Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher had plenty of optimistic things to say about his team in Charlotte on Thursday at ACC Kickoff, the conference’s annual media days. Fisher also spent a great deal of his time at the podium championing the ACC as a football conference.
The ACC is coming off a banner year in 2016. Clemson capped the year by becoming the first ACC team other than FSU to win a national title since 1990.
The Seminoles and Tigers each finished in the top 10 while three other ACC schools were ranked in the final AP Poll. Teams from the conference also enjoyed a 9-3 record in bowl games.
“You go top to bottom, our league is extremely demanding,” Fisher said Thursday.
From the start of his tenure as Florida State’s head coach, Fisher has been an ardent cheerleader for the ACC as a whole. After Florida State won its last national championship in 2013, Fisher called the ACC that year one of the most dominant conferences in the history of college football.
The conference pride concept is relatively new among college football coaches, media and fans. It grew in stature during the SEC’s run of having seven straight national championships from 2006-12 before Fisher’s Seminoles downed Auburn for the crown in 2013.
Fisher spent a total of 13 years as an assistant in the SEC — six at Auburn and seven at LSU — before first coming to Tallahassee as the offensive coordinator in 2007. For the early parts of Fisher’s tenure as head coach, FSU’s accomplishments were downplayed as a result of playing in an ACC perceived to be weak. With all that said, it’s not a surprise that Fisher is a champion of conference prestige.
Other things that Fisher touched upon at ACC Kickoff was that the conference has claimed national championships in two of the last four years, played for three during that time and has been part of the College Football Playoff every year. The FSU head man also noted that the ACC has two Heisman Trophy winners over that span and had both the winner in Louisville’s Lamar Jackson and the runner-up in Clemson’s Deshaun Watson last season.
Fisher claimed that the ACC has six of the top 20 coaches all-time in career winning percentage. Since 2012, Fisher noted that the ACC is 8-3 in BCS and New Year’s Six bowls. Against other Power 5 conferences last season, the ACC was a Power 5 best 20-11.
“I think we’ve established ourselves as the premier conference in college football,†Fisher said. “I’m very thrilled to be part of it.â€
Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson
You must be logged in to post a comment Login