Paul Johnson took over as Georgia Tech's football coach 10 years ago.
The ACC was still considered a basketball conference, and Johnson joked recently that he wasn't exactly intimidated when league coaches gathered for annual meetings.
"You'd look around the room to the coaches, and I'd think: OK, that's one we can win, and that's one we can win," Johnson said. "And now they're probably looking at me."
The ACC's recent success has allowed coaches to puff out their chests and stake claim to being college football's best conference, a suggestion that SEC supporters likely take issue with but certainly is open to debate now.
That argument would have been dismissed as heretical not too long ago.
"We've established ourselves as I think the premier conference in college football," Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher said.
They make a compelling argument:
The league has produced two of the past four national champions — Clemson last season, Florida State in 2013 — after the SEC owned top billing with seven consecutive titles.