BALL STATE	CENTRAL MICHIGAN	EASTERN MICHIGAN
"Cardinals"	"Chippewas"	"Eagles"
Muncie, IN	Mount Pleasant, MI	Ypsilanti, MI

NORTHERN ILLINOIS	TOLEDO	WESTERN MICHIGAN
"Huskies"	"Rockets"	"Broncos"
De Kalb, IL	Toledo, OH	Kalamazoo, MI

Comments

Massachusetts is a new member of this conference and of NCAA Division I - Football Bowl Subdivision in 2012. The team is also using a new helmet design in 2012 (shown above).

Several other of these teams have already used new or alternate helmet designs in 2012: Eastern Michigan, Toledo, Bowling Green, and Central Michigan.

Historical Helmets

AKRON

c.mid 1960s	1966	1967 - 1969

c.1975 - 1980	1981 - 1982	1983 - 1985

1986 - 1987	1988 - ?	?

? - Sep. 8, 2001	Sep. 22, 2001 - end of 2001	2002
	*see note 1 below

November 24, 2005	2003 -
*see note 2 below

*1 This design was first used during Akron's game at Purdue on September 22, 2001, which was the team's second game during the 2001 season. The red central stripe was added "in support of the 'Fire Truck Fund', an effort to raise money...in the Greater Akron area to purchase a new fire truck for the City of New York", following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 (source: the Official Athletic Site of the University of Akron, Sep. 20, 2001). The red stripe was to remain for the rest of the 2001 season, according to the article.

*2 This special helmet design was worn during a home game against Kent State during the 2005 season.

BALL STATE

1957 - 1960	1961 - 1967	1968

1969	1970	1971 - 1984

1985 - 1989	1990 -

Ball State's 1999 media guide listed the following information for helmets used by the team prior to the period covered by this web site: leather helmets were used from 1924 through 1955, and in 1956 the team used red helmets, each with a single white stripe. The designs shown above are believed to be the complete for the period covered by this site (1960 to present).

BOWLING GREEN

1960	1963	1961; 1964 - 1967
	*see note 1 below	*see note 1 below

1968	1969	1970

1962; 1971 - 1975	1977	1978

1976; 1979	1980	1981 - 2003

		'B'
2004 - 2006	2007 - 2010	2012 -
		*see note 2 below

'A'
2011 -

Bowling Green has used two different helmet designs in the following sequence during 2012: B-A-B; A.

To the best of my knowledge the above are all of the different helmet designs used by BGSU since 1960.

*1 These two are among the more unusual helmet designs I have encountered while working on this website. From the photographs of these that I have seen, it appears that an irregular area of white spray paint was applied to each helmet, and then a template was used to apply an orange falcon over the white area (or, just as likely, perhaps a template in the falcon shape was applied to the helmet first, then peeled off after the white paint was sprayed over it). The white areas had "blurry edges" and varied in size and shape considerably from one helmet to the next, but were placed in approximately the same region on each helmet.

*2 First worn at Florida on September 1, 2012.

BUFFALO

c.1960 - 1962	1963 - 1965	1966

1967	1968	1969 - 1970

1977	1978 - 1979	1980

1981 - 1983	1984 - 1989	1990 - 1994

1995 - 1996	1997	1998 - 1999

2000	2001 - 2005	2006 -

Buffalo discontinued its football program following the 1970 season, at which time the team was classified as a "major" one by the NCAA. The program was reinstated at the Division III level in 1977; it moved to Division II in 1988, to Division I-AA in 1993, and to Division I-A in 1999.

As for the "missing" helmets, I have partial information for each of these:

• 1969-1970: the team appears to have used plain gold or silver helmets with a dark/white/dark sequence of stripes (the dark stripes were almost certainly blue);
• 1977: plain dark-colored helmets with a single lighter stripe (very probably blue helmets with a white stripe);
• 1978-1979: like 1977 but with the addition of a script "Buffalo" logo (probably white in color) on the sides;
• 1980 only?: white helmet shells with a cartoon "running bull" logo on the sides, and a single dark stripe; facemask color is unknown;
• 1981? - 1983: like 1980 but stripe sequence changed to red/blue/red (or maybe red/white/blue/white/red).

Additional information about the missing helmets would be appreciated. I would need only a color photograph in order to add the 1969-1970 and 1977 helmets to the site.

CENTRAL MICHIGAN

1960 - 1961	1965	1962 - 1964; 1966

1967 - 1972	1973 - 1979	1980 - 1988

1989	1990 - 1996	2006 - 2008

'B'	'A'
2012 -	1997 - 2005; 2009 -

Through four games of the 2012 season CMU has used the following sequence of helmet designs: A-B-A; A.

Some photographs from the 1964 season show some CMU players wearing a simple "C" logo on their helmets, as in the photograph below. It is unclear if this logo was ever used by most of the team simultaneously, so I have not (for now) included it in the list of helmet designs above. Otherwise this is believed to be the complete set of historical helmet designs for CMU for the period covered by this web site (1960 to present).

EASTERN MICHIGAN

c.1950s - 1965	1966	1967 - 1975

1976 - 1978	1979 - 1983	1984 - 1990

1991	1991 - 1992	1993 - 1995
*see note 1 below	*see note 1 below

1996 - 1998	1999	2000 - 2001

		'B'
2002 - 2003	2004 - 2009	2012 -
		*see note 2 below

'C'	'A'
2012 -	2010 -

Through the 1990 season, EMU's teams were known as the "Hurons"; hence the logos on the pre-1991 helmets.

*1 During 1991, the "100" logo was worn on the left side of the helmet for the entire season in recognition of the university's 100th season of football. The big "E" was used on the right side of the helmet during both 1991 and 1992; during 1992, the left side of the helmet was left "blank".

*2 First worn September 1, 2012 (at Ball State); subsequently worn September 8, 2012 (vs Illinois State).

KENT STATE

1960 - 1963	1964 - 1965	1966

1967 - 1968	1969 - 1970	1973
	*see note 1 below	*see note 2 below

1971 - 1972; 1974 - 1975	1976 - 1978	1980 - 1986

1987 - 1988	1990	1990
	*see note 3 below	*see note 3 below

1989 - 1992	1993	1994 - 1997

1998 - 1999	September 4, 2004	2000 -
	*see note 4 below

In 1979, Kent State used helmets that I think were probably yellow rather than gold, though I am not sure about this. A blue football-shaped decal containing the word "Kent" in a script font was worn apparently on only the right sides of these helmets, which also featured a blue-white-blue sequence of stripes and facemasks of an unknown color (I think probably blue rather than gray).

*1 Kent State used a version of the "100" logo during at least part of the 1969 season. The decal was placed at the bottom rear of the helmet and consisted of a dark-colored football shape with a white outline and with the numerals "100" in white.

*2 All photographs I have seen of the 1973 helmets appear to show the "KSU" logo as having an elliptical shape, as opposed to the football-shape of the logo used during the rest of the 1971-1975 period.

*3 At least three different stripe variations were used during the 1990 season. Photographs from game #2 vs Akron show helmets with no stripes; two yellow stripes bordered by very narrow blue stripes can be seen on the helmets in photographs from game #7 vs Ohio; and for game #3 vs Western Michigan, the helmets appear to be the same as those used in 1989, 1991, and 1992 (with a single blue stripe). I would appreciate hearing from anybody who can clarify which design was used during Kent State's other games in 1990.

*4 Plain blue helmet were used during the September 4, 2004 game at Iowa. Iowa also used a "throwback" helmet design during this game.

MASSACHUSETTS

1963 - 1968	1970 - 1972	1973

1974 - 1984	1985	? - 1962; 1986

1987	1988	1989 - 1992
		*see note 1 below

1993 - 2002	2003 - 2004	2005 - September 1, 2011

2011	2012 -
*see note 2 below

The helmets shown above apparently represent a complete set for Massachusetts for the period covered by this web site (1960 to present), with the exception of the design used in 1973, which is visible in the photograph below. The 1973 helmet featured the word "UMass" within an outline of the state of Massachusetts; I need a copy of the helmet decal, or else the artwork printed on it from some other source, in order to add this one to the web site.

*1 This design is identical to the one used in 1988 but for the addition of the word "AMHERST" in small letters below the "UM" logo (the letters are obviously not legible in the image size used here).

*2 First worn during the second game of the 2011 season (September 17 vs Rhode Island). This design featured an asymmetrical stripe sequence - the white middle stripe was bordered by a blue stripe on the left, and by a red stripe on the right.

MIAMI

1960	1963 - 1964	1965

1966 - 1971	1972 - 1973	1974 - 1977

1979	1980	1981 - 1982

1983 - 1985	1986	1987 - 1989

1990 - 1992	1978; 1993	1994 - 1996

1997	January 6, 2011	1998 - 2010
	*see note 1 below

2011 -

Miami's team was known as the "Redskins" prior to the 1997 season.

*1 Worn vs Middle Tennessee State during the 2011 GoDaddy.com Bowl game in Mobile, AL. The helmet design featured a red "M" on the left side and red uniform numerals on the right side. These two features, plus the red/white/red stripe sequence, were reportedly worn during this game to commemorate three different successful periods of the team's history.

NORTHERN ILLINOIS

? - 1968	1969	1970 - c.1975
*see note 1 below

c.1975 - c.1976	c.1976 - 1979	c.early 1980s
	*see note 2 below	*see note 3 below

c.late 1980s	1997	? - 1996; 1998 - 2000

2001	2002 -

The dates of use for several of the designs shown above are uncertain - clarification would be appreciated for these.

*1 NIU was using black helmets with white numerals on the sides by at least 1965; I do not have much information yet from the years before then.

*2 Gray facemasks may have been used with this design during the earlier years of its use.

*3 Some photographs that I have seen from the early 1980s suggest that NIU was using helmets of a darker shade of red than is shown here, perhaps a crimson color similar to that presently used by Oklahoma or Alabama.

OHIO

1960 - 1961	1964 - 1965	1966
	*see note 1 below

1967 - 1972	1973 - 1976	1977
*see note 2 below

1978	1979 - 1990	1991 - 1994

1995	2003	November 8, 2008
		*see note 3 below

November 3, 2011	September 1, 2012	1996 - 2002; 2004 -
*see note 4 below	*see note 5 below

I do not have information yet for the years 1962 and 1963, but I believe the helmets shown above form a complete set for the period 1964 to present.

*1 I believe that the wide "stripe" on this helmet actually consisted of some extra padding on the outside of the helmet; and so, to be precise, the green area on this helmet should be illustrated as being slightly raised above the rest of the helmet shell. Depicting such a physical difference is beyond both my present artistic abilities and the current scope of this web site, but I may revisit this matter at some point in the future. I am presently aware of only four other colleges (Ohio State, Harvard, Fresno State, and Duke) that used this helmet style briefly during the 1960s.

*2 During the 1969 season, a version of the "100"/football shaped-logo was worn at the bottom rear of the helmet. The football shape was some dark color, and the numerals were apparently white.

*3 This design was used during the 2008 home game against Bowling Green, apparently as a tribute to the 1968 Mid-American Conference champion Ohio team, who were recognized at halftime of the game.

*4 Worn during the 2011 home game against Temple.

*5 Worn during the 2012 game at Penn State.

TOLEDO

? - 1961?	1962?	1963?

1964 - 1966	1967 - 1972	1973

1974	c.1975	c.1976

c.1977 - 1980	1981 - 1996	1997 - 2008

December 28, 2011	2009 - 2011	September 29, 2012
*see note 1 below		*see note 2 below

October 6, 2012	2012 -
*see note 3 below

Toledo's helmet history is unclear for the earliest years covered by this web site (early 1960s). The team apparently used white helmets from at least 1960 through 1966. Judging from a very small number of photographs it would appear that these white helmets had a single dark stripe in 1960 and 1961 (probably blue, if the school colors have not changed); a single photograph from 1962 shows numerals on the sides of the helmet (otherwise like 1961); and in 1963 a "rocket" logo different from the 1964-1966 one was used (photo below). Numerals of unknown color are also visible at the back of the helmets in all available clear photos from 1963 through 1966.

The 1973 helmets were similar to the 1967 - 1972 version shown above, but for a different decal being used; the logo was a small, light-colored football shape that probably contained a picture or letters or something - the photographs that I have are not nearly clear enough to show what's inside (below is the clearest photo I have received). The 1974 helmets were apparently dark blue with a single light-colored stripe and with no decals on the sides. The stripe was probably either white or yellow, but a color photograph would be necessary to clarify.

*1 Worn vs Air Force during the 2011 Military Bowl at Washington, DC.

*2 Worn during the 2012 game at Western Michigan.

*3 Worn during the 2012 home game vs Central Michigan.

WESTERN MICHIGAN

1964 - 1968	c.early 1960s; 1969 - 1973	1974

1975	1976 - 1977	1978 - 1983

1984	1985 - 1992	1993 - ?

? - 1997	1998 - 2004	2005 - 2010

2012 -	2011 -

In 1974, Western Michigan's helmets were of some light color, apparently either yellow or gold, and had a stripe sequence of brown-white-brown. No decals are visible in any of the photographs that I have seen of this design.