By Will Vandervort.

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney says the Atlantic Coast Conference represents the best of the best on the football field and in the class room.

“What I have talked about the last several year is what happened last year,” he said Monday as part of the ACC Football Kickoff at The Grandover Resort in Greensboro, N.C.

What happened in the ACC last year was this. Florida State won the conference’s first national championship since 1999. It became only the second conference in the BCS era to have two of its league members when BCS games – Florida State won the BCS Championship Game and Clemson the Orange Bowl.

Clemson, Florida State and Duke won at least 10 games – the first time that has happened in league history – while Miami won nine games.

“We had eleven teams with winning records. We had a national champion. We had an Orange Bowl Champion and we won some really big out of conference games,” Swinney said. “We put a bunch of guys in the NFL and won just about every award that you can win in college football. And, oh by the way, we are No. 1 academically.”

All of that is great and all, but can the ACC do it again?

Swinney reminded the media of what he said a few years back when his Tigers won their first ACC Championship in 20 years.

“We have to go and do it again,” he said.

And that’s what the ACC is facing this year. Is it a one-year wonder or will it stay competitive with the SEC, Big XII and Pac-12 conferences and consistently create the same level of success year in and year out?

With the College Football Playoff starting this season, many around the country suspect Florida State will be one of the four teams vying for the national championship. But will someone like Clemson fall into that spot, too. Maybe it is newcomer Louisville? Maybe it is someone else?

The Tigers seem to be the best candidate to compete with FSU, especially considering they have had four straight top 15 recruiting classes. Clemson was 11-2 last year and beat SEC power Georgia and then Big 10 power Ohio State in the Orange Bowl.

There is an argument that a one-loss Clemson team this year—with wins over SEC rivals Georgia and South Carolina—might get into the four-team playoff even if it losses to the Seminoles on Sept 20.

“I think we’ve got as good a shot as anybody to be in the top four the first year,” ACC Commissioner John Swofford said. “We certainly have teams that are capable of being there. I think we all know in winning a National Championship or an ACC Championship, or in this case being in the top four in the country and playing for the National Championship, you have to be good, and you have to have some good fortune usually along the way, as well, from an injury standpoint, a lot of different things can happen. But I don’t think there’s any question that our teams — we will have teams in the mix to be in the four-team playoff every year, and any time we don’t have one, we’ll be disappointed.”

Swinney says the ACC does not have to win the national championship every year, but it has to develop the consistency, like the SEC does, to have teams that are relevant nationally year in and year out.

“If we put some years together, then all of sudden the focus will be on this conference like it should be,” Swinney said.

The ACC could be its own worst enemy when it comes to getting there. With Duke winning 10 games last year, plus Florida State and Clemson doing what they have been doing, then the fact the conference had 11 teams with winning records last year, it’s only going to get tougher to keep teams at the top.

“Coaches know good football when we see it, and it is hard to win in this conference,” Swinney said. “Everybody is good. There are 11 winning records so that means almost every time you lineup you are playing a team that is good enough to go to a bowl game.

“With winning comes confidence and pride and work ethic. It’s hard to get it done every week because the ball does not always bounce like a round-ball does. It can bounce funny ways from week to week.”

But right now it seems to be bouncing the ACC’s way.