Boise State Football Helmet – A History

No soccer team has captured America’s attention in recent years quite like the Boise State Broncos. A school that was just a high school until 1967, shocked the world when it defeated the University of Oklahoma in a 43-42 overtime victory in the 2007 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. The game featured trick plays, incredible comebacks, multiple lead changes and a 2-point conversion in overtime in the Statue of Liberty game. The program isn’t just defined by that game, however, as they returned to the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl (a BCS game) in 2010 and regularly finished ranked in the Top 25. They have also defeated several other automatic qualifying schools such as Georgia and Virginia. Tech.

Boise State’s first helmet as a 4-year university (Boise State College) was believed to be all orange with a blue stripe. It was later changed to all blue. In 1972, the team added a bronco head logo in an orange circle. The head was white with a blue mane and an orange background. The logo was changed to a stylistic lowercase bsu font in 1974. Some forms of this logo were in use until 1996, with the exception of the period between 1976 and 1977. In 1976, the logo changed radically. A bronco head in orange was taped to the side with blue shadows and a white outline. Frankly, it looked a bit strange and not necessarily very threatening to opponents.

The changes that happened to Boise State’s football helmet between 1978 and 1996 had nothing to do with the lowercase bsu logo. That stayed the same with its orange lettering, white outline, curvy s, and unclosed b. Changes included moving to a blue face mask instead of gray in 1980, then a white face mask with orange and white vertical stripes in 1987. The stripes were dropped in 1991. By 1997, it was time for a change and the word “Broncos” replaced the bsu logo. This is somewhat similar to the Gators logo you see on the University of Florida helmet today. This logo remained until 2002, when the modern words Boise State emerged, with the fierce looking bronco head incorporated and on top.

Boise State’s modern helmet has been much the same since 2002, with the exception of the face mask and special game helmets. The mask went from white to gray in 2009. On a few occasions, the logo has been changed. Bronco’s head is greatly increased in size where it covers a large portion of Boise State’s football helmet. The words “State of Boise” are removed entirely. The 2 variations of this include the blue bottom with gray and blue bronco head (and orange eye) worn against Virginia Tech in the 2010 season opener and Utah in the 2010 MAACO Bowl Las Vegas, and a white helmet with bronco blue and white. head (again with orange eye) used against Georgia in the 2011 season opener at the Georgia Dome.