CLEMSON — Perception is reality, right?

At least that is the case when talking about ACC Football. We always hear how much the ACC stinks in football.

There is some truth there for sure.

No one is advocating that Stanford and California are college football powers, including this writer. We do not expect much out of Wake Forest, Virginia or Boston College either.

In most years, I am not high on Duke or Syracuse, though they did combine to win 19 games last year.

But I will take a stand for Clemson, Florida State and Miami in most years. I do think Louisville is becoming a better football program. Virginia Tech has the pedigree to be a good football program.

Georgia Tech and Pitt have great football history and NC State tries really hard. I think SMU is a program on the rise and I do not know what to think about North Carolina. Sometimes they want to invest in football and sometimes they do not.

When they do, they have been pretty good, but it takes maybe just one loss, definitely two, and Tar Heels’ fan are thinking about basketball by mid-October.

I get why the perception of the ACC stinks.

It does not help when the conference goes 2-11 in bowl games, like it did last year, and has had just four winning seasons in bowl competition in the College Football Playoff era.

It is not a good look.

But the ACC does deserve some credit. In the CFP era, no league plays more out of conference games against Power Conferences in the regular season than the ACC.

Since 2014, the top six teams to play the most Power Conference opponents are all from the ACC.

Clemson leads the way with 20, followed by Louisville (19), Florida State (19), Pitt (18), Georgia Tech (17) and Duke (17). Stanford (16) is No. 8 on the list and is tied with several other teams, including North Carolina.

That is not too shabby. In fact, it’s impressive.

Until I saw those numbers today, I did not realize the ACC had gone out and played the best of the rest. Granted, they did not win them all. Outside of Clemson, most have losing records in those matchups, though Florida State has probably held its own in most cases.

So, let’s give the ACC some credit. Though I agree, they need to go out and win the majority of those games, too.

For instance, from 2016-2018, the ACC had a winning record against the other Power 4 leagues, and the reputation of the conference was as strong as it has ever been. In those years, Clemson, Florida State, Louisville, Miami, Virginia Tech and North Carolina held their own against teams from the SEC, Big Ten and Big 12.

Starting in Week 1, the ACC will get its shot to change the narrative and gain some respect. Clemson needs to beat LSU in the Battle of Death Valley. Florida State needs to take down Alabama at home.

Georgia Tech needs to go to Colorado and come back with a win. Syracuse needs to stun the Volunteers in Tennessee and Virginia Tech needs to go to Charlotte and take care of business against South Carolina.

We do not expect the ACC to win all five of those matchups, but if they come out of it with a 3-2 record, which includes No. 4 Clemson taking down ninth-ranked LSU, then it will definitely turn the perception of the conferences as a weakling for at least a week or two.