Where does the Oklahoma football helmet rank in a college top 25?
By Chip Rouse
In case you may be marking off days on the calendar, it’s 61 days and counting until the kickoff of the 2023 Oklahoma football season.
As the coming season draws ever closer and preseason training camp just a month away, we will continue to share fun features and stories with you to help grow your appetite and excitement as we get set for another college football season
Recently, we came across an article on current college football helmet designs. A number of schools have gone toward multiple helmet designs to accompany an assortment of alternate uniforms. I can’t imagine what a inventory nightmare, not to mention additional cost, that must be for equipment managers and their athletic budget.
Even with all the alternate looks, the schools are all generally associated with one traditional uniform and helmet design. Oklahoma’s helmet design has not changed all that much over the years other than going from white to crimson and, of course, the introduction of the highly recognizable interlocking OU logo. The OU helmet design has followed a more traditional approach, certainly unlike some of the dramatic makeovers we’ve seen from other college programs.
If you’re interested in observing and reading more on the evolution of the Sooner football helmet, at least from the 1950s forward, Sooners Wire posted an article on the subject around this time a year ago.
The sports, entertainment and pop culture website NewArena.com recently published a ranking of what it termed the ‘best helmets in college football.” Similar rankings have been created before, but generally the ones I’ve seen tended to rank the various helmets based on the creativity of their artistic design and not so much on how recognizable and popular they might be among dyed-in-the-wool college football fans.
I was curious to see if a more traditional helmet design like Oklahoma’s would even be included in this ranking. You can see the entire list and read the accompanying narratives yourself, but suffice to say that the Sooner helmet did make the rankings, coming in at No. 14.
The No. 1 college football helmet, according to New Arena, is LSU, followed, in order, by USC, Michigan, UCLA and Pittsburgh. Texas also made the top 10, checking in at No. 7.
The staff at New Arena had this to say about the OU helmet:
"“Teams with a rich history of success often sport a uniform that is regarded as a classic, and Oklahoma is no exception…While the helmet is rather simple, it is undeniably effective.“The Sooners have introduced a few alternate helmets in recent seasons, but their traditional look remains the clear top dog for the program.”"