ATLANTA — When Miami beat Texas A&M and Ole Miss in the College Football Playoff last season before falling to Indiana in the national championship game, the Hurricanes pushed the Atlantic Coast Conference’s record to 8-6 against Southeastern Conference programs for the 2025 season.
The success against the SEC emboldened ACC coaches’ oft-stated claim that their league doesn’t receive enough credit in comparisons with other Power Four conferences, which also include the Big 12 and the Big Ten.
Louisville coach Jeff Brohm picked up that lobbying campaign at the ACC Football Kickoff media days event over the summer.
“I think we have a great conference,” he said in July in Charlotte, North Carolina. “The ACC plays more powerful opponents than anyone in the country, so I don’t think we’re scared to play anybody.
“And I think the first week, we’ve got a couple interconference games that you’ll see LSU and Clemson match up, us and Ole Miss. And that’s kind of the proof in the pudding.”