In 1943 and 1944, many universities across the country chose to suspend their football programs.
The Colorado A&M Aggies – now the Colorado State Rams – was among the schools not to field teams those seasons due to World War II.
But after the war, a large number of men returned to continue their education and to play football, thus reinvigorating the program. The 1948 CSU media guide listed 18 war veterans from the Army or Army Air Corps (the Air Force had not been established), 12 from the Navy and five from the Marines, according to CSU Athletics.