The Best College Football Helmets

247 Sports recently put out a graphic of their top 25 college football helmets(see below). Of course like most “lists” in sports, this is completely subjective. So, I decided to play off of their list and make a few changes to create my own list. For the interest of giving a crap all the way to 25 helmets, I stopped at my top 15.

I’m staying with the Ohio State Buckeyes at the top spot. Partially because of my fandom to them, partially because of their iconic brand, and I like that simple historic look to it. At number two I’m going with another massive brand, the Texas Longhorns’ white helmet with the burnt orange longhorn on it. Simple and iconic as well. At the third spot I’m going with the Florida Gators helmet that has their blue as the base and the orange word “Gators” in cursive. Those two colors really pop together and make it look clean. Number four is USC with their cardinal color base and the gold trojan head over it. Another simple and iconic look gets me. To round out my top five I decided to go with one more iconic brand and the simplest of them all. The golden dome of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Moving on to number six. As much as I hate them and their rivalry to my Buckeyes, it’s hard to deny the color scheme and uniqueness of the Michigan Wolverines lid with winged helmets. Sitting at my number seven spot is the first helmet with a lot going on. The Florida State Seminoles with the feathered spear, and now adding in the tomahawk stickers makes it that much cooler. Number eight is another busy helmet from the South. The LSU Tigers bring in a sweet helmet with the yellow base and purple tiger head with L-S-U above it with the stripes right down the middle make it work with another great color scheme. We come back up North and East for another simple and iconic brand in the Big Ten in Happy Valley, as I put the white helmets of Penn State with their blue strip down the middle. The second most simple helmet sits at number nine for me. Rounding out the top 10 on my list is the dynasty in the South. Another simple and iconic brand. The Alabama Crimson Tide’s helmet. They come in with a crimson base and white number on the side with the white stripe down the middle. More proof icons don’t need to try too hard or be busy.

The final five on my list starts at number 11, which goes to the Miami Hurricanes. I specifically like the white helmet with the “U” symbol. One half of the U is orange and the other half is green with the small split on the bottom of the letter. Back in the 90’s and early 2000’s, if you saw that helmet coming out of the tunnel is was a sign of a bad afternoon for your squad. Moving on to number 12 we are heading to Rocky Top. I love this color scheme too. The Tennessee Volunteers with their white helmets and orange “T” and the orange stripe down the middle. I do love that Volunteer orange sitting on white. Number 13 houses one of the most popular colors in all of sports, across any sport. I couldn’t leave off the Tar Heels of North Carolina. That Carolina blue helmet with that white interlocked “NC” runs the show as far as branding in college basketball, so I can’t leave it off the football field either. At number 14 I’m heading a little southwest and settling in Arkansas. I like their based color red with the Razorback mascot on the sides. Finishing up at 15 was tough and this could have went to numerous schools. I decided to finish up with another color scheme put together and a bit of more simplicity. The Clemson Tigers helmet takes this spot for me. I’m speaking of the orange one with the big white tiger paw on the side. Instead of having the Tiger, or Tiger head, they went another way just using the paw here and I love that look. Sometimes they will throw on the purple jerseys with that and it’s definitely eye-catching.

Roast me if you must, but this is a pretty sweet list on a subject in college football that could be argued until the end of time. Feel free to send me your list on this matter.