billsportsmaps.com

As with the SEC map I posted a couple of weeks ago,  the modern helmet history of each team is shown in the teams’ sections on the far right.  The images of each team’s helmet start at the post-World War II period,  circa 1947 to 1950 or so.  This is when the old leather helmets were eventually replaced everywhere by the modern plastic compound helmets.  I am not positive,  but I think I have every helmet change of the teams in the Big 12,  from that post-War period to the present.  At the bottom right of each team’s section is that team’s current helmet design  [note: Baylor has 2 helmets here because the team has home and road helmets this season.]. 

Thanks to MG’s Helmets {click here}.  This is where I get the illustrations of the current helmet designs. 

Thanks to the contributors to the pages at en.wikipedia.org {click here (set at Big 12 Conference football)}.   Thanks to Kansas U. Athletics site/’Evolution of the Jayhawk’ {click here}.   Thanks to Chris Creamer’s Sports Logos Page {click here}.   Thanks to Helmet Hut site {click here (set at College)}.   Thanks to The Helmet Project site {click here}.   Thanks to Logo Shak {click here}.   Thanks to Helmet History.com {click here (set at College)}.   Thanks to glenniz,  for the Sooners-wagon-on-dark-red-background image {click here}. 

Thanks to The Southwest Conference Helmet History site,  which was a real help in nailing down obscure helmet designs and dates for teams like Baylor,  Texas A&M,  and Texas Tech {click here}.

Notes on the map and chart…
Instead of just listing last season’s average attendance for each team,  there are now 3 columns…2008 average;  Percent Capacity [of stadium];  and Change From 2007 [by percentage].  This list is at the right-hand side of the map.  Below that is the list of SEC titles by team,  including total seasons played in the SEC.  Titles won in other major conferences,  for Arkansas (in the defunct Southwest Conference) and South Carolina (in the ACC) are noted at the bottom.     

On the far right,  in the chart section,  each team is listed top to bottom by how they finished in their division in 2008.  The bulk of the images in each team’s section are devoted to depicting each teams’ helmet styles,  and their changes through the years,  starting with the modern helmet’s introduction in the post-war era circa 1946 to 1950 (which is when plastic composite helmets replaced the old leather helmets of the pre-war era).  The helmets are chronologically listed from left to right,  and top to bottom,  for each team.  The current helmet design is placed at the bottom right of each team’s section.   This is not a comprehensive list,  but all major helmet changes and most minor helmet changes are shown,  with the following exceptions.  The only two logo-based helmets (that I am aware of) which I couldn’t find a suitable image of are the Kentucky Wildcats’ split blue helmet of circa 1963-1968,  with the players’ numeral on the left-hand side [which is shown on the chart],  and the head of a snarling wildcat on the right-hand side;  and the Mississippi State maroon bulldog-head-in-three-quarters-profile helmet of 1963-1965.  In the Helmet Project site’s notes on their Southeastern Conference page,  there are photos and descriptions of these two helmets {click here,  then click on ‘Southeastern’,  from the column on the left,  then scroll to find the two teams’ sections}.   And there are a few helmet designs I have left out of various teams’ sections because they were of a design that had been used previously,  or were very slight modifications of logo size or center-stripe. 

Thanks to the contributors to the pages at en.wikipedia.org (click here (‘2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season’)}.   Thanks to the excellent site Helmet Hut,  where you can buy the old helmets,  or any custom design {click here}.   Thanks to the Helmet Project site at http://www.nationalchamps.net/Helmet_Project/ .  This is the only site I can find that actually tries to tackle the helmet histories of NCAA teams,  and there are still a good deal of gaps and unknown designs.   Thanks to this site,  http://helmet-history.com/ ,  which was a real help in filling in the gaps somewhat.

The Big East’s football conference began play in 1991.  I wrote a bit about the conference last November {see this}.


The Big East’s football conference combines a few schools with storied pasts:  Pittsburgh,  Syracuse,  and West Virginia,  with some schools that never really had football programs to brag about,  but are now improving:  Cincinnati,  Connecticut,  Rutgers,  and South Florida.   Louisville is the other school in the conference,  and is sort of in both categories. 

Friday, the 101st edition of the Backyard Brawl will take place,  as the West Virginia Mountaineers visit the Pitt Panthers (who are #25 in the BCS)  {see this}.  Here is an article from USA Today on the 100th Backyard Brawl  {Click here}.

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South Florida has seen their average attendance rise from 30,222 in 2006;  to 53,170 last season.  That rise of nearly 23,000 vaulted them from 76th highest to 38th highest.  The nascent USF football program has only been in existence since 1997.

Thanks to http://www.nationalchamps.net/NCAA/database/index.h.   Thanks to the contributors to the Big East football pages on Wikipedia.   Thanks to AP Poll Archive  {Click here}.  

Thanks to http://gobearcats.cstv.com/.   Thanks to http://www.scarletknights.com/football/history/first-game.asp  (Click on it and check out the nice illustration of what the first college football game looked like, in 1869: Princeton vs. Rutgers.)    Thanks to Ask-ville  {Click here}.   Thanks to The Sports Fanattic Shop {Click here}.

Thanks to Helmet Hut  {Click here};   The Helmet Project  {Click here};   Chris Creamer’s Sports Logos Page  {Click here}.;   Logo Server  {Click here};   Logo Shak  {Click here}.

The Big 12 was formed in 1994,  when the Big 8 merged with 4 schools from Texas that had come from the just-disbanded Southwest Conference.   The first season of Big 12 football was in 1996.

The Big 8 has it’s origins in the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association,  which began football competition in 1907.   Founding schools were the University of Kansas (Lawrence, KA),  the University of Missouri (Columbia, MO),  the University of Nebraska (Lincoln, NE),  and Washington University (St. Louis, MO).   The next year, 1908,  Drake University (Des Moines, IA)  and Iowa State (Ames, IA) joined.   Kansas State (Manhattan, KA) joined in 1913.   Grinnell College (Grinnell, IA) joined in 1919.   The University of Oklahoma (Norman, OK) joined in 1920.    Oklahoma A & M (Stillwater, OK) joined in 1925;  this school is now called Oklahoma State.

Three years later,  though,  Oklahoma A & M left the conference, along with the smaller schools,  to form the Missouri Valley Conference (the MVC). 

The other large schools remained together as the MVIAA;  the conference began to become popularly known as the Big 6…Iowa State,  Kansas,  Kansas State,  Missouri,  Nebraska,  and Oklahoma.

The Big 6 remained stable throughout the 1930s and World War II.   In 1948,  the University of Colorado (Boulder, CO) joined,  and the conference became known as the Big 7. 

A decade later,  Oklahoma State rejoined,  and began play for football in 1960.   The conference then became known as the Big 8. 

The conference remained the same throughout the sixties,  seventies, eighties,  and early 1990s.   During this time 2 of the schools in the Big 8 emerged as national powerhouses…the Oklahoma Sooners and the Nebraska Cornhuskers.   Both of these teams currently draw over 80,000 per game.   Oklahoma has won 7 National Titles (the last in 2000),  Nebraska has won 5 National Titles (the last in 1997).

Since the merger with the four Texas teams from the SWC,  the conference has seen their national exposure only grow,  as the football  programs of the Texas Longhorns and the Texas A & M Aggies similarly draw over 80,ooo per game.   Texas has won 3 National Titles (the last in 2005);  Texas A & M won their only National Title in 1939.   The only other team in the Big 12 that has won a National Title is Colorado,  in 1990.   The Buffaloes draw around 50,000 per game.

In recent years,  the Big 12 has seen the emergence of the football programs of Kansas State,  Kansas,  Missouri,  and Texas Tech.   For around 40 years,  Kansas State was one of the worst Division I-A teams in the country…it was 69 years between conference titles for the Wildcats (1934, 2003).   The Kansas Jayhawks were a mediocre-to-poor football team for around 35 years,  but last year achieved a #7 AP ranking and an Orange Bowl victory.   The Missouri Tigers,  while not as historically bad as the two Kansas teams,  still had not done much to brag about since 1965 (#4),  but in the last few years have emerged as a real threat.    Last year the Tigers made it to the Big 12 Championship Game (which they lost to Oklahoma),  and won the Cotton Bowl.   At 12-2,  Missouri was ranked #4 in the AP Poll in 2007.

Finally,  there is Texas Tech  {team profile,  from CBS Sports site,  Click here;  Wikipedia page here}.  The Red Raiders are from Lubbock (metro population of around 261,000),  {Visit Lubbock site here}.,  in a region referred to as the South Plains (comprising the Texas panhandle {see this},  plus the area to the immediate south).  

For 25 years (1932-’56),  Texas Tech played in the obscurity of the old Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association (which was composed of football teams from schools in Arizona,  New Mexico,  and west Texas).   In 1960,  Texas Tech joined the SWC.   They have won 9 BIAA Titles (the last in 1955),  and 2 SWC Titles (the last in 1994,  when they were only 6-6,  but managed a share of the conference title,  with Texas).

Though Texas Tech has not won a Big 12 Conference Title,  they are the only team to have maintained a winning record in every season of the Big 12.    

Mike Leach inherited the Texas Tech football program from Spike Dykes (13 years, 82 wins) after the 1999 season.  The team has gone to a Bowl game every year during the innovative Leach’s tenure,  and have won at least 8 games for 7 straight years.   Raised in Cody,  Wyoming,  Leach grew up a fan of the relatively near-by Brigham Young University football team,  whose high-flying offense (which won BYU a National Title in 1984)  can be now seen as a harbinger of the current college game.   Leach graduated from BYU,  then earned a Law Degree at Princeton.   

Mike Leach did not play football at the college level (unusual for Division I coaches,  although another of the six coaches in this category is also in the Big 12:  Mark Mangino of Kansas).   Leach’s trademark is the prolific,  passing-oriented offense,  which is known as the spread offense,  for the way it spreads the defense out,  revealing weaknesses exploited by the multiple wide reciever/ wing-back formations.    Leach was offensive coordinator at Valdosta,  Kentucky,  and Oklahoma.   He came to Texas Tech in the same role,  and became head coach in 2000.

This season,  the mighty Texas Tech offense continues to roll (they average 47.9 points per game).   Their next test is Saturday,  when they travel across the state-line to play #5 Oklahoma.    #2 Texas Tech has a real shot at the championship.   If they can beat the Sooners,  Tech finishes the regular season against perennial pushovers Baylor.   If they win that too,  Texas Tech will be in the BCS Championship Game,  opponent,  of course,  TBD.

Thanks to nationalchamps.net/ All-Time Database  {Click here}.   Thanks to the College Football Data Warehouse  {Click here}.   Thanks to the contributors to the pages of the Big 12,  Big 8,  the SWC,  and the BIAA,  on Wikipedia.   Thanks to the writers at Sports Illustrated August 11, 2008 print edition, including Austin Murphy  {si.com,  Click here}.  

Thanks to Chris Creamer’s Sports Logos Page  {Click here}.   Thanks to Logo Shak  {Click here}.   Thanks to Logo Server  {Click here}.  

Thanks to Helmet Hut  {Click here}.

Thanks to the Helmet Project  {Click here}. 

Thanks to MG’s Helmets  {Click here}.

Thanks to Sports Logos and Screen Savers  {Click here}.   Thanks to FootballFanatics.com  {Click here}. 

AP Poll,  and BCS Standings  {Click here}.