CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- After looking up at the SEC throughout the BCS era, the ACC has a reason to brag a little at its annual football kickoff this year. The league has college football's reigning champion (Clemson) and Heisman Trophy winner (Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson), and handfuls of huge nonconference wins in the last five years that include three national championship game appearances and two titles. 

Thursday's rotation featured the coaches and players from the ACC Atlantic; and with Clemson, Florida State and Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson all in the house, there was plenty of evidence on display to back up Jimbo Fisher's claim that the ACC has established itself as the "premier conference in college football."

"Well, I would say two of the last four national championships have come from here -- we've played for three of them," Fisher said when challenged on his claim of the ACC as the top dog in college football. "[The ACC is] 8-3 in playoff games and Power Five major bowl games, we're 8-3; nonconference records against the SEC, the Big Ten and everybody else, we have the winning record Power Five wins. You have two Heisman Trophy winners, also the runner up last year. The coaches, you have six coaches in the top 20 and all-time winning percentage in college football."

Dabo Swinney echoed Fisher's sentiments, dropping so many stats he only seemed to fall short of adding "take that for data" to his string of ACC accomplishments. 

"There's one conference that had a winning record versus Power Five teams [in 2016]: the ACC," Swinney said. "One conference had a winning record versus ranked teams: the ACC. We had 11 bowl teams. We were 10-4 versus the SEC. There's a reason why we have played so well. 

"We've won five bowl games in a row, and you know, I mean, it's not because I'm some great coach. I've got a good staff and all that. We've had good players. It's what we practice against every day, and it's what we play against week in and week out." 

While the teams at the top of the division were pointing to title rings and trophies, the rest of the ACC's coaches were quick to point out their own challenges as a member in college football's new premier conference. 

"I've been in every major conference. Right now, this is the best conference in college football, and it's fun and exciting to be a part of it," Boston College coach Steve Addazio said. 

The ACC has long been on par with the SEC and Big Ten in the recruiting rankings and even one of the leaders in the count of NFL Draft picks every spring, but the differentiator for the league's reputation has always been its performance on the biggest stages. Winning in the postseason and improving its record against Power Five opponents, the league has totally reversed course and changed the tone from where we were just five years ago. 

At the 2012 ACC Football Kickoff, the league had just seen Clemson, its league champion, get beat 70-33 in the Orange Bowl against West Virginia while the SEC put two of its own in the BCS National Championship Game. The BCS had been in existence since the 1998 season, but the ACC had just two major wins to hang its hat on at the time -- Florida State's national title win over Virginia Tech in the 1999-2000 season and a Virginia Tech Orange Bowl win over Cincinnati in 2008-09. Conference realignment panic was in full swing and there was not only concern about whether the ACC had a good football conference, but whether it would be able to keep its top football schools from making a move of their own. 

Five years later, everything has changed. Florida State reached the peak again with a national title under Jimbo Fisher, Clemson rebounded from that Orange Bowl loss by not only returning to major bowl games but winning them and the ACC now has Notre Dame in the fold, its own network coming soon and a grant of rights that locks up its membership through the 2035-36 school year. 

So if the ACC coaches feel like bragging a little, it's probably because the league has come so far in just a short time. The pressure now lies in keeping that title in the conference, particularly with their regional rivals in the SEC ready to take back their own claim to national conference supremacy.