When Houston dominated Oklahoma in Week 1 of the 2016 season, it looked like the New Year's Six slot was the Cougars for the taking. An early October loss to option-heavy Navy and a stunning 38-16 defeat to SMU two weeks later ended Conference USA's hopes playing on New Year's Day.
RELATED: Memphis is Absolutely Stacked at Wide Receiver
This year all eyes are on South Florida and Lamar-Jackson-like senior quarterback Quinton Flowers. The conference's 2016 Offensive Player of the Year ran for 1,530 yards while throwing for another 2,812. Considering its soft non-conference slate, the Bulls are the team to beat in 2017.
USF has pretty sweet lids, too, but are they good enough to top our ranking as the best American Athletic helmet?
Note: These rankings are for each team's standard helmets. We'll be ranking the best overall Group of 5 alternate helmets soon. In the meantime, check out our helmet rankings for the Conference USA, Sun Belt, Mountain West, and MAC.
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12. Houston
The shading on the "UH" is nice, but there's just not much going on here for a helmet that desperately needs a facelift.
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University of Houston[/credit]
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11. Temple
The Owls' helmets need an overhaul as successful as the resurrection job of the football program itself since 2009.
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Creative Sports Enterprises, Inc[/credit]
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10. Central Florida
The creative possibilities for a team called the "Knights" are endless, yet UCF's helmet features nothing more than three letters in a ho-hum font.
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Gameday Connexion[/credit]
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9. Tulsa
Tulsa is in the same need of a creative marketing team as UCF.
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Sports Memorabilia[/credit]
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8. Cincinnati
The bear claws above the "C" is nifty, but what's the deal with the random red bar under the letter?
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DICK'S Sporting Goods[/credit]
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7. Navy
Navy is almost impossible to rank. If you love the clean and iconic look of college football, they should be first. If you think it's utterly snooze-worthy because there's nothing on the side, then last place is appropriate.
We compromised.
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FootballHelmets.com[/credit]
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6. UConn
The Huskies lids just keep getting better and better, and although not ranked here, the alternates are among the tops in college football.
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The UConn Blog[/credit]
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5. SMU
Is it possible to look at the Mustangs' helmets and not envision Eric Dickerson ripping defenses to shreds?
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FootballHelmets.com[/credit]
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4. Memphis
The Tigers have timeless helmets that feel just as appropriate today as they would have 50 years ago.
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FootballHelmets.com[/credit]
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3. Tulane
The wave over the "T" is different than anything in college football, but it's Tulane's unique color combination that really makes this lid pop.
[credit]
Creative Sports Enterprises, Inc[/credit]
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2. South Florida
We're not even sure if the Bull have a "normal" helmet anymore, but it doesn't really matter. All of these variations are solid enough for our second spot.
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SoFloBulls.com[/credit]
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1. East Carolina
How can any helmet be more menacing than one with a dead sneering skull wearing an eyepatch on it?
ECU wins best American Athletic helmet by a landslide.
[credit]
DICK'S Sporting Goods[/credit]
