Out of nowhere, the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats sprung to a Week 3 win, their first, in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Conference. The Central Missouri Mules built a narrow lead in Week 1 and a strong win in Week 2. Their Week 3 lead was secure until late Sunday. Then, suddenly, the votes started coming in and didn’t stop until the Bearcats were insurmountable.
Tucker Peve, Equipment Manager for the Bearcats, told Helmet Bowl that the student managers and some of the players have rallied around the contest. “I see them voting,” he said. “It's fun and a friendly competition.”
Peve, certified by the AEMA in 2016, is working on his Master's Degree in Health and Sports Sciences. He hopes to continue to build a career in equipment management.
BTW – did you see that finish with the Mules and the Emporia State Hornets tied at 31 with 12 seconds to go Saturday? The Mules knocked down a backwards pass, recovered it and ran it almost for a touchdown before fumbling. Then, recovered the fumble in the endzone as time expired for the win. Whew.
The Mules and Bearcats meet on the field in Arrowhead Stadium Saturday in Kansas City. Can one of them get out the vote for Week 4 and take a commanding lead that sticks? We will be watching.
Update
Keeping polls open throughout Sunday gave some voters who were busy with college football on the field Saturday an opportunity to vote on Sunday. Some did, especially in Maryville, Missouri. We’ll keep voting open again in Week 4 through Sunday evening.
Equipment Managers
Equipment Managers are vital to raising votes. When they send us a new helmet image, votes come in. Harley Warren at Southern Mississippi stays in touch and the Golden Eagles won Week 3 of Conference USA, up against a strong helmet from the El Paso Miners. With the win, Southern Miss take a one point lead over the Florida Atlantic Owls. Warren send us another lid this week–check it out, it's a throwback to 1997 and the team will wear it Saturday against North Texas.
Florida State Seminoles
These guys keep making news. The Seminoles still have more votes than any ACC team overall. However, they failed again to win a week and sit with most of the ACC with no points. The North Carolina Tarheels win Week 3 to force a three-way tie in points with Syracuse and Miami.
Reminder:
Polls open at noon Tuesday. You may vote in Every Conference contest. We placed an easy orange NEXT button following every conference poll. Use it.
Noteable Week 4 Wins
Howard Bison continue to dominate the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
The Missouri Valley becomes suddenly competitive with the Illinois State Redbirds outvoting the North Dakota State Bison. These teams are rivals on the field, and now in Helmet Bowl I.
The Utah Utes showed up on Instagram Thursday and drove their helmet to a dominate win in the PAC 12 over the Oregon Ducks and others.
The Mercer Bears win the Southern Conference over strong voting from fans of the Samford Bulldogs.
The Campbell Fighting Camels (truly, those are mean animals) rebounded from Week 2 to win Week 3 over the Drake Bulldogs.
Johns Hopkins gets on the winning board in the Centennial Conference with a strong Week 3 win.
Another social media notice pushed the Elon Phoenix over the Rhode Island Rams and the James Madison Dukes in the Colonial Athletic Association Conference. We expect this Conference to be a battle.
Here’s another we saw on social media: the Southland Conference. Here the McNeese State Cowboy fans were making some noise, but they followed it up with votes and won Week 3 over the Abilene Christian Wildcats, Nicholls State Colonels, and Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks – all of who had strong voting.
Ties
There is a story taking shape in the Ohio Valley Conference where Week 3 saw the Murray State Racers tie the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles, both with a healthy amount of votes. One of these teams won Week 1, the other Week 2. What will happen in Week 4? This is Helmet Bowl Conference contests at its finest.
The Central States Football League saw a tie between the Arizona Christian Firestorm and the Texas Wesleyan Rams. Arizona Christian will take the overall lead from the Wayland Baptist Pioneers.
In the Great Lakes Valley Conference, the very cool helmet of the Missouri S&T Miners tied with the Southwest Baptist Bearcats. If either school had so much as their basketball team vote, they’d win.
The Hastings Broncos and Morningside Mustangs knotted up in the Great Plains Athletic Conference.
We’ve been watching this one: The MidAmerican Nazarene Pioneers locked horns with the Benedictine Ravens in the Heart of America Athletic Conference for Week 3. These teams are tied and voting is somewhat healthy. If there is a Statistics class at either of these schools, they could make all the difference. Vote!
The Ivy League saw a tie in Week 2 between the Princeton Tigers and the Dartmouth Big Green. In Week 3, the Tigers gave way to the Harvard Crimson who tied with Dartmouth. Who wants this one? An eight-man scull with a coxswain could decide this.
In the Liberty League, the Hobart Statesmen caught and tied the Rochester Yellowjackets by the end of Week 3. The Yellowjackets hold the overall lead–by a smidge.
One vote each for the Benedictine Eagles and Lakeland Muskies in the Northern Athletic Collegiate Conference. You would think they could double or triple their totals and easily win this Conference.
The Southern Athletic Association saw an early week battle between the Austin ‘Roos and Trinity Tigers that settled into a tie, then just stayed there somehow.
Northwest Conference avoided the three-way tie from last week, but saw the George Fox Bruins and the Willamette Bearcats tie.
Here was another good battle with a healthy amount of voting: Alcorn State Braves tied the UAPB Golden Lions in Week 3 of the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
Now, we think the Westminister Blue Jays of the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference have a sweet lid, but Greenville Panthers voted their team into a Week 3 tie.
Three-Way Ties
American Southwest Conference sees a tie with the Belhaven Blazers, Hardin-Simmons Cowboys, and McMurry WarHawks. Four dudes having a soda could break this tie.
The Commonwealth Coa
st Conference had a two way tie last week and now upgrade (downgrade?) to a three-way tie. This week it was the Becker Hawks, Endicott Gulls, and Salve Regina Seahawks with the same talley.
In the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference, the Fitchburg State Falcons, UMass-Dartmouth Corsairs, and West Conn State Colonials knotted it up for Week 3. The Falcons will take the overall lead.
Midwest Conference foes Beloit Buccaneers, Illinois Blueboys and Lake Forest Foresters could not reach out in front of each other. Tied.
The Bates Bobcats, Wesleyan Cardinals, and Williams Ephs all tallied the same number of votes in the New England Small College Athletic Conference. Do us a favor, go out to this conference and vote on a helmet you like.
In the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, these three tied: Albany State Golden Rams, Clark Atlanta Panthers, Kentucky State Thorobreds.
Who Wants It Really?
Here’s a Helmet Bowl first: A Six-Way tie. The Alfred State Pioneers, Castleton Spartans, Dean Bulldogs, Gallaudet Bison, Husson Eagles, and Maritime Privateers all tied, abit with ONE VOTE EACH in the Eastern Collegiate Football Conference. Seriously, vote and have the guy sitting next to you in your Comp I class vote and your team could win Week 4. Please, someone VOTE here NOW
Big Question of the Week
Where are the fans of Alabama? These Crimson Tide guys wear this fairly unique red helmet with numbers on the side. No mascot. No initials. No words. No animals. No cartoons. Yet, they are the Number 1 team in the biggest division in college football. No weekly Helmet Bowl wins… yet.
Commissioner’s Pick
A new feature in the weekly news. We will find a helmet that may not be getting many votes, but has sure caught our attention.
This week it’s the Simon Fraser Clan of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. This helmet does not feature McFogg the Dog, the team mascot–a cartoonish Terrier dressed in a kilt. The helmet does show a flying red maple leaf. That’s because, though the Clan play in the NCAA DII, they hail from British Columbia, Canada. Cool helmet. (I just looked them up and this team is getting POUNDED on the field. Let’s hope for a Helmet Bowl Week 4 victory to boost their spirits, if not a win over Central Washington.
Got a Helmet Bowl I news idea? Want your team's helmet to be the Commissioner's Pick? Got a good to promote your team to gain votes? A video tour of your helmet? A new helmet image to submit? We want to hear from you: HelmetBowl@HelmetTracker.com