What does the Buckeyes sticker say

On January 21, 2025By Littum

Editor’s note: Follow Ohio State vs. Notre Dame live updates, scores and highlights from the national championship game.

Monday night’s College Football Playoff championship game features an all-time uniform matchup between no. 7 Notre Dame and Ohio State no. 8.

The Irish are expected to rock their home combination of blue jersey and gold pants as the home team at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Meanwhile Buckeyes goes with theirs white road uniforms with gray sleevesa first for Ohio State since its CFP 2022 semifinal game against Georgia.

Both teams’ uniforms also feature two of the more iconic, clean and classic helmets found in college football, with Ohio State’s classic silver sticker-adorned helmets clashing with Notre Dame’s iconic golden caps.

These stickers are performance markers throughout the season for Ohio State players, and by the end of the year, many players’ helmets are covered in buckeye leaves.

Here’s what you need to know about the stickers on Ohio State’s helmets heading into Monday’s CFP championship game:

What does the sticker on Ohio State’s helmets say?

As noted by The Columbus Broadcast, Ohio State helmets include stickers that have a buckeye leaf on them. Buckeye leaves are grown on buckeye trees, which are the official tree of the state of Ohio.

Why do Ohio State players have stickers on their helmets? History explained

You guessed it: Tradition.

It’s a tradition within the Buckeyes program that dates back to the 1967 season and one created by Ohio State coach Ernie Biggs. In one 2022 feature article, ESPN’s Heather Dinich and Adam Rittenberg noted that the first Buckeye to receive a sticker was Jim Nein. The former Buckeye was awarded a sticker after he returned an interception for a 45-yard touchdown in Ohio State’s 30-0 blowout win over Oregon.

There also seems to be a motivational component to these stickers for players, perhaps a thought of Biggs when he started the tradition as a whole.

“You see a guy with a bunch of stickers on his helmet and you know he’s a guy,” Ohio State wide receiver Emeka Egbuka told ESPN in 2022. “The more stickers you have on your helmet, the more respected you are and the more feared you are by an opponent.”

How big are the stickers on Ohio State’s helmets?

As mentioned by ESPN, each sticker is 1.25 inches. A helmet that has 181.3 square inches of available space per Riddell, can fit up to 47 stickers on each side.

If a helmet becomes full during a season, it becomes a running number for notation purposes.

The first time a Buckeye player receives a sticker, a member of Ohio State’s equipment team places the sticker on the bottom of the helmet, to the left of the center stripe. From there, additional stickers are added in a pyramid formation, with meaning on the stems of the blade pointing down and sloping slightly forward to match the shape of the helmet.

Are there other college football programs that have stickers on their helmets?

While Ohio State is known for its helmet stickers, the Buckeyes aren’t the only team in college football to use a helmet sticker reward system.

In fact, there are a total of 13 Division I FBS programs that use a helmet decal reward system according to ESPN.

How does an Ohio State player get a sticker with his helmet?

In short, it depends on the current Buckeyes coach.

But generally speaking, Ohio State players can earn one or more stickers for reaching one or more individual achievements, or if the Buckeyes themselves reach a unit or team achievement. This is different from how “That Team Up North” does their helmet sticker reward system which is more team based.

“They’re stickers, and each one means the player did something really good to help the Buckeyes win!” former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said on X (formerly Twitter) in 2019 in a response to a Buckeyes fan.

But since Ryan Day took over for Meyer in 2018, the way a player receives a sticker is a little different. As mentioned in the aforementioned ESPN piece, players receive a sticker for each touchdown they account for. Quarterbacks earn a sticker if they meet a certain completion percentage agreed upon entering a game.

There are also ways for players to receive stickers from a team success standpoint, but only if Ohio State meets certain benchmarks. These benchmarks and sticker equivalence are as follows:

A sticker for each win
Two stickers for every Big Ten win
Three stickers for every win over Michigan in “The Game”

Do Ohio State players keep stickers on their helmets every season?

No. As noted in the Columbus Dispatch piece, every member of the Buckeyes roster, regardless of their year of eligibility, receives a new helmet each season.