to breathe than a 1986 shell did, which is the tax every throwback in college football pays right now.

The Bottom Line

Gold Sparky helmet, maroon jersey with the block ARIZONA STATE wordmark, gold pants, and a name that points straight at the best team in program history. Arizona State did not modernize the 1986 uniform, which is exactly why it lands. Grade: A.

Arizona State also plays Mississippi State on September 6, a game where the Bulldogs are debuting one of the seven new adidas alternate uniforms that dropped this week. For the rest of this offseason's college jersey reveals, we graded Florida's matte blue helmet, Georgia's first white helmet, Vanderbilt's return to old gold, and Tulane's Mardi Gras City Edition.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are Arizona State's "Roses & Devils" uniforms?

A 2026 throwback jersey and uniform set from adidas that brings back Arizona State's 1986 look, worn in the 1987 Rose Bowl: a gold helmet with the full-body Sparky decal, a maroon jersey with ARIZONA STATE in white block letters and gold numbers, and gold pants.

Why are they called "Roses & Devils"?

The name points to the 1986 Sun Devils, who went 10-1-1, won the Pac-10, and beat Michigan 22-15 in the Rose Bowl on January 1, 1987. The 2026 season is the 40th anniversary of that team.

What happened in Arizona State's 1987 Rose Bowl?

Arizona State beat Michigan 22-15 on January 1, 1987, the program's first and only Rose Bowl win. Quarterback Jeff Van Raaphorst was the game's MVP.

Who coached the 1986 Arizona State team?

John Cooper, in his second season in Tempe. He left for Ohio State after the 1987 season.

What is the Sparky logo on the Arizona State throwback helmet?

The full-body cartoon devil leaning on a pitchfork, rather than the pitchfork-only mark Arizona State has used as its primary helmet logo in recent seasons.

When will Arizona State wear the "Roses & Devils" throwback uniforms?

Arizona State has not announced the game as of August 15, 2026. We will update this post when the school sets a date.

What grade do Arizona State's throwback uniforms get?

Our grade is A. The cartoon Sparky helmet, the block chest wordmark, and the way the sleeve striping, pant striping, and number outlines all follow one system make this the strongest college football throwback of the 2026 offseason.