By Will Vandervort.

Earlier this week, two Florida State trustees basically said they were concerned about the Atlantic Coast Conference’s status in the College Football Playoffs.

In an article done by Florida State’s Rival site Warchant.com, trustees Joe Gruters and Edward Burr expressed their concerns based on the Seminoles’ fall in the playoff committee’s weekly poll last fall despite having an undefeated regular season.

They worry that if FSU or another ACC team was to have another undefeated season or was a one-loss team, then the ACC Champion might not make the playoffs in future years. They are requesting ACC Commissioner John Swofford to push for an eight-team playoff to assure the conference will have a spot each year.

Though their concerns have some merit, their own head coach isn’t as concerned. For one, the Seminoles made the playoffs last year and two, says Jimbo Fisher, the ACC has proven it is one of the best conferences in the country.

“I think people write it and there is a perception of it because that is what has been written for so many years, but if you look at the bottom of every league, every (conference) struggles at the bottom,” Fisher said during Wednesday’s ACC teleconference. “That happens everywhere. But I think our league consistently puts out a number of players. Look at the (NFL) draft and you will see it again here (next week). The number of players that are out there in the draft from the (ACC) will be one or two in players drafted.”

Last year, the ACC had 42 players drafted into the NFL, including the first wide receiver, defensive tackle, cornerback and tight end taken. The 42 players chosen from the ACC was second only to the SEC.

Since 2011, the ACC has had 139 players drafted into the NFL and 92 percent of them are still in the NFL today.

“The number of ACC players that have been drafted, it is right up there at the top of the hill,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said. “There are a lot of great things about this conference. There are a lot of great programs, lot of great venues to play in and again, a good balance academically and athletically.”

Like Swinney said, the ACC’s success just isn’t on the field. For the eighth time in the last nine years, the conference led the NCAA’s football graduation success rate and for the eighth straight year the ACC led in the NCAA’s Football APR.

Of course Clemson has ranked one or two both on the field and in the classroom in the ACC under Swinney.

“Look at the academic aspect the ACC provides, we’re second-to-none,” the Clemson coach said. “This is an incredible conference from an academic performance standpoint. I think all of those things resonate.”

What the ACC has done the last few years on the field is starting to resonate, too. Florida State of course won the national championship in 2013 and then last year was one of the four teams to make college football’s inaugural playoff.

Clemson has won three straight bowl games over traditional powers LSU, Ohio State and Oklahoma, while Georgia Tech took out Georgia and then Mississippi State in the Orange Bowl last year. Clemson has also beaten Auburn and Georgia in the previous three seasons, while Florida State has taken out Florida, Auburn and Oklahoma State.

Virginia Tech, who was just 7-6 in 2014, was the only team to beat eventual National Champion Ohio State. In fact, dating back to the Tigers’ 2014 Orange Bowl win over the Buckeyes, the ACC is the only conference that can say it has handed the Buckeyes two of their three losses the last three years.

“The main thing is just winning on the field,” Swinney said. “The ACC has been able to win some of the marquee matchups. Four or five years ago, whenever our league was getting some of those big out of conference opportunities, we really were not holding our own. But that has changed over the last several years.

“Even last year, Virginia Tech beat the national champions. From our own standpoint, we have been able to step out of this conference and win. I think those are things that resonate with people. We have had a lot of teams that have had winning seasons and have been bowl eligible and things like that.”

In other words perception isn’t always reality and the ACC is making a strong case it is changing the way it has been viewed for too long when it comes to football.

“I think it is a bad rap we are getting in football,” Fisher said.

“I think when you look at it, it is a perception by everyone out there. But I think the league is tremendous in football and will (continue to) be.”