After Iowa State’s unveiling of a new, all-black uniform this past week, social media was awash with opinions from every corner of the state on the new jerseys. The discussions became so heated that some believe we were on the verge of a second civil war.

Well known Hawkeye Nation member judzeehawk chimed in with his displeasure in the Cyclones’ new black threads, saying “I know 1 thing for sure you’d never see Iowa with red uniforms. I guess when you’ve been god awful for as long as they have been you need to do something just to be able to get excited for football. Silly clowns.”

In response to the new Cyclone threads, the University of Iowa has announced that it will be sporting red uniforms this fall. The idea has supposedly been in the minds of coaches and administrators at the university for at least a few years, but they hadn’t yet found a cause petty enough to warrant pulling the trigger on the new uniforms. Below is a photo of former Hawkeye quarterback C.J. Beathard sporting a prototype red jersey at a practice in 2016.

“We’ve been very close to adding a red uniform to the rotation in the past, but never finalized the order,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz added. “With Iowa State adding a black uniform, which we invented, by the way, we’ve decided to punch back with our own red jersey.” However, the Iowa football team won’t be the only ones in Iowa City sporting red uniforms this year.

The Hawkeyes didn’t just stop there. They took it a step further when they included another Iowa State color (one that we can only assume the Cyclones invented) in their new uniforms with addition of gold pants.

The Iowa women’s soccer team has also added red uniforms to their rotation, and plan to use them whenever possible.

Hawkeye fans will also be able to pick up some limited edition red apparel. Here is a sample released on the Iowa Athletics Twitter page:

Chart this back and forth banter as another chapter in this ongoing sibling rivalry. Iowa State may have started it, but the little school out to the east wasn’t going to go down without slapping back.

It is hard telling how much longer this saga will continue. Per our double digit sources, Iowa State has no plans of copying Iowa basketball’s poor basketball attendance, nor do they plan on becoming the second city ever to vandalize their local water tower.

They say imitation is the best form of flattery, but you can wave any chance at pleasantries good bye when these two teams square off in Iowa City, September 8th.