By John Sarianides

Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher made a pretty bold statement at ACC Media Day on Thursday. Fisher proclaimed that the ACC is the premier conference in all of college football. 

Normally I would shake my head and write some type of scathing rebuttal but I agree with Fisher. The ACC is the premier conference in college football. There are just as many national title contenders in the ACC as there are in the SEC, Big Ten or PAC-12. 

The SEC and Big Ten have long been considered better football conferences but the ACC has bridged the gap considerably in recent years. 

Clemson beat Ohio State in the national semi-final game before going on to beat Alabama in the National Championship game. Florida State beat Michigan in the Orange Bowl. When the ACC had a chance to prove itself as a conference on the national stage, it did. 

Louisville is another program in the ACC that has national championship aspirations. Bobby Petrino is one of the best offensive minds in the game and they have reigning Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson returning at quarterback. 

Traditional powers such as Virginia Tech and Miami are on their way back to respectability as well. The Hokies are starting to reclaim fertile recruiting territory in Virginia and the Mid-Atlantic. Mark Richt has recruited well at the U and thanks to improved fundraising efforts, Miami is well on its way to becoming a national power again. 

You can make the case that the middle tier programs in the ACC are just as good as the middle tier programs in the SEC or Big Ten. North Carolina, North Carolina State, Duke and Boston College are good programs that are competitive year in and year out.

The perception has been for years that the ACC is more of a basketball conference than a football conference. That is not true. Florida State and Clemson can play with anyone in the country and the rest of the conference has the talent to be competitive on the national stage as well. 

Fisher will get a chance to back up his bold proclamation when Florida State opens with Alabama in Atlanta on September 2nd. If Florida State wins that game, it will reinforce the notion that the ACC is an elite conference.