Ugliest college football helmets

[amare32]

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Don't you mean

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No, I meant what I said.

[Intimidator85]

Here are my picks:

ACC: Wake Forest - I'm not too fond of the lettering on the Wake Forest helmet. Black might not be the right color.

Big East: Syracuse - Just the presence of the numbers on the new helmets just doesn't look right for some reason. Went from one of the best to the worst in the Big East.

Big Ten: Minnesota - I don't like the "M" logo the Gophers use. Even if you straightened it out, the colors still doom it.

Big XII: Baylor - I think they can do better with the interlocking "BU" logo. Not awful, but I just like it least.

Conference USA: Rice - The Owl wings on top really look like white paint splotches on a blue helmet...or maybe another substance. It's hard to really tell what's on there.

MAC: Eastern Michigan - Helmet is rather plain looking, and that somehow does not bode well for the Eastern Michigan Eagles.

Mountain West: San Diego State - The gradient (blends from red to black from top to bottom) is not a very good look.

Pac-10: Washington State - The new logo on the helmets are not very good. Logo really does not work when you look at it on the left side, as the cougar's mouth should be facing the front.

SEC: Mississippi State - I dislike the new white helmets with the "M State" logo. If they went back to the old ?MSU? or the baseball team?s ?MS? interlocking logo, it?d be better. The white color has a trickle down effect on the rest of the uniform, as the jersey just don't seem as nice as they would have with a maroon helmet.

Sun Belt: Florida Atlantic - There aren't many good helmets in this conference, but I think FAU is the worst of this bunch. The logo on it is a poor ripoff of the Philadelphia Eagles' font.

WAC: New Mexico State - The logo on the helmets looks very primitive. Overall, very dull helmets.

Independents: Army - If this even counts as a category, I'd say Army has the worst helmets. Temple's helmets are quite nice, so they're out. Essentially, Army, Navy and Notre Dame all have similar helmets, but it's the black face mask that Army uses that works against them. Very minute detail, but I had to pick one of the three.

[sacker12]

I like that one. They need to fully remove themselves from the Browns look-alike phase and use something like you made up.

Thanks for the comments sacker12. They "modernized" (got fangs on pants and side panel stripes on jerseys) the uniforms but not the helmet, seemed odd.

That said you kind of have it backwards as the Browns have Bowling Green look a like uniforms. (Paul Brown held his first training camp here in BG in the 1940s and decided he liked our color scheme, thus the burnt orange and seal brown of the cleveland browns)

I didn't know that. I think that quite a while ago, Bowling Green's uniform looked just like the Browns except the jerseys had "BOWLING GREEN" on the front.

Also, I found out last week that Bowling Green University is in Ohio, not in Kentucky as I had always thought.

[dpnation]

Personally, I kind of like the numbers on the helmets as a throwback. Not sure if I'd want them there permanently, but hey vintage is in.

The old San Diego Chargers uni's are by far the most popular uniform on any ESPN poll, so maybe Syracuse and Texas are onto something - they are using throwback designs from their school's respective histories as well.

[Stampman]

I like the WOlverines one.

The white Falcons one would look greaat

Oregon's is a mystery...

And it's not a good idea to direct link pictures from the Helmet Project...

[mac]

the worst helmet is Minnesota's. The M is an upside down W. It is outlined in black when there is no black to be found anywhere else on the uniforms. This might work if the numbers on the home jerseys were outlined with black as well. And then their is the facemask. No helmet looks good when the shell is any shade of red and the facemask is then that shade of red. It doesn't work.

[tommytimp]

I'm down with the Illinois helmet hate. Put an outline of the state on it at least, like when they went to the Rose Bowl...

[winghaz]

I have to stand up for the Minnesota helmet.

That so-called upside-down W is a classic logo for Minnesota. It's been around for eons. It's used on the Gopher hockey jerseys, and I doubt anyone in here would knock the Gopher hockey jerseys.

I also see no problem with maroon facemasks on maroon helmets.

Now, the black border on the M is worth debate. But overall, I like the Gophers helmet.

[andrewharrington]

I like that one. They need to fully remove themselves from the Browns look-alike phase and use something like you made up.

Thanks for the comments sacker12. They "modernized" (got fangs on pants and side panel stripes on jerseys) the uniforms but not the helmet, seemed odd.

That said you kind of have it backwards as the Browns have Bowling Green look a like uniforms. (Paul Brown held his first training camp here in BG in the 1940s and decided he liked our color scheme, thus the burnt orange and seal brown of the cleveland browns)

I didn't know that. I think that quite a while ago, Bowling Green's uniform looked just like the Browns except the jerseys had "BOWLING GREEN" on the front.

Also, I found out last week that Bowling Green University is in Ohio, not in Kentucky as I had always thought.

It's actually Bowling Green State University. Western Kentucky University is in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Speaking of MAC football, how 'bout my very own Ohio University Bobcats handing Pitt its first 0-2 start since 1984! By the way, party in Athens, ALL of Athens, probably all weekend, if ya wanna stop by.

[tj4eck]

What needs to be fixed (in my opinion):

Might want to open http://nationalchamps.net/Helmet_Project/index.htm

ACC:

Boston College: add logo (see below)

Thanx Logoserver.com

Wake Forest: Gold Helmet with WF in Black

BIG EAST:

Rutgers: get rid of old logo add this one Thanx Logoserver.com

Syracuse: DO ANYTHING! this is what happens when you feed a baby only carrots and blueberrys for a week and it takes a crap and you design a helmet around it.

BIG 12:

Baylor: Drop BU logo add Thanx Logoserver.com

Kansas: go with 1988 design (Jayhawk on navyish blue helmet same color Facemask)

Nebraska: get a new "N" logo this one making me sleepy

MAC:

Kent St. go with the 1964-65 helmet (if you do you might trick people into believing that your the SD Charger and maybe play like them to?)

Ball St.: NEW LOGO

NIU: go with 2001 helmet(present one minus the NIU part). present one to jumbled up

MOUNTAIN WEST:

San Diego St.: go with 2001 style(black fade to red helmet just saying aztecs)

SUN BELT:

Arkansas St.: New Logo

Louisiana-Monroe: 2000-2002 style (ULM on gold helmet maroon F.M.)

WAC:

Nevada: 2001 style (wolf head in oval)

INDEPENDENTS:

Navy: Anchor helmet

Notre Dame: 1959-1962 Clover style helmet

Temple: 2000-2003 Owl Head logo on white helmet

[infrared41]

San Diego State Aztecs have the most horrendously ugly helmet. Period. End Of Story.

Without a doubt.

[edensker]

That Baylor logo is awful. They are much better keeping the BU.

[Shmitt]

BIG EAST:

Rutgers: get rid of old logo add this one Thanx Logoserver.com

Agreed. I was surprised when they opted for the Rutgers script from that logo on the helmet instead of the Knight. But hey, Rutgers moves in cycles so we just need another stint with "N.J. Rutgers" on the helmet before we see another knight.

[winghaz]

tj4eck hit it on the head with a few of these things.

Many colleges have great-looking logos -- Boston College and Rutgers to name two -- but don't use them on their helmets.

I still can't figure out why Kansas doesn't have the Jayhawk on its helmets.

Or Florida the oval Gator.

Or Southern Miss the Golden Eagle.

Even Florida State with its yelling Seminole would look great on the helmets, but the spear looks great in FSU's case.

[Discrim]

in Southern Miss' case, they would look too much like Iowa. Thing is, if they'd stayed with Vegas gold, they wouldn't have that problem (and it's not too hard to have a tan tee close to vegas gold, now is it?)

my vote goes to North Texas...they HAD a great helmet logo (95-2000 eagle head) but they dumped it after joining the Sun Belt in favor of this crappy "North Texas" script that didn't tie into the rest of the uniform, and still doesn't. (edit: seems they've changed the logo)

I who have nothing...may have nothing but I'll always have something you won't

[Cujo]

Another one that makes my "Ugly List":

[worst. jersey. ever.]

Minnesota should go back to those gold helmets they used to wear

[swisherHOU]

This helmet may be one of the BEST in college football. And it really looked good tonight.

[asmargolis]

For the record, though, I don't like Penn State's helmet, even though it is traditional. I would like to see the oval Lion in the white helmet. I think it would be sharp.

The oval lion on a white helmet doesn't mix well. I've seen a few concepts of it and it just doesn't work. Can't exactly put my finger on it, perhaps its trying to juxtapose two completely contrasting styles together.

Keep in mind that I do not advocate alteration to PSU's helmet.

But it may work with a solid, shiny navy shell w/ the oval lion in white. Can't say I have seen something like that. But in my mind's eye, I think that may look better than throwing the oval lion on the current lid.

[winghaz]

By the way, folks, I do have some critera as to what makes for a good helmet or bad helmet. It's not just, "Well, that one is ugly and that one looks good." The critera is the following:

1. Does it express the school or the school nickname?

2. Does it express a feeling of power?

3. When you see it, does it atomatically tell you which team it belongs to?

4. Is it traditional? And if it's not traditional, does it have the impact that would make it traditional in the future?

5. Does it follow basic design rules of being to the point and uncluttered?

6. Is it original?

I think these points I go by give you an idea of what I think are great helmets and what I think aren't.