ACC Football: Jimbo Fisher calls ACC ‘premier conference’ in college football

Jimbo Fisher had some strong words for the SEC Thursday, calling ACC football the premier conference in the country.

There’s an ongoing debate around college football these days. Which is the premier conference in college football? Some might say the Pac-12, others the Big 12 or Big Ten. However, ACC football has been giving perennial powerhouse SEC a run for its money.

Jimbo Fisher agrees. Heck, he believes that the ACC has proven itself as the top conference in all of college football. He made the bold statement at ACC Media Days on Thursday.

The Florida State head coach didn’t hold back his feelings about which conference reigns supreme in college football on Thursday.

Fisher has a point, though. Clemson went to consecutive national title games and took down Alabama this past season. Just a few years ago, Florida State took home a title. The ACC might be deeper than the SEC, but Alabama is the best program in college football, and it’s not really all that close.

Many would argue that the SEC is Alabama and then everyone else. It’s a top-heavy conference with programs like Florida, Auburn, Georgia, Texas A&M and Tennessee sometimes giving the Tide a run for their money.

In the ACC, there are a number of programs on the rise. Louisville was a surprise team in 2016, but had been trending upward for years. The Cardinals even had college football’s Heisman Trophy winner in Lamar Jackson. Pittsburgh, North Carolina, Miami, Virginia Tech and, before 2016, Duke have been trending in the right direction as well.

Let’s face it, the ACC has two elite programs while the SEC really only has one with the rest of the conference fighting for relevance. Can that change in 2017?

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Georgia looks like a team that could dethrone Alabama while Auburn and LSU are up there as well. Until Alabama is taken down, Fisher’s words will ring even truer.