No one has defended the Atlantic Coast Conference more than Dabo Swinney the last five years. The Clemson head coach has been outspoken about how the league is unappreciated by the national media and does not get the attention it deserves.

Swinney and the ACC are no longer looking for that respect because it has gone out and won it. With Clemson’s 35-31 victory over Alabama in last month’s College Football Playoff National Championship Game, the ACC has now won two of the last four national championships in college football and played for it another time.

And in both national championship victories, they beat the champion from the SEC.

“It changes the narrative that for years everybody has tried to force down everybody. That kind of goes away a little bit,” Swinney said.

Speaking of the SEC, the ACC was 10-4 against the SEC this year with three of those wins coming from Clemson, who beat Auburn, South Carolina and Alabama.

But it just isn’t the SEC the ACC owned in 2016, the league also went 6-2 against the Big Ten Conference. That means the ACC was 16-6 (.727) against the two conferences everyone said was the best in college football for the majority of the year.

“You look at the last five years … you can just see where this league has transformed,” Swinney said. “This is a tremendously competitive league. You better bring it every single week. It is deep … eleven bowl teams. I guess we were 8-3 in bowl games. Look at what we did head-to-head against the SEC. That is really all you need to know. Nothing else needs to be said.”

The ACC held a 51-17 record against all non-conference competition this year, the best record of any conference and a league record for most wins in a season. The league was 7-5 against ranked non-conference opponents, the second best in the country.

“That does not mean we are the greatest league or anything like that,” Swinney said. “How you measure all that stuff and maybe year-to-year it fluctuates, but I just know this league has been very competitive for many years now, and having been in the SEC for 13 years, and now in this league for 14 years, I have a pretty good gage of what it looks like.

“This league has great coaching, great players … it is awesome to see our league have the success that it has had over the past few years.”

2016 ACC Season

• The ACC was the only league with a winning record against Power 5 opponents this year with a 17-9 (.654) mark, ahead of the Pac-12 (8-8), SEC (11-14), Big Ten (9-11), and Big 12 (5-8).
• The ACC held a 51-17 record against all nonconference competition this year, the best record of any conference and a league record for most wins in a season.
• The ACC was 7-5 against ranked nonconference opponents, tied for the second-most wins among all leagues.
• The ACC was 10-4 against the SEC this year and 6-2 against the Big Ten. Both are league records for most wins against those respective conference.
• The ACC had 11 teams with winning records, the most in league history and two more than any other conference this year.

ACC in Bowl Games

• The ACC was 9-3 in bowl games this year, a league record for most bowl wins in a season and the second most for any conference in history. The 9-3 record is the best of any league this year.
• Over the last five seasons, the ACC has the most wins in the BCS, New Year’s Six, and College Football Playoff games. The league’s 8-3 record in these games leads the Pac-12 (5-4), Big Ten (6-7), SEC (5-8), and Big 12 (3-5).
• Following Clemson’s 31-0 win over Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl, the ACC has placed a team in the National Championship Game in three of the past four years, and has won two of them. Both wins came against teams from the SEC.
• Florida State’s win over Michigan marked the fifth straight win by an ACC team in the Capital One Orange Bowl, the longest such streak at the Orange Bowl by a conference in 72 years.
• The ACC has had 11 teams selected to bowl games in three of the last four years. Over that stretch, 42 league teams have been selected to bowls, the second most of any conference.

ACC Honors and Accolades

• Louisville’s Lamar Jackson became the first player in program history to win the Heisman Trophy and the second ACC player in the last four years.
• With Clemson’s Deshaun Watson at No. 2 in the Heisman voting, it marked the seventh time in the 82-year history of the award that the top two finishers have been from the same conference and only the second time that the top two finishers have been quarterbacks from the same conference.
• Clemson’s Deshaun Watson won the Davey O’Brien Award, the fourth quarterback in history to repeat as the winner. The award has gone to an ACC quarterback three of the last four years. Watson also was named the winner of the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award.
• Clemson’s Deshaun Watson also won the Manning Award for a second straight year as the nation’s best quarterback, which includes bowl games. He is the first quarterback to win the award two times.
• In addition to the Heisman Trophy, Louisville’s Lamar Jackson won the Maxwell Award and Walter Camp Award, and was named the AP Player of the Year.
• Pitt’s James Conner won the Disney Spirit Award and the Capital One Orange Bowl-FWAA Courage Award.
• Clemson’s Brent Venables won the Frank Broyles Award.
• Four ACC players garnered Consensus All-America accolades: Florida State’s Dalvin Cook and DeMarcus Walker, Louisville’s Lamar Jackson, and Pitt’s Quadree Henderson. Cook and Jackson were unanimous selections.
• Twenty-six ACC players were named All-Americans this year with a combined 109 national accolades.

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