I think any uniform variation, including pants, is an alternate. And you get two alternates. So was that a recent change? Because in 09 they went from white on white in the first road game to white and blue the rest of them, while still having their two orange jersey games (I think). http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/11464262/college-nfl-differ-widely-uniform-culture this story is from 2014. 1. The five-year rule. NFL rules allow teams to change their uniforms only once in a five-year period (and of course some teams have opted to stick with the same look for much longer than that), which imposes at least a modicum of visual stability on the league. The NCAA has no such rule, which allows for an ever-changing cavalcade of uni designs. 2. The "only one alternate" rule. NFL rules allow a team to wear only one alternate or throwback uniform per season, so a team is effectively limited to a maximum of three jerseys in a given year. There are plenty of college teams that will have worn more jerseys than that by the first week of October, because the NCAA has no cap on uniform designs.