IOWA	MICHIGAN	MICHIGAN STATE
"Hawkeyes"	"Wolverines"	"Spartans"
Iowa City, IA	Ann Arbor, MI	East Lansing, MI

MINNESOTA	NEBRASKA	NORTHWESTERN
"Golden Gophers"	"Cornhuskers"	"Wildcats"
Minneapolis, MN	Lincoln, NE	Evanston, IL

Comments

Minnesota has already announced a new helmet design to be used during the 2012 season (shown above).

For the 2011 season Indiana reverted to the helmet design last used by the team in 2004, but also used a new white-shelled helmet during some games. Also for 2011 Purdue made a minor change, switching to a single black stripe, and Michigan used a pseudo-"throwback" design for most of the season.

Historical Helmets

ILLINOIS

c.early 1960s - 1970; September 6, 2008	1971 - 1976	1977 - 1979
*see note 1 below

1980 - 1982	1983 - 1987	1988

1989 - 2004	2005 -

I have received a single, poor-quality photograph from the 1969 season which suggests that Illinois used a version of the "100" decal (recognizing the 100th anniversary of the first college football game) on the back of its helmets that year - the colors within the decal cannot be determined. Otherwise, I believe these are all of the different helmet designs used by Illinois during the period covered by this site (1960 to present), though it is possible that some others were used during the very early 1960s. The first design shown above was used at least as early as 1962.

*1 This design was brought back for use during the 2008 home game against Eastern Illinois, during which Illinois wore replicas of the uniforms used by the 1963 team.

INDIANA

1959? - 1961	1962 - 1964	1965 - 1966

1966? - c.1972	c.1973 - 1975	1976 - 1982

1983	1984 - 1990	1990 (end of season)
		*see note 1 below

1991 - 1995	1996	1997 - 2000

2001	November 19, 2005; November 17, 2007	2005 - 2007
	*see note 2 below

December 31, 2007 - 2010	September 10, 2011; additional games 2011	October 1, 2011; October 8, 2011
	*see note 3 below	*see note 4 below

2002 - 2004; 2011 -

I believe that these are all of the different helmet designs used by Indiana during the period covered by this web site (1960 to present) with the exception of a design used during at least some games in 1969 - this one included a version of the college football centennial "100" logo. Indiana wore these at the back of the helmet; the colors are unknown, though one report indicated that they had white numerals with red outlines on a blue football-shape.

*1 Indiana had switched to black facemasks by at least the last game of the 1990 season - vs Auburn in the Peach Bowl at Atlanta, GA. I do not know if these were used for any earlier games during 1990.

*2 This design was used during Indiana's home games against Purdue in 2005 and 2007.

*3 First worn during the 2011 home game vs Virginia; subsequently worn September 24, 2011 (at North Texas), October 22, 2011 (at Iowa), and November 19, 2011 (at Michigan State).

*4 Pink elements were incorporated into Indiana's uniforms and helmets during the 2011 home game against Penn State "in support of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month". The design was used again on October 8, 2011 (vs Illinois).

IOWA

1958 - 1964; September 25, 2010	1965	1966 - 1970
*see note 1 below		*see note 2 below

1971	1972 - 1973	1974 - 1976

1977 - 1978	November 2, 1991; December 29, 1996	September 4, 2004
	*see note 3 below	*see note 4 below

November 5, 2011	1979 -
*see note 5 below	*see note 6 below

An unconfirmed report has been received indicating that Iowa used a version of the "100" decal in 1969 (supposedly white numerals with red outlines on a blue football-shape), but these are not visible in any of the several photographs that I have showing Iowa helmets during the 1969 season. If that report was inaccurate, then there are apparently all of the historical helmet designs for Iowa for the period covered by this web site (1960 to present).

*1 This design was brought back for use during the 2010 home game against Ball State as a tribute to the 1959 Iowa team which played in the Rose Bowl.

*2 During at least part of the period when this design was in use, some players wore decals on the sides of their helmets; the decals were a black version of the same one shown on the 1972-1973 helmet design. These were apparently presented as "awards" of some sort, and 1968 is the only season from which I have seen any dated photographs of these special decals.

*3 Iowa removed all decals from its football helmets for the 1991 game at Ohio State, in recognition of the victims of a campus shooting; and again during the December 29, 1996 appearance in the Alamo Bowl vs Texas Tech, as a tribute to the family of one of the team's members, who were involved in a fatal traffic accident while en route to the game.

*4 This helmet design was worn during Iowa's first game of the 2004 season, a home game against Kent State, in recognition of the 75th anniversary of Kinnick Stadium, the team's home field.

*5 Worn during the 2011 home game against Michigan. The "flag" logo was actually worn only on the right sides of the helmets, with the left sides remaining "blank".

*6 From (I think) 1985 through 1992, Iowa Coach Hayden Fry had his players wear a small, circular yellow decal containing the letters "ANF" in black on their football helmets; the acronym stood for "America Needs Farmers" and was intended to draw attention to the economic plight experienced by many farmers in the American midwest at that time. I have seen only about three pictures of helmets with this decal, and on each of these, the decal is placed high up on the right side of the helmet, midway between the hawkeye decal and the central stripe. The "ANF" decal appears to have been about half the size of the hawkeye decal. Coach Fry also had his players wear a small American flag decal for a season or two around the time of the Persian Gulf War; in the two pictures that I have of these helmets, the flag is placed opposite the "ANF" decal on the left side of the helmet, and is roughly the same size as the "ANF". I have not attempted to represent these small features on the helmet images because they would be unrecognizable blobs when depicted at the appropriate size.

The "ANF" decals have been used again for all but one game during 2009-2011, but are much smaller than those used during the earlier period. They were not worn during the September 25, 2010 game vs Ball State, when Iowa wore a "throwback" helmet design.

MICHIGAN

1959 - 1968; September 10, 2011; January 3, 2012	1969 - 1974	October 1, 2011; additional games 2011
*see note 1 below		*see note 2 below

1975 -

Michigan has used some variation of what has come to be known as the "winged" or "Michigan" helmet design since 1938. During the era covered by this web site (1960 to present) I believe there have been only some minor changes to the shape of the "wings" and to the widths of the stripes, and perhaps some minor color changes. Very small players' uniform numerals were worn on the helmets through most of the 1960s.

An interesting history of the "Michigan helmet" design (which was actually first used at Princeton) can be found at the university's web site.

*1 This design was brought back for use during Michigan's home game against Notre Dame in 2011, and vs Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl at the end of the 2011 season.

*2 First worn vs Minnesota on October 1, 2011; this design was used for the remainder of the 2011 season with the exception of the Sugar Bowl game.

MICHIGAN STATE

1960 - 1964	c.1965; c.1970 - 1972	c.1966 - 1968; c.1972
	*see note 1 below	*see note 1 below

1973	1974 - 1975	1976

1977	1978 - 1982	1983 - 1994
		*see note 2 below

1983 - 1994	1995 - 2000	2001 - 2002
*see note 2 below

September 6, 2003	September 23, 2006	2003 - 2006
*see note 3 below	*see note 4 below

2007 - 2009	October 15, 2011	2010 -
	*see note 5 below

In 1969, Michigan State used a version of the "100" decal. Below is the clearest photograph that I have ever received of this helmet (and that was many years ago); it seems to indicate that the football-shape was dark blue, though green and black cannot be ruled out. The numerals apparently had red outlines around them. Is there a clearer photograph of a 1969 game-used Michigan State helmet somewhere?

*1 The helmet design without the white outline around the logo was used during at least part of the 1965 season, in addition to the 1967-1968 and 1970-1972 periods. The version with the white outline is visible in photographs dating from 1965, 1966, and 1972, so the chronology of these two designs seems to be rather complicated, and a game-by-game analysis would probably be necessary to identify precisely when each was used. Photographs from the 1970 to 1972 period strongly suggest an outline around the logo that appears darker than the helmet shell color itself, perhaps black or a darker shade of green.

*2 These two images represent the same helmet; the "S" was actually worn only on the right side of the helmet, but I've placed a technically incorrect image here to show what the "S" looked like. Also, small player's numerals (not shown here) were used at the front of the helmet, on either side of the central stripe. For the 1994 season only, narrow black stripes were added alongside the white stripe, with the white stripe being slightly narrower than during previous years.

*3 Michigan State used plain green helmets during the 2003 home game against Rutgers; these, along with a special uniform patch, were worn in recognition of the school's 1000th football game.

*4 A special helmet design was worn vs Notre Dame to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the November 19, 1966 "Game of the Century" between #1 ranked Notre Dame and #2 Michigan State, which ended in a 10-10 tie.

*5 Worn during the 2011 home game vs Michigan.

MINNESOTA

? - 1967; Oct. 21, 2006	1968 - 1971	1972 - 1975
*see note 1 below

1976	1977 - 1979?	1979 - 1985

1986 - 1991	1992 - 1995	1996

1997 - 1998?	1999? - 2006	2007

October 9, 2010; October 16, 2010	2008 - 2011	2012 -
*see note 2 below

*1 I think it is possible that maroon numerals and perhaps even dark blue numerals MAY have been used on helmet designs similar to this one at some time during the 1960s. During the October 21, 2006 home game against North Dakota State, Minnesota used this helmet design once again; the numerals were black on this occasion.

*2 Worn during games at Wisconsin and at Purdue during the 2010 season.

NEBRASKA

1957 - 1960	1961 - 1965; September 26, 2009	1966
	*see note 1 below

January 2, 1967 - 1968	1969	1970 - 1981
*see note 2 below	*see note 3 below

January 1, 1982 -
*see note 4 below

These seven are believed to be all of the different helmet designs used by Nebraska during the period covered by this site (1960 to present).

*1 This image most closely resembles the helmet design used in 1961. The 1962 - 1965 helmets were similar, but the numerals were worn considerably higher up on the sides of the helmet, perhaps less so in 1965 than in the previous three years.

This design will be brought back for the 2009 home game against Louisiana-Lafayette as the team commemorates its NCAA-record 300th consecutive home-game sellout - a streak which began in 1962, when this helmet design was in use by Nebraska.

*2 The "NU" logo was first used during Nebraska's appearance in the Sugar Bowl against Alabama at the end of the 1966 season. for the most part, the "NU" was replaced with just an "N" in 1970, but at least some players on the team were still using the "NU" as late as 1971.

*3 I have received a large, clear photograph confirming the color of the "100" decal on this helmet as being dark blue rather than red or black; the white numerals on the decal were apparently outlined in red.

*4 Nebraska switched to red facemasks for the first time for its appearance in the 1982 Orange Bowl against Clemson.

NORTHWESTERN

c.1960 - 1967	1968 - 1974	1975 - 1976
*see note 1 below

1977 (first game)	1977	1978

1979	1980	1981 - 1992?

1993	September 10, 2011	October 22, 2011
	*see note 2 below	*see note 3 below

1994 -

To the best of my knowledge this is the complete set of historical helmet designs for Northwestern for the period covered by this web site (1960 to present).

The "N" logo worn on Northwestern's helmets since 1981 featured a silver outline during some of its earlier years of use (c.1980s).

*1 There may have been some changes to the sizes and styles of the numerals used during this period.

*2 Worn during the 2011 home game against Eastern Illinois.

*3 Worn during the 2011 home game against Penn State.

OHIO STATE

1960 - 1964	1965	1966 - 1967
*see note 1 below	*see note 1 below

November 21, 2009	November 27, 2010	October 29, 2011
*see note 2 below	*see note 3 below	*see note 4 below

1968 -

Ohio State's current helmet design has been used essentially unchanged since 1968, making it (until the team's recent use of alternate designs) one of the longest-running continously-used designs among the NCAA Division I-A colleges. There have been some minor changes to the relative widths of the stripes, however (in particular, the black stripes were somewhat wider prior to 1979 than they have been since then).

*1 The "red stripe" on these helmets actually consisted of some extra padding worn on the exterior of the helmet shell, making this a physical feature of the helmet rather than just an "artistic" one. Ohio State used this helmet style during at least the period 1960 through 1965, and possibly earlier, but it has been reported to me that from 1960 through 1963, the "padding only came halfway down the back of the helmet". The other colleges known to have apparently used this "padded" helmet design (all at about the same time as did Ohio State) are Ohio University, Fresno State, Duke, Harvard, Brigham Young, and Davidson.

*2 Worn during the 2009 game at Michigan.

*3 Worn during the 2010 game vs Michigan.

*4 Worn during the 2011 game vs Wisconsin.

PENN STATE

1968 - 1974	1962? - 1966; 1975 - 1986	1987 -

Dated photographs that I have received indicate that Penn State used white helmets with players' numerals on the sides during at least two periods: 1961 (and possibly earlier), and again from 1967 to 1974. It appears that between these two periods (from 1962 through 1966) the helmets were plain white with a single blue stripe. I am not certain about these dates, however, so I would appreciate hearing from anyone who can confirm them.

While the numerals were of the "block" style shown here during the last few years when they were used, at least one other style was used earlier, and I do not necessarily know that the numerals were always blue (they may have been black instead during the early years). The two styles of numerals were used simultaneously during at least some games in 1967.

PURDUE

1962 - c.1968; September 2, 2006	1969	1970
*see note 1 below

1971 - 1979?	1980	1981 - 1983

1984 - 1987	1989 - 1990	1988; 1991 - 1995

1996	January 1, 2001; October 16, 2010	1997 - 2010
	*see note 2 below

2011 -

Purdue used black helmets during the very early 1960s; these featured a single light-colored stripe and players' numerals of some light color (I have only black-and-white photographs of these, so I do not know what colors were used; presumably either white, gold, or yellow).

*1 For the opening game of the 2006 season, a home game against Indiana State, Purdue wore special uniforms and helmets designed to resemble those worn by the 1966 Purdue team which defeated Southern California in the Rose Bowl, in recognition of the 40th anniversary of that team.

*2 A rose was added to the "P" decal for Purdue's appearance in the 2001 Rose Bowl game against Washington. This design will be brought back for use during the 2010 home game against Minnesota in recognition of the tenth anniversary of the 2001 Rose Bowl appearance by Purdue.

WISCONSIN

1957 - 1966; September 3, 2005	never used?	1967 - 1969
*see note 1 below	*see note 2 below	*see note 3 below

1970 - 1971	1972 - 1974	1975 - 1977

1988 - 1989	1978 - 1987; 1990	January 2, 2012
		*see note 4 below

1991 -

A visitor to this web site has reported locating photographs from all but two of Wisconsin's football games during the period 1956 through 1970, allowing the dates of use for the various helmet designs to be clarified - I have updated the dates listed here to reflect this new information (thanks Jim). The second helmet design shown above was apparently never used by the Wisconsin varsity team, and this image will be removed from the web site shortly.

It was incorrectly repeated here previously that, during the 1969 season only, one Wisconsin player was presented the "Savage Award" after each game, which entitled him to wear a black helmet with the "Bucky Badger" logo for the rest of the season (reference: http://www.helmethut.com/College/Wisconsin/Wisconsinblack.html). Actually, the "Savage Award" was first presented September 26, 1967, and subsequentally awarded in 1968 and 1969, also. As a design used by less than half the football team, this helmet does not currently meet the criteria for depiction and inclusion at this web site (the reason being that there may be unknown huge numbers of such single-player or few-player designs, particularly from the 1960s).

*1 That is a "W" at the front of the helmet; a similar red "W" was present at the back of this helmet design. This design was resurrected for Wisconsin's first game of the 2005 season, a home game against Bowling Green.

*2 Site visitor Jim reports finding no photographs from the period 1967 through 1969 showing Wisconsin using white helmets; however, the Wisconsin Freshman team did occasionally use such helmets, and this may account for the erroneous claim repeated here (and elsewhere) previously that "Wisconsin used white helmets during some games 1967-1969".

*3 Photographs from all but two of Wisconsin's games during the three seasons 1967, 1968, and 1969 show the team using red helmets with the white "Bucky Badger" logo (with a few players wearing the previously-mentioned black helmets). The two games from which no photographs were located were September 21, 1968 (at Arizona State) and October 26, 1968 (vs. Northwestern). In all likelihood, the team used red helmets during both of these games.

*4 Worn vs Oregon during the Rose Bowl game at the end of the 2011 season. During this game the helmet logo was modified to have a "rose petal" design within it.