2012 NCAA Football Helmet Schedule

Doug Woodworth is the creator of the 2012 NCAA college football helmet schedule spreadsheet. I recently had the opportunity to ask him about the origins of the helmet schedule and how he creates this wonderful college football spreadsheet every fall season. Thanks to Doug for taking the time to fill us in on the details!

I have been creating football helmet schedule spreadsheets for MGHelmets.com since the 2007 season. I created only the FBS schedule in 2007 and asked MG for permission to share it with my friends. MG happened to like the schedule and asked for my permission to post it on his website. The following year I added the FCS, and the NFL. In subsequent years I have created numerous special requests to include high school, NCAA Div. II, Div. III, and NAIA conferences, plus the annual bowl games schedule.

As I became more familiar with Excel, I tried to add a new feature or detail annually.

In 2007 I locked the schedule with a password because I did not want users to accidentally move or delete the helmets or text, like I had done many times while creating it. I was informed that many users wished to edit or color-code the schedules to keep track of wins-losses and other statistics, which could not be done if the schedules were locked. The overall design was unimpressive as there was very little color and I had chosen Arial font throughout.

In 2008 I unlocked the schedules and added a 'Place in This Document' hyperlink to the helmets, which allowed users to click their way through the different conferences or sheets. Adding the hyperlinks somewhat locked the helmets to the cells as they could only be moved with a right-click. ScreenTips were added to the helmets to display conference affiliation. The header was changed to display MG's official header. I added some color to the dates and conference/division rows, which gave a better look. Non-formal game indicators were changed to a letter code rather than the MM/DD format, which created less clutter at the top of the cells.

In 2009 the helmets were hyperlinked using 'Existing File or Web Page' which automatically opens the file or workbook of the selected helmet. With many FBS vs. FCS games being played regularly, this feature made it easy for users to click back and forth between the two schedules. This feature was especially helpful when I created schedules for every team of the Ohio High School Athletic Association. 722 teams were divided among 70 conferences, which were divided among 6 separate regions or files, yet they were all interconnected. To accomplish this feature, the hyperlink address must be typed to include the file name, followed by #, followed by the sheet name, followed by !, followed by the cell reference.

For example: example.xls#example_sheet!A4

In 2010 MG updated his helmet template, which displayed very sharp in the schedules. I added new or changed color to several details. The font was changed to Calibri. Comments were added to cells to easily hover and display the venue and location of neutral-site games. I realized that by dragging the helmets into the sheet rather than copying and pasting, the helmet backgrounds showed transparent rather than a white box. When users color-coded their printable football schedules, the entire cell would now be colored. I was finally pleased with the overall design, information, and color scheme.

The design has remained the same since 2010. My method for creating the football schedules has also remained the same.

1. drag the helmets from MGhelmets.com into the home cells in column A for each conference
2. select all helmets and resize
3. select all helmets and center within the home cells
4. type the hyperlink address for the first helmet
5. copy the hyperlink address from the first helmet minus its cell reference
6. paste the hyperlink address to the corresponding helmets adding the correct cell reference
7. type the team name into the home cell after horizontal and vertical alignment are set properly

With the helmets and text in place I begin to copy and paste until the schedules are complete, referencing several websites along the way. I then go back to notate the non-formal and neutral-site games. I also edit the ScreenTip of the helmets in the home cells to display the team nicknames. The 'Freeze Panes' feature is utilized so that the header, dates, and conference/division rows remain at the top when scrolling down.

The schedules have become rather popular. In fact, shortly after the BCS National Championship Game and Super Bowl, I receive many emails from fans asking when the schedules will be complete for the next season. The schedules are usually released in early summer.

I would like to thank the many fans who email with their kind comments and suggestions. I would also like thank MG for allowing me to display my work and creating these awesome helmets. Without him, these schedules would not exist.

Thanks again to Doug for the very informative description. As I said earlier, this is probably the best NCAA football spreadsheet out there and is very helpful for my office football pools. About the only thing it is missing is the NCAA football television schedule.Maybe an addition for next year?

To download the NCAA 2012 helmet schedule spreadsheet visit MGHelmets. Then visit our downloads page for more sports Excel templates. 

You can also download the 2012 NFL helmet schedule here. Which teams are you cheering for?

-Nick
Let's Go Buckeyes! 

Tags: 2012 ncaa football schedules, ncaa football 2012, football schedules ncaa, ncaa football scores ncaa football scores, ncaa football 12 spreadsheet

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