Tag: Helmets

College football’s definitive 10 best helmets

There are no other answers. These are the 10 best helmets in college football.

What is the best helmet in all of college football?

If you ask that question to a dozen college football fans and of course they’ll answer with their favorite team and then proceed to name the likes of Notre Dame, Michigan, and Alabama probably before too long.

Great debates were being had on my Twitter feed Thursday morning so I decided to go back into the vault and reexamine my top 10 helmet list that I originally put together during the pandemic.

But sometimes tastes change and things grow stale or old.  With that in mind here are the definitive 10 best helmets in college football.

But first, let’s start with a couple that often gets love but should never be considered among the best for reasons we’ll quickly examine.

Saints to wear black helmets in London game vs. Vikings

The Saints announced their black helmets will debut in London against the Vikings. If they’re smart, they’ll dust off their throwback uniforms to go with the new lids:

We already knew that the New Orleans Saints will be introducing their new alternate helmets during the 2022 season, but now we know the game in which they’ll debut — Oct. 2’s kickoff with the Minnesota Vikings from Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.

What still isn’t clear is which uniform the black helmets will be paired with. Distressingly, all of the promo photos taken so far have Cameron Jordan modeling them while wearing his white-and-gold Color Rush uniform (but with black socks, which do not help), suggesting that may be the direction the team wants to take this. And that would be a mistake. While the black buckets may fit New Orleans’ overall color palette, they’d look so much better with matching black jerseys and pants rather than the Color Rush variants, which clashes with them.

So here’s me making the case for the Saints to dust off their black and gold throwback jerseys, which haven’t been used since a 2016 loss to the Detroit Lions; before that, they were worn in a couple of wins back in 2011. This international game (which is technically counted a Saints home game) is a great occasion to roll out a completely new look rather than try and mesh black helmets with white uniforms and ruin both of them. Let’s introduce some visual cohesion, yeah? It tidies up the color palette and brings in a cool message of merging the old (throwback uniforms) with the new (black helmets).

I get the impulse to go with alternate helmets and an alternate uniform, which led the Saints towards putting new black lids on their Color Rush set, but the throwbacks just bring a cleaner aesthetic with those new buckets. Here’s a very sloppy edit I threw together in Microsoft Paint of what that could look like, compared to the Saints’ take with their Color Rush jerseys. What do you think?

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The Bengals unveiled a white helmet and it’s (chef’s kiss)

White pants. White jerseys. White helmets. Tiger stripes everywhere. Beauty.

The Cincinnati Bengals are the latest team to take advantage of the NFL’s relaxed rules that allow teams to wear multiple helmets in a single season. It’s a move fans have been waiting for for years.

The team unveiled a 32-second teaser advertisement on social media to announce its alternate helmets will match the white-on-white uniforms that began life as the team’s Color Rush kits before being phased in as the team’s primary away getup. Cincinnati’s calling it the “White Bengal,” which isn’t especially creative but gets the point across while simultaneously sounding like a Zoolander look, so it works.

The team’s announcement was cryptic and didn’t have too many images of the actual helmet. Thankfully, Pro Football Focus was ready with a quick and easy edit:

That whole look is precise. White tiger stripes are a draw, as anyone who dropped cash on Siegfried and Roy tickets during their 22-year run in Las Vegas can attest. The minor orange highlights in the chest, introduced to the formerly two-toned jerseys last season, pop even more with black-and-white helmets. And since last season’s uniform change led to a positive outcome on the field, there’s no harm in another tweak, especially when it looks this good.

On the other hand, orange stripes are uniquely the Bengals’ thing, which is always going to create a little cognitive dissonance when the White Bengal lids come out in 2022. Additionally, the team’s throwback helmets, seen here:

are kinda great, too.

Still, there’s plenty of time to bring back the Ken Anderson-era helmets and it’s not like white helmets are going to be the norm this fall. The Bengals took a good-looking kit and made it better with a sleek change of pace. This is a combination befitting the reigning AFC champs.

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Texans’ new Battle Red helmets are awesome, but the team wearing them is not

At least they’ll look good losing.

The Houston Texans are a franchise in transition, and that’s probably putting it delicately. With new head coach Lovie Smith taking over for the 2022 season, they have a lot to figure out at a lot of different positions. Not the least of those things is whether second-year quarterback Davis Mills can be their signal-caller of the future.

In the meantime, I’m not expecting them to do a whole lot of winning. But at least they’ll look good losing. The Texans unveiled their new Battle Red helmets Tuesday, and these things are sweet. Houston will wear them for Thursday Night Football against the Eagles on Nov. 3.

The Texans typically wear blue jerseys, but they do have alternate Battle Red threads they can pair with the new helmets. Hopefully for their sake, that “look good, feel good, play good” mantra carries some weight. Their win line is 4.5 on Tipico Sportsbook, and I’d hammer the under if not for the underwhelming -120 odds.

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Arkansas Razorbacks football uniforms and helmets through the years

Arkansas Razorbacks’ football look has changed in most subtly ways over the last 40 years.

The Arkansas logo has changed a number of times through the years. But usually, that logo adjustment has to do with logos at midfield and center court.

Arkansas football helmets have altered only rarely over the last several generations. That doesn’t mean that the Razorbacks are always the same, though.

Arkansas’ uniform combinations, namely their anthracite inclusions brought forth in the 2010s, have undergone several changes. Most times these changes were only subtle, but as you’re about to see, looking at them over the years, the alterations are clear.

With football season in the headlights now that baseball season is over, let’s take a look at some of the uniform combinations the Hogs have had over the last 30 or so years.

Tennessee football helmets through the years

A look at Tennessee’s football helmets through the years since 1932.

The University of Tennessee first fielded a football team in 1891.

Tennessee has won 19 conference championships: Southeastern Conference (16), Southern Conference (2) and SIAA (1).

Tennessee has won six SEC East division titles since the conference went to a divisional format in 1992.

The Vols have won six national championships in 1938, 1940, 1950, 1951, 1967 and 1998.

Tennessee is 29-25 in bowl games.

A look at Tennessee’s 1914 championship team wearing black jerseys

A look at the Vols’ football uniforms from 1911-15

Throughout Tennessee’s football history, the Vols have worn various helmets. Vols Wire looks at Tennessee’s helmets throughout the years, dating back to 1932.

Tennessee’s football helmets through the years are displayed below.

Alabama Crimson Tide football helmets throughout the years

There may not be many differences, but the classic Crimson Tide helmets have changed slightly over the years!

Alabama football has been known for winning and tradition and neither one seems to be slowing down. A tradition could mean a family trip to Tuscaloosa for every third Saturday in October, or it could be something within the Crimson Tide program that has stayed the same since the Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant days.

One tradition that can be seen every Saturday when Alabama takes the field is the crimson helmets with the white, block numbers on them.

No need for fancy gimmicks or flashy logos. The performance on the field is more than enough to provide fans with excitement.

Though there has been one constant helmet for over half a century now, there have been small changes made over time. Take a look at the helmets Alabama has worn over the years!

Ranking the best Georgia football helmets through the years

Ranking our favorite Georgia helmets through the years

Maybe no school has a more recognizable football helmet than the Georgia Bulldogs.

It’s timeless. Everybody knows exactly what they’re looking at when they see that Georgia G on the Bulldogs’ players head. It projects strength, features clean lines and conveys an iconic image. It’s crisp and clear in both the color combination and in the union of the G and the red oval.

Through the years, Georgia has had different looks to its headgear. Here’s our ranking of Georgia’s best helmets over the course of history:

Florida Gators football helmets throughout the years

Here are all of Florida football’s various helmet designs throughout the years.

The most recognizable part of a football uniform is the helmet, which sets the team apart from all of the others with its unique layout. Though it has not always been that way, as the years have passed the arrangements adorning a team’s headgear have become more elaborate and ornate while also going through design changes to improve its primary job: to protect the player’s noggin.

One of the most iconic helmets in the nation is one worn by the Florida football team, whose script “Gators” has been emblazoned on a field of orange for the past four decades. But in the seasons preceding the introduction of the modern design, UF went through many changes before landing on perfection.

Below, we have listed all of the previous helmet designs worn by the University of Florida’s football players throughout the ages dating back to the pre-1946 era, from the earliest to most recent — including modern novelty designs. Scroll down and take a walk through the history of the Orange and Blue.

Georgia football helmets through the years

A look at the different variations of Georgia’s football helmets over the years.

The Georgia Bulldogs’ football helmet is one of the most recognizable in all of sports.

It projects strength, features clean lines and conveys a timeless, iconic image. It’s crisp and clear in both the color combination and in the union of the G and the red oval.

Through the years, Georgia has had different looks to its headgear. But since Vince Dooley arrived in Athens in the 1960s, the Georgia helmet has become a well-known, iconic figure on any given Saturday.

Here’s a look at Georgia’s helmet variations since 1941.