Judging the 10 best Big Ten alternate football helmets


Gophers #6 and #1


6. Minnesota chrome​



Goldmember, the villain of “Austin Powers in: Goldmember,” frequently expresses his fondness for gold.

That’s pretty much me, but with chrome swapped in for gold.

This helmet takes a classic design — the Minnesota M — and inverts the colors with a shiny twist. The Gophers have also attempted a version of this with a white M, but the maroon works much, much better.

1. Running Goldy Gopher​



Clearly, I’m a sucker for cartoon mascots appearing on helmets.

Minnesota has tried a variety of looks with Goldy Gopher on 1 side of the helmet, but none of them worked as well as what the Gophers wore against West Virginia in last year’s Guaranteed Rate Bowl.

Most of these versions have Goldy’s giant face taking up the entire side of a helmet. I prefer the full running Goldy logo with his vintage Minnesota letter sweater. Minnesota has also used the running Goldy before, but on yellow helmets, which don’t look nearly as good.

Minnesota clearly knew it had something magical to work with by saving this helmet for a bowl game. Hopefully we see it again. And for the sake of Gophers fans, ideally it will be in a higher-caliber postseason game.

Go Gophers!!
 

In my mind, this conversation starts and ends with the Evil Goldy lids:

Screenshot-106.png
 

Looking at this just makes me think Rutgers is wasting a great opportunity with their helmets. Having a block R when you have a mascot that's a knight? Come on. You could have a sword and shield, or a knight's helmet, or something else.

I mean I love block letters on helmets in most cases, especially Minnesota's, but Rutgers is one that I think needs a change. Like, put one of these on the helmet:
KnightLogo.png
KnightLogo2.png
I think this kind of true with Maryland as well. Have the old turtle logo on the helmet, that or the script I think works better than just painting the flag over the helmet.
marylandlogo.jpg

As for Minnesota's alternate helmets, my favorites were the golds with the maroon stripes and facemask. Worn in this game:
 

Maybe I am biased....and I've said it several times over the past couple of seasons....but the Gophers have by far the best set of helmets (along with trophy games) of any NCAA team, imo. Especially this year's helmets. Just hit after hit. No need to tinker with the jerseys at all. The helmets are eye catching piece of the uniform and the Gophers figured that out. Now how much of that is Fleck's doing? Because....from an aesthetic standpoint....the Gophers have been the sharpest looking team from a uni standpoint the past couple of seasons. 2022 in particular.
 


Chrome Goldy Head is the greatest helmet in all of CFB.
 






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