Helmet Bowl

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!

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.

“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 11^th. 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.