Uniforms are becoming increasingly important in the college football world. With each passing season, it seems like teams are in a race to come out with a new look or special uniforms -- anything that will make the school that much more attractive to possible recruits.
And don't be fooled ... recruits really do care about them.
Recruits aren't alone, either. Just about every time a school comes out with a new look, you'll be able to read about it here at CBS Sports as our readers can't seem to get enough of the uniforms, either.
So, if uniforms are that important, we must give them the traditional college football treatment: ranking them.
This week, I'll be ranking the uniforms of every Power Five conference, from the worst to the best. These rankings are based on absolutely nothing but my personal taste.
Today, we rank the uniforms of the ACC. Time to channel our inner Heidi Klum.
14. Louisville: There are so many reasons I don't like the Louisville uniforms, but the biggest is the all-black gothic look that the Cardinals have worn too many times lately. I have no idea what the hell they're trying to pull off with those, other than saying, "We love Scandinavian death metal." Then there's the logo. Do you know of a lot of cardinals with teeth? Because apparently the fine folks of Louisville seem to believe that cardinals have teeth and that beaks can bare those teeth for all to see when cardinals are angry. I live in Illinois. Our state bird is the cardinal. I see cardinals all the time. I've never seen one with teeth.
13. Boston College: Too plain and boring. Kind of like Boston College football itself lately. I don't mind logo-less helmets -- in fact, I often prefer them -- nor do I mind a minimalist approach. I often find simpler to be better. But for some reason, it just doesn't work for Boston College. Then there's the font of the numbers, which just looks out of place with the rest of the design.
12. Syracuse: I typically enjoy the combination of blue and orange but those complimentary colors can only do so much for Syracuse. Syracuse's uniforms have always looked like the kind of uniforms you could design when you were able to create your own school on NCAA Football back in the day. They're just extremely generic, and now even after a rebrand, Cuse just made things worse. The dumb-looking font of the numbers, the random gradients and the gray. Why the hell is a team whose mascot is literally the color orange wearing so much gray?
11. Duke: I don't really have anything against Duke's uniforms. It's not like there's any part of the ensemble that I find particularly offensive to the eyes. It's just, we've reached a portion of our rankings where things are pretty similar. The next three schools are all located in the same state and all their uniforms have a similar effect on me, so even the tiniest detail can push you to the bottom of the group. For Duke, it's the sudden prevalence of blue and black. I believe you can wear black and look good, and that you can wear blue and look good. You just shouldn't wear the two together. Duke's done that too often lately.
10. NC State: I'm actually a fan of NC State's traditional look. There isn't anything amazing about it, and it's basic, but it all just works well together from the helmet to the shoes. Where things go wrong is the alternates the Wolfpack are busting out in recent years. As is often the case with alternates created by Adidas, I have no idea what's going on or why anybody would find unnecessary patterns strewn about the uniforms to be a positive. Seriously, Adidas seems to think putting treadmarks on uniforms is a good idea. It isn't.
9. Miami: I've never really been a big fan of Miami's uniforms. The logo, while unique, is also boring. Also, while I don't typically have a dislike for green, the shade that Miami uses is just a little too dark, and I don't much care for how it works with the color orange. I think Miami would be a lot better off if it focused on the orange and white while simply using the green as an accent. Like parsley. It should just be on the plate to make the actual meal look more appealing, but it shouldn't be the meal itself.
8. Virginia: Like I wrote about while going over Syracuse, I like the combination of orange and blue, and I believe Virginia's done a good job with what it has. In fact, I would consider myself a big fan of Virginia's uniforms, and the Cavs would likely rank a lot higher than eighth in any other conference, but I can't put them any higher than here in the ACC. Get rid of the orange helmets, though. If you don't want to wear the blue helmets with the orange jerseys, just go with a white helmet. The logo pops off the white a lot better than it does the orange. Oh my God, I can't believe I just wrote that sentence with complete and total sincerity.
7. Virginia Tech: I can't help but believe that if you took Virginia Tech's look and gave it two other primary colors that I wouldn't like it as much as I do. When you strip the colors from the uniforms, it's really a basic and generic look, and nothing about it stands out. But the maroon and orange colors aren't a combination you see together very often, and because of that, Virginia Tech's uniforms just stand out because even if they are basic, they're unique at the same time.
6. Wake Forest: I'm always a fan of black and gold together, and even if Wake Forest hasn't played well as a football team, it's always looked good. It's just really hard to look bad when the combinations you're working with are black, gold and white. The only real complaint I have about what the Demon Deacons have done is that last season they started to wear this pattern on the sleeves. I don't know if they were trying to give the uniforms more character, but whatever the goal, all they did was provide something that distracts the eyes from the rest of the look.
5. North Carolina: Carolina Blue is just a nice color. There aren't a whole lot of colors you can put it with that will look bad. I mean, I even like it with black -- and as I said when talking about Duke's uniforms, black and blue aren't colors that work together. Black and Carolina Blue do. My favorite part of North Carolina's uniforms is the argyle pattern it works in but doesn't hit you over the head with; it's just a nice touch and so perfectly North Carolina. My only gripe would be to stay away from the actual Tar Heel logo. It's not that I don't like it, I just don't like it nearly as much as the "NC" logo. It just looks cleaner and more in line with the uniforms while on the helmet than a giant foot does.
4. Georgia Tech: I am just a sucker for the honeycomb helmets. Seriously, I like those helmets so damn much that they're roughly 95 percent of the reason I have Tech ranked this highly. I don't like the honeycomb uniforms nearly as much, and I wish the Yellow Jackets could just wear the honeycomb helmets with their regular uniforms. I believe that would be a perfect look for this team because the regular uniforms are nice, too.
3. Clemson: The appeal of Clemson's uniforms is similar to that of Virginia Tech's in that orange and purple isn't really a combination you see a lot, but it's one that works very well. What I think Clemson does well with the combination is that, while it has purple uniforms, most of the time the color is used as nothing more than an accent. Like, when Clemson is wearing its orange helmet with the orange jersey, you only see the purple on the stripe of the helmet and pants, and it just makes everything else pop. I'm fine with the purple uniforms as well, but their use should be kept to a minimum.
2. Florida State: I did not like the update to the Seminole logo, but that wasn't enough to make me change my opinion of Florida State's uniforms. They're just fantastic. At times I feel like the tribal pattern now seen on the sleeves and collar are a bit much, but it's just nitpicking. The uniforms are unique, the helmet is instantly recognizable, and the garnet and gold works perfectly together. It's just a classic look for one of the sport's premier programs.
1. Pitt: Knowing that Pitt is going back to the script Pitt logo on the helmet put the Panthers over the top for me here. I know a lot of people will disagree with me putting the Panthers at No. 1 on this list, but I've always been a huge fan of Pitt's look. I love the way the colors work together, I love how clean the uniform design is, and I just freaking love that script Pitt, man. Had the Panthers still had the block letter font going in 2016, they'd probably be rank sixth. That's how much I like the script Pitt.
