With no bowl game to prepare for the Minnesota Golden Gophers were still in the spotlight on Monday as they debuted new football helmet to the public.

The new design follows the recent trend of matte finished helmets that was started by the University of Oregon. Several other schools have gone with a matte finish on their helmets as well, and the Golden Gophers would not be the first Big Ten team to change their traditional helmet design. Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State each worse new designs at different times in the past season.

The following picture comes from the University of Minnesota's official Twitter account:

The Helmets are part of a complete new uniform design that will be revealed by the athletic department in early 2012. The athletic department revealed small hints as to the new design of the helmets leading up to Monday's official release. They plan to do the same with the rest of the uniforms.