College Football Fans Target BYU With Anti-Mormon Chants

BYU has faced offensive chants targeting its ties to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the second straight football season.

Colorado State apologized after fans at Canvas Stadium in Fort Collins, Colorado, were heard chanting “f*** the Mormons” during the Cougars’ 41-23 victory on Saturday.

“Colorado State apologizes to BYU, its student-athletes and fans, and to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the chant directed at them during Saturday’s game,” CSU said in a statement. “Mocking anyone’s faith has no place at CSU. It runs counter to our community’s values and to who we are. BYU’s players, coaches and fans deserved better. We are addressing this with our students.”

Our News Outlet has also requested comment from the Big 12 and the newly reformed Pac-12, where Colorado State is now a member. A BYU spokesperson provided a statement the university released about a similar incident last year, which appears below.

BYU head coach Kalani Sitake responded carefully after the game, emphasizing that he believed only a small number of spectators were responsible for the chants.

“I think the chants [are] mostly a minority of people and fans,” Sitake told reporters. “There’s some amazing fans here in Fort Collins, so I’m not too worried about that.”

“The guys are motivated to play football, no matter what. We’re not going to judge an entire fan base on a few … of the ones that made their chants.”

The offensive chants contrasted sharply with the atmosphere before kickoff, when students from BYU and Colorado State joined forces for a book drive benefiting Fort Collins’ Children’s Speech & Reading Center. The students donated 3,000 books, organizers said, establishing a new single-event record for BYU’s Cougs Care program.

Saturday’s episode was not the first time BYU has been targeted by similar language. One year earlier, students at the University of Colorado directed a comparable chant at the Cougars during a game in Boulder.

BYU is widely regarded as the world’s most prominent Mormon university and is owned directly by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Following the 2025 game, Colorado coach Deion Sanders apologized to BYU while asking people not to judge the entire school based on the actions of a small group of students. “Don’t indict us just based on a group of young kids that probably was intoxicated and high simultaneously,” Sanders said. “BYU, we love you. We appreciate you, and we support you.”

Colorado also condemned the incident, saying the language used was “deeply disappointing” and did not represent the standards of “respect, inclusion and integrity” expected from its campus community.

Even with the apology and condemnation, the Big 12 fined Colorado $50,000 over the 2025 incident.

“Hateful and discriminatory language has no home in the Big 12 Conference,” commissioner Brett Yormark said in a 2025 statement.

“While we appreciate Colorado apologizing for the chants that occurred in the stands during Saturday’s game, the Big 12 maintains zero tolerance for such behavior.”

The chants also drew criticism from Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee, a BYU graduate and member of the Church, who wrote on X: “I’m not sure why, but ‘F the Mormons’ chants have become far too common at BYU’s away games.”

‘Funny thing – the host schools generally don’t seem to be the least bit concerned about it, even though all of them have many Latter-day Saints enrolled as students.

‘And in the case of last night’s game at the University of Colorado, it was so much more – meaning much worse – than a chant. It was hours upon hours of religious slurs and bigotry.’

BYU’s basketball team faced similar chants during a game against Providence College in 2024.