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Helmet Bowl

How to win the Helmet Bowl National Championship

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Seriously, we are going to tell you right here how to win the Greatest College Football Helmet Contest Ever!

You love your Falcons, or Bears, or Blazers, or Turtles, or Bobcats, or Camels, or whatever, but love won't win this contest.

You must be intentional. You must strategize. You must rally.

We are going to list for you 10 things to do. If you do them, you have a great shot at winning the Helmet Bowl III National Championship. Better than a great chance. You've got a fantastic chance. A wonderful chance. It's practically guarenteed.

But you have to pay attention.

And let us tell you this. It's not too late. There are 64 teams in the contest to start.

Voting begins Monday at noon. Each round lasts one week. Gather the most votes, move on. Six rounds, Six weeks. One champion.

Get your campaign going this week, win. Turn it up a notch when you make it into the round of 32, win. Then it gets tough. The top 16 teams will employee many of these strategies, but you, YOU will employee all of them, and win.

Then it's 8 teams left and, well, you have to pull out all stops for three weeks. Then, on January 13, the same day the NCAA crowns its National Champion, we will crown you with the National Championship.

So, here it goes. We will start with how the HB1 and HB2 National Champions won (both DIII schools, by the way), then 8 more ways to win. Maybe nine.

Still here? You must want to win. Okay, here's how.

1. Friends

The Gallaudet Bison won Helmet Bowl I with the support of its friends. Now, Gallaudet, you may know, serves the deaf and hearing impaired community. The friends of the Bison count nearly every deaf person in America. That's a big network. You have a big network, too. There is something special about your school and program. You already know what it is. Find it and tap into it. Reach out to celebrities who know you, well known graduates or supporters in the community – whoever may have the attention of your fans.

2. Moms

Helmet Bowl II National Champion Dickinson Red Devils won on the shoulders of Moms. The same Moms who bake brownies for the football team, did the laundry when their boys were in Pop Warner, and drive (oh, do the drive!) to every game, it was them who piled up the votes, reached out to their networks, and handed the trophy to the Red Devils. Really. So, Moms, yes. Also, Grandparents and others. Uncle Dave? Yes, him, too.

3. Alumni, Alum, Alumnus

Yeah, we have to look up the difference, too. Those who wear the letters proudly from their time on the team in the 80s, those who wear the sweatshirts and polos and baseball caps, those who send the money when they get the asks in the mail – they care. And they will vote! Get to your Alumni office or Association and ask them to send out your Helmet Bowl voting information.

4. Pack for a journey

You don't get an oval “I VOTED” sticker to wear when you click on your helmet in Helmet Bowl. That's because Helmet Bowl runs seven days a week for six weeks. You can vote every day and on as many different devices you can find. We don't limit the number of votes from each voter. Vote! It's a marathon you don't have to train for.

5. Befriend your Sports Information Director

It's not too late. Your SIDs are highly trained professionals. They understand marketing and communications. It's their job to spread the word about your program and they know how to grab the attention. Oftentimes, they just need a vehicle on which to hitch their wonderfulness. You can hand them your helmet and the information about Helmet Bowl III and they will thank you for it. They have great contacts with the news media—local, regional, and national. They like to win, too.

6. The Helmet

Your helmet is the touchstone of your program and you are responsible for it, Equipment Managers. Get it off the shelf and off the field and get it online. This year's slate of 64 helmets are the best yet. Still, many helmet images could be improved. You can submit an updated image at any time – you can even submit a different helmet if you'd like (as long as it was worn on the field this year). What works best? A side shot of your helmet on a field or a bench. A recent poll tells us most people got out and vote for their favorite team, then they vote on the best looking helmet. Be that helmet.  

7. Lacrosse, Basketball, and Diving

You are the Equipment Manager and for many schools, you are responsible for many sports. At the least, your equipment teammates are taking care of other sports. So, leverage those teams who don't take the gridiron. They love supporting your teams and they will vote. Get your arena staff to get a graphic up on the half-time scoreboard. Post a flyer in the wrestling meet entrance and where the swimming and diving fans grab a candy bar.

 8. The Jocks

These guys and gals love love love competition. Get them to vote and get them to reach out to their family and fans to vote for your helmet. Ask your quaterback, your Center, your striker on the volleyball team to Tweet and post. Get your star sprinter for the track team to encourage their social media followers to run to the polls. It will pay off for you, and for them, too.

9. Be a David. Goliaths fall.

Look, we all know the Power Five will dominate the networks and the polls. But in Helmet Bowl, everyone is equal. Schools with 5,000 students have absolutely destroyed universities with 66,444 (we're looking at you Ohio State). We created Helmet Bowl on a level playing field. Big, medium, or small, you have a shot at this National Championship. With more than 750 teams from more than 75 conferences, this contest is for everyone. Go get this championship.

10. On-Campus Outlets

Do you konw where the campus newspaper offices are? Stop by. Talk to the guy who wants to be a sportswriter. There's an in-house television or video feed that carries announcements to all students. Tap in. Get on your social media outlets, your websites, your newsletters (yes, they still send out newsletters).

Bonus: Your Conference Foes

You won your conference in Helmet Bowl, that's how you (most of you) qualified for the Helmet Bowl National Championship. Believe it or not, your conference foes want you to represent your conference well. Contact the Conference office and ask them to join your cause. Your Conference office will want those bragging rights!

Lopers the Helmet Bowl III National Champion!

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The Nebraska Kearney Lopers outdistanced the Louisville Cardinals to claim the Helmet Bowl III National Championship.

Congratulations to the Lopers!

The Lopers, the only college football team named after antelopes, become the first DII Helmet Bowl Champions and the first non-DIII Champions of Helmet Bowl. They defeated the Cardinals by a percentage score of 67 to 33 percent to claim the trophy.

Lopers Triumphant

“The news this week that we were in the championship spread like wildfire,” said Tanner Drews, the Loper's Equipment Manager.

“The local news helped us out, then the alumni started hearing about it,” he said. “It's pretty cool when you come from small school like this and now live in California or the East Coast and hear about Nebraska Kearney. They jumped on board.

“I've got a lot of thank yous to hand out to everyone here in Kearney, too” he said. “It just goes to show that the support of your fans and community really does matter.”

Students at UNK returned for classes today and there was excitement on campus.

“They were coming in for the first day back and they were amazed!” Tanner said.

In the end, the Lopers gathered about twice the votes during championship week than the Helmet Bowl II Champion Dickinson Red Devils, but about half as many as the Helmet Bowl I Champion Gallaudet Bison.

Louisville

Louisville GA Equipment Manager Joe Mikesic said he had a blast in Helmet Bowl.

“It was a lot of fun getting to represent Louisville and see us go that far. The contest is a lot of fun and I think it gives smaller schools like UNK a way to get their name out there,” he said.

“Don’t be surprised, though, if you see us in the finals again next year!”

HB 3 Trophy

The Helmet Bowl III National Championship trophy is presented by Schutt Sports, a leading manufacturer of football helmets in North America. Schutt also provided the Helmet Bowl II trophy and the HB2 and HB3 Conference Championship trophy helmets as well.

Visitors to the American Football Coaches Association convention in Nashville can view the trophy at the Helmet Tracker booth, #523.

Loper's Route to Win

First, the Lopers defeated the Northeastern State RiverHawks in the Mid-America Intercollegiate semi-final. Then, they surprised the conference by beating the Central Missouri Mules – but just by two votes.

The Lopers were on no-one's radar. They barely squeezed into the National Championship bracket of 64, being seeded as #11 in the West.

When they beat the DI Wyoming Cowboys helmet (#6 Seed) it was a nice win for a little school on the prairie. The Dakota Wesleyan Tigers put up a fairly bland helmet and were dismissed. We knew what was next – the fan-favorite UT Permian Basin Falcons.

This was Round 3, when teams start to get serious about making a deep run in Helmet Bowl. The Falcons had been here before and had a great image this year. But the Lopers beat them by more than 100 votes. and were gaining traction.

Hmmm. Who were these guys? The Loper's voting numbers were healthy, but not spectacular. They next faced the Kansas State Wildcats for the West Regional title. K-State seemed poised to finally break into the Fabulous Four and exchanged the lead with the Lopers nearly daily. In the end, the Lopers gathered 7 more votes than the Wildcats and advanced.

Next, most thought, was the end of the road. The HB1 National Champion Gallaudet Bison awaited and after having been beat early in HB2, and were eager to reclaim the top spot.

Gallaudet scratched back from an early deficit and took the lead late in the semi-final week. Once Nebraska Kearney heard of it, though, they would have nothing to do with losing. It was just a matter of hours, maybe even minutes, until the Lopers regained the lead. They would not relinquish.

Then, onto the Championship.

Tanner, the Loper's Equipment Manager, said he and AD Marc Bauer had some new strategies to try during the Helmet Bowl III National Championship week and they jumped out ahead of Louisville immediately.

“I am proud and thankful for the outpouring and support of the Loper community and our faithful fans,” said AD Marc Bauer. “It took a team effort to come out on top in the voting. It was our first time competing in the Helmet Bowl, and we look forward to being back next year.

“Helmets are cool! Go Lopers!”

The Lopers grew the lead daily until they had doubled up the Cardinals. Then, they brought in more votes. In the end, the Lopers gathered about twice the votes during championship week than the Helmet Bowl II champion Dickinson Red Devils, but not nearly as many as the Helmet Bowl I champion Gallaudet Bison.

What will Helmet Bowl IV have in store?

Lopers vs Cardinals: The Helmet Bowl III National Championship Finals

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Here we are.

After three months of voting, thousands of voters, and hundreds of thousands of votes, we come to the finals. A DI school versus a DII school.

The Louisville Cardinals versus the Nebraska Kearney Lopers.

Which one won a bowl game this year? Do you know?

We’ll get to the answer below.

First though, the Semi-finals.

Semi-Finals

Louisville and Dickinson traded blows throughout the week. It seemed like every time we looked at the percentages, they would flip-flop. When we looked closer at the data, the Red Devils were 150 votes ahead. A day later we’d look and the Cardinals would be 140 in front.

December 31, Dickinson was in the lead by six percentage points. Same stat the next day. It back and forth, then suddenly on Saturday, Louisville was ahead by two percentage points—and in this case, not even 200 votes. By Sunday, the Red Devils were back on top. Then, early on Monday morning, the teams were knotted up. Louisville soon took the lead, and held it through the Semi-Final.

Amazing!

Meanwhile, the Gallaudet Bison showed determination to once again appear in the Helmet Bowl National Championship. They won the whole enchilada in HB1 and were a great champion. They wanted a return trip and the votes started piling up.

Whoa. By the first of the year, Nebraska Kearney had taken the lead away from the Bison.

Everyone expected Gallaudet to fight. And fight they did.

It took a couple of days and we watched as the Bison reeled in the Lopers. It was mesmerizing. Little by little, they plodded along, racking up votes a little bit faster than UNK. Then Friday, they were ahead. It was only a seven vote lead, but they were out front!

A day later, the Lopers had regained the lead and built a 200 vote cushion! They would not relent.

By Monday morning, it would take a herculean effort to catch them. The Bison were known for their amazing comebacks, so we were ready to watch it happen. It just didn’t this year.

Fallen Champion

By noon Monday, both former Champions had fallen.

The Dickinson Red Devils were a great champions. They represented well. We expect to see them back in the hunt in Helmet Bowl IV.

The Gallaudet Bison wore the mantel of the First Helmet Bowl National Champion with pride. We know they’ll be back and itching to hoist the trophy again.

Trophy

Speaking of the trophy, Schutt Sports has once again agreed to provide the Helmet Bowl National Championship trophy helmet. We understand it will be shipped sometime this week and may arrive before Monday.

Thank you to the good folks at Schutt!

Bowl Winner

Which of the National Championship match teams won a bowl game this year?

Trick question – they both did.

Louisville won the Music City Bowl over Mississippi State (another great Helmet Bowl team).

Nebraska Kearney won the Mineral Water Bowl over the Winona State Warriors.

This little public school out on the prairie schools with about 6,300 students takes on Louisville which holds classes for 22,600. It’s quite a matchup.

Lopers

The Lopers had a great football season, their first winning season in quite some time. A Helmet Bowl National Championship would fit right into their rebuilding efforts.

“We’ve got big things planned for this week,” said Marc Bauer, the Athletic Director at UNK.

Marc knows how to win. As a collegiate wrestling coach, his wrestlers have hoisted individual and team national championships. Marc has escorted his wrestlers to the Olympic games and saw one of his men bow to receive a bronze medal in Rio.

Tanner Drews, UNK Loper Equipment Manager

“A couple of months ago I was walking down the hall and Tanner (Tanner Drews, the Loper’s Equipment Manager) pulls me into the equipment room and shows me this gold Loper head on a helmet. He was so excited about this helmet.”

It was later Marc learned about Helmet Bowl.

Nearly Disappeared

In fact, the Lopers almost missed the dance. Truth be told, they won the Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletic Association by just two votes, but only drew 28.

Yes, 28 votes. The lackluster effort barely got them into the Championship bracket and they were seeded 11th. It could have been much lower.

In the first week of the Helmet Bowl III National Championship, the Lopers increased their previous voting best by a factor of 23. TWENTY-THREE times the number of votes!

How?

“Tanner is the guy behind the effort,” Marc tells us. “He was sending out Tweets all the time. I was excited for him because he was excited about Helmet Bowl and is excited to be promoting UNK Athletics.”

“Helmet Bowl has been a lot of fun,” said Tanner Drews, the Loper Equipment Manager for three years.

“I have a brand new Twitter account for the equipment room and Helmet Bowl has been a lot of our content,” he said, though the staff cares for the needs of 14 sports at UNK.

Tanner says the only other school in the country with the Antelope is Grand Canyon U, which does not have football.

“Our area around here is known for the Sandhill Crane migration so some people ask if our helmet is a representation of a crane or something.”

Tanner's staff switched the decal from white to gold during the football season and let us know. We at Helmet Tracker switched it on Helmet Bowl and it was at the right time. The votes started rolling in.

Tanner's uncle got him interested in being an Equipment Manager. Jeff Parsons worked in the Kansas State equipment room, then eventually for the Washington Redskins.

The athletes who vote and the community support has been the key.

“I was tweeting out and this community just caught onto it,” he said. Kearney is about 25,000 people. Some of the town's bars are encouraging patrons to vote, and have requested helmets to showcase.

In early finals voting, the Lopers took a lead into the first evening.

Then, when Louisville submitted a new helmet, the Lopers followed up a couple of hours later.

“It’s awesome. We are a small, rural Nebraska school and although the odds will be stacked against us, we have some things lined up that may give us a chance,” Marc said.

Louisville Cardinals

For only the second time in Helmet Bowl, a DI school vies for the National Championship.

“Of course I've heard of Nebraska Kearney,” Joe Mikesic, one of two Cardinals GA Equipment Managers.

The Cards won the ACC and rolled through the rounds of the Helmet Bowl III National Championship until they faced Dickinson.

“It's been a lot of fun,” Joe said. He grew up in Lawrence, Kansas, caught the equipment care bug, and worked for the KU equipment staff for five years before being accepted at Louisville where he is working on his masters degree.

Joe has championed the Helmet Bowl effort at Louisville.

“My first day on the job last summer they handed me the keys to the Twitter account and said ‘Go!'”

“Once you guys notified us we won the conference, I started really getting the word out,” Joe said. “I can't say enough about how great our fans are. Every time I tweeted, you could almost see the percentages jump!”

Now, the Cardinals have submitted a new image for the finals!

Ed Connell, Associate Director/Equipment Operations for the Cardinals, said the fan interest and support for Louisville football has grown in recent years and continue to climb.

“Fans don't want an offseason,” he said. Helmet Bowl gives fans a way to support the team.

Helmet Bowl III National Championship Fabulous Four

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This. is. so. fun.

Thank you to the Equipment Managers and voters. We are having a blast and judging from the tens of thousands of votes last round, you are, too! Wow!

These were the Regional Championships and boy o boy did they provide the excitment.

Regional Voting

The Region with the most overall votes was the West Region – where the Kansas State Wildcats battled the Nebraska Kearney Lopers. The ‘Cats were ahead, the Lopers overtook them. The Wildcats responded, the Lopers overtook them. K-State lead on the last day, the Lopers battled back.

Seriously, we had to create “Congratulations” messages for both teams. It was that close until the last possible minute.

In the end, UNK held a lead for the final couple hours and won by an astounding SEVEN VOTES!

Lopers lead all voting

The West contest drew about 1,000 more votes than other Regional Championships and the Lopers did end up with more votes than any of the other seven teams in the contest.

Now, four remain. Here's how they stack up in last round's voting:

  1. Nebraska Kearney Lopers with the most votes
  2. Gallaudet Bison drew 333 fewer votes
  3. Dickinson Red Devils counted 18 less votes than the Bison. EIGHTEEN!
  4. The Louisville Cardinals gathered 237 votes less than the Devils

With tens of thousands of votes casts, voters can see that there is absolutely NO WAY to predict a winner in this next round.

Helmet Bowl III Semi-Final

Could we end up with a DIII, all prior Helmet Bowl Champion Championship? Sure could!

The Dickinson Red Devils – our HB2 Champs – are one of two DIII schools remaining in the contest, now battle the DI Louislville Cardinals. In early voting, the Devils lead by a handful of votes.

In the other matchup, the DIII Gallaudet Bison – our HB1 Champs – face the DII Nebraska Kearny Lopers.

Clearly, it will be Bison vs Red Devils, Bison vs Cardinals, Lopers vs. Cardinals, or Lopers vs Red Devils. See our Twitter poll to vote on which matchup you think will determine our National Champion.

How The Got Here

Let's take a look at how each of these teams arrived in the Helmet Bowl III Semi-Finals. We'll go in alphabetical order.

Dickinson Red Devils

The Dickinson Red Devils reveled in their Helmet Bowl II National Championship, adorning their football uniforms with a specially designed patch. We were proud to see that and kept an eye on them from the beginning.

The Red Devils won the Centennial Conference after gathering an incredible 90 percent of the votes in the Conference Semi-final and then easily beating Moravian for the Conference Championship by doubling the Greyhounds' vote totals.

That brought them to the 64-team National Championship bracket.

First, as the East #1 Seed, they faced a surging #16 Wooster Fighting Scots helmet. The Scots put in a respectable fight and would have won many other matchups, but could not overcome the Red Devils.

Next, Dickinson put it in another gear and demolished the Salve Regina Seahawks.

That brought the Red Devils to a serious contender and a beautiful helmet – that of the Maryland Terrapins. Maryland would not be shaken until the end of the round, and ended up losing by a few hundred.

That brought another fantastic helmet from Maryland – from the Navy Midshipmen. Number 2 seeded Navy, with its diagonally-striped lid, gathered thousands of votes in the East Regional Championship, but fell 30 votes short of the Red Devils.

Gallaudet Bison

The Bison, our first National Champion, won the Eastern Collegiate Football Conference by pushing aside the Maritime Privateers to reach the Conference Championship against the surprising Dean Bulldogs. The Bison plodded along and beat the Bulldogs, but only by 37 votes. We wondered.

Then, the National Championship. The Bison were seeded #2 in the South Region and faced some mighty good helmets. First, the Austin College Kangaroos. The ‘Roos put up some good numbers, but did not threaten a win.

In Round 2, the Ole Miss Rebels toyed with the idea of winning early in the week, and could have pulled out an upset with a strong weekend push, but fell to the Bison by nearly 200 votes.

The Richmond Spiders seemed hungry. The Spiders pushed and pushed throughout Round 3, but Gallaudet seemed to find just enough votes to win, but always making it interesting. We wondered again.

In the South Region Championship last week, the St. Thomas Bobcats sprinted and sprinted and sprinted to the lead a few times. Would the Bison be able to recover the lead again and again? They did, winning by less than 50 votes.

We wonder again. Can the Bison find several hundred more votes to challenge the increasingly strong Lopers?

Louisville Cardinals

This red-chrome helmet is simple, menacing, and attractive. The Cardinals won the Atlantic Coast Conference by doubling up Wake Forest in the Semi-final, then beating the North Carolina State Wolfpack by just 11 votes.

We did not seriously consider Louisville a contender. Though they brought in a nice helmet, the voting numbers were just so very low.

Then, the National Championship.

Suddenly, the Cardinals were carrying in hundreds and hundreds of votes. They beat the Beloit Buccaneers. They handled a very good effort by the Indiana Wesleyan Wildcats.

They faced a unique and Helmet Bowl-experienced Lake Erie Storm and put up nearly 400 (!) more votes than the tornado.

They entered the North Region Championship, a #5 Seed, against a momentum-gaining Toledo Rocket helmet, but never gave them a chance. The Louisville Cardinals won their matchup by the widest margin.

Can the defending champ Dickinson Red Devils stop them?

Nebraska Kearney Lopers

Who?

The Lopers helmet is attractive, yes. We like it and voters do too. But still, this DII team made little noise in past years. In the Mid-America Intercollegiate semi-final, they dismissed the Northeaster State RiverHawks.

In the Conference Championship, they faced perennial Helmet Bowl contenders Central Missouri Mules. We thought the Mules would return to the podium, but SURPRISE! the Lopers won the Conference by two votes.

Ok. But what about the National Championship. When we Seeded them #11 and they faced a strong Wyoming Cowboys helmet (#6 Seed) we thought we'd seen the end of them. Nope. They nearly tripled the Cowboys total and caught our attention.

Round 2 wasn't much of a contest for the Lopers – they defeated the Dakota Wesleyan Tigers. Then, in Round 3, they faced the powerful UT Permian Basin Falcons. The Lopers beat them by 109 votes and were gaining traction.

We were impressed and wondered if UNK would be satisfied with that, especially since they faced the Kansas State Wildcats for the West Regional title. The EMAW crowd traded the lead with the Lopers nearly every day last week, but fell SEVEN VOTES short earlier today.

Now, the Lopers, who would be Seeded #1 based on Round 4 voting, take on the Bison. In early voting, they've gathered nearly 100 more votes than Gallaudet, but it's EARLY.

Vote

So, remember, each voter can vote daily on as many devices as possible. The strength is not in the number of devices, but the number of voters a team can get voting. It takes seconds to vote, but the winners rally their voters, and others, to vote every day for the week.

Helmet Bowl III Regional Championships

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Two cats, two ungulates, a service member, spiritual enemy, mechanical wonder, and a bird.

Bobcats, Wildcats, Lopers, Red Devils, Bison, Midshipmen, Rockets, and Cardinals remain.

Thank you, voters, for such a fun Helmet Bowl III National Championship. We break down the Regional Championships below. By Monday, we will have our Fantastic Fabulous Final Four.

Voting Leaders

We are stunned at how close each of these teams are in voting. Tens of thousands of votes cast, and yet just a relative handful of votes separate these final eight teams.

The Kansas State Wildcats led all vote-getters in Round 3.

Navy Midshipmen: 207 less than the K-State

Dickinson Red Devils: 142 less than Navy

Gallaudet Bison: 25 less than Dickinson

Louisville: 44 votes less than Gallaudet

Divisional Breakdown

DI FBS – Four teams remain (5 teams in Round 3, 8 teams in Round 2, 10 teams in Round 1)

DI FCS – Zero teams remain (3 teams in Round 3, 6 teams in Round 2, 14 teams in Round 1)

DII – The Nebraska Kearney Lopers remain. (3 teams in Round 3, 10 teams in Round 2, 15 teams in Round 1)

DIII – Two teams remain (4 teams in Round 3, 5 teams in Round 2, 20 teams in Round 1)

NAIA – The St. Thomas Bobcats remain (1 team in Round 3, 3 teams in Round 2, 4 teams in Round 1)

Seeding

Amazing how the votes in Conference play, which determined the national tournament seeding, had little to do with how teams have performed in the National tournament.

With one exception: The East. In the East, the #1 Seed Dickinson Red Devils face the #2 Seed Navy Midshipmen – just like the voters predicted.

Meanwhile, the North features a #5 Seed (Louisville Cardinals) vs a #13 (Toledo Rockets).

In the West, #5 K-State face #11 Nebraska Kearney Lopers.

And, as everyone knows, in the South, the #16 (SIXTEEN!) St. Thomas Bobcats face #2 Gallaudet Bison.

So very much fun.

Regional Championships

Remarkable run and comeback by the St. Thomas Bobcats. A Play-in team which did not win their conference, the ‘Cats won a four team contest to be ranked #16 in the South Region.

Now, they face the Helmet Bowl I National Champion (this team will ALWAYS be the first winner of Helmet Bowl) Gallaudet Bison. The Bison have, for an always-favorite) sort of snuck (sneaked) through the contest and now perch (can a Bison perch?) on the cusp of a Regional Championship.

This will be fun.

South Region

Let's stay right here.

The Bobcats won by FIVE VOTES (!) against the surging Samford Bulldogs. Samford brought a clean, attractive helmet to the contest and, unknown until a few weeks ago, sprinted. They beat the Campbell Fighting Camels, then we thought we would have to say “so long” when they faced the unique helmet of Austin Peay. Nope. They beat the Monopoly Man, collected $200, and moved on.

The contest in Round 3 between the Bulldogs and Bobcats was a seesaw and so fun to watch. We are sorry to see Samford leave the contest and look forward to their run in Helmet Bowl IV.

Meanwhile, Gallaudet faced a strong and getting stronger Richmond Spider helmet. The Spiders waltzed through the National Championship and had a shot at Round 4. The Bison outpaced them, just by 100 and a handful of votes.

As we look now, the Bison are leading the Bobcats by 12 votes! Twelve.

North Region

Two surprises.

The Louisville Cardinals put forth a chrome red helmet with an angry bird head. They took on an experienced Lake Erie Storm helmet, but dismissed them by hundreds of votes. Yes, we were surprised.

The Toledo Rockets, now, yes, the Rockets' graduated helmet from yellow to black with the art deco-ish spaceship blasting forward, has grown on us. It's a nice helmet – it really is. The Toledo team took on a hungry Indiana State Sycamore helmet with its history of winning its conference and knowing how to make a run in the National Championship. The Rockets won by a hundred and a handful of votes.

This is a an interesting matchup – the strong recognizable Cardinals versus the relatively unknown Toledo team. Either Louisville will flex some might or the Rockets will jetson one stage and ignite another. The Cardinals lead, right now, by exactly 50 votes.

West Region

Yes, we admit falling hard for the Nebraska Kearney Lopers blue helmet overlayed with the gold antelope bust. It's cool. It's different. It's attractive. The Lopers faced a long-time Helmet Bowl favorite in the UT Permian Basin Falcons and beat them by just 109 votes – less than 2 percent.

They face Helmet Tracker friends Kansas State Wildcats. We've spent a lot of time in the Bill Snyder Family Stadium and always thought the ‘Cats could make a run at a Helmet Bowl National Championship. The EMAW folks just never got behind their helmet. Then, everything changed. The Wildcats changed their helmets mid-week a few weeks ago and things took off for them. They beat a strong Texas State Bobcat helmet, then took on #1 Seed Clarmont-Mudd-Scripps Stags – a heavy favorite. Well, K-State just destroyed the Stags and outpaced the rest of the field in voting last round. Wow.

Now, a great West Region battle. The Wildcats lead the Lopers by 17 votes as we checked just now.

East Region

These are the big guys.

Defending Helmet Bowl National Champion Dickinson Red Devils face the Navy Midshipmen. These two teams racked up more votes in Round 3 than any other two teams in the National Championship.

One has to go.

The Red Devils rely on the football Moms' network. The Midshipmen awoke a few weeks ago and pile on the votes. Navy leads, right now anyway, by just 22 votes.

Dickinson beat a very VERY strong Maryland Terrapin helmet to get here. Navy more than doubled up a nice Alvernia Golden Wolves helmet.

If you watch one contest this week of Christmas (who are we kidding? We know you won't watch just one contest here) watch this one.

Thank you for taking the time to read up on the Helmet Bowl III National Championship. We wish you a very Merry Christmas. Don't forget – you can vote every day. Enjoy your gifts, have fun with your family, then vote.