North Carolina State isn't the biggest football brand in college sports, but the Wolfpack does play in one of the better football conferences - the ACC, if you somehow missed that. And what NC State lacks in performance, it makes up for with ... FLARE.

It's a fashion article, folks!

The Pack and its fans love tradition and that is evident in the helmet NC State will be wearing in the season opener against the visiting USF Bulls.

Dave Doeren's team will have the "Slobbering Wolf" adorned on both sides of the helmet, which you can check out above.

Now, compare the Opening Day helmet (above) to the regular red one (below - there are only two pictures, keep up) and wow, isn't your mind blown?

The new red lids also boast a pattern that symbolizes the bricks synonymous with NC State's campus.

This is also brilliant, because no one will ever look at these, see a wolf and some bricks, and immediately think about some out-of-breath wolf wheezing next to a brick house with three little pigs inside.

Fans will get to see the new lids when NC State kicks off its season with a night game on Thursday, September 2 inside Carter-Finley Stadium.