Because a "helmet" defined by us is a different list than one made by a 20 year old.
I'll give an example. I remember back in the late 1990's sometime I think it was Nebraska was very highly ranked and they were about to play Oklahoma.
Oklahoma had a great run that ended with three consecutive 11-1 seasons from 1985-1987. They lost to Miami, FL in each of those seasons (Orange Bowl in 1987, road in 1986, home in 1985 and finished ranked #1, #3 behind PSU and Miami, FL, and #3 behind Miami, FL and FSU. Oklahoma had been consistently elite from shortly after WWII up through 1987. From 1948-1987 they were:
- #1 in win% by a LARGE margin over #2 PSU.
- #1 in AP Appearances over #2 tOSU
- #1 in AP top-10 appearances over #2 tOSU
The point is that they were REALLY good from 1948-1987. Then they pretty much sucked from 1988-1999. Their best seasons in those 11 years were 9-3 campaigns in 1988, 1991, and 1993 and they were:
- #41 in win %
- #20 in AP Appearances
- #18 in AP top-10's
As the Oklahoma/Nebraska game in (I think) 1997 was approaching I was desperately hoping for a Nebraska loss because the Cornhuskers were ranked ahead of Ohio State and a Nebraska loss was one of the things on my mental list of everything that needed to happen for tOSU to win the NC.
I was talking with my dad and he said something to the effect of "Well Oklahoma is pretty good." This statement made absolutely no sense to me. I only had a vague recollection of the very end of Oklahoma's great run up through 1987. Most of my CFB fandom coincided with the 1988-1997 and Oklahoma had been generally terrible. They finished .500 in 1994 and 1995 then went 3-8 in 1996 and they were below .500 in 1997 as well. Additionally, they hadn't beaten Nebraska since 1990 and this was when they still played every year so six consecutive losses from 1991-1996. Worse, the recent losses hadn't even been close. Oklahoma lost to Nebraska 37-0 in 1995 and 73-21 in 1996. From my youthful perspective, Nebraska was a major National Power and Oklahoma was chopped liver. My dad, being much older, remembered Oklahoma's great run. To him, as a casual fan, Oklahoma was a major national power even though they hadn't actually been a major national power in about a decade.
That right there is "Helmet".
Oklahoma's greatness was great enough and long enough that casual fans like my dad still thought of them as a great team even when they weren't.
Now consider a school like Clemson. They've been phenomenal under Dabo Swinney. They haven't finished with more than two losses since 2011 and they've been Alabama's main competitor in the CFP era. They've won 2 CFPNC's and played in five CFPNCG's. Their pinnacle is very high but their success hasn't lasted very long. I mentioned that they haven't finished with more than two losses since 2011 but from 2001-2011 they never finished with less than four. Their current great run is 10 years. Oklahoma's post WWII great run was 40. If Clemson now enters a decade like what Oklahoma had from 1988-1997 will fans in 2030 still think of them as a great team (like my dad thought of Oklahoma) or will we think of them as an "ok team that had that one great run back, when was it?"
