ACC commissioner Jim Phillips wants early-season wins

The ACC is generally a respectable football conference, but with both the Big Ten and SEC making expansion moves as of late, and the former securing a huge television deal -- could the ACC be in danger of falling behind the eight-ball?

Commissioner Jim Phillips doesn't appear to think so, but it is worth noting that he feels his teams need to get off to a hot start in the 2022 college football season.

Talking with ESPN, Phillips said that he feels 'really, really good about the trajectory" of his conference.

There is that bit about the hot start though. With the Big Ten and SEC cementing themselves as "the" premier conferences in college football, it would benefit the ACC greatly if the conference's top schools get out to a good start.

"I'm proud of how we've looked at scheduling. It creates a narrative that is hard to put a value on, especially early in the season," Phillips told ESPN. "You start -- fairly or unfairly -- to be molded into what they think your season can be and the type of team you have, so it's important for us to get off to a good start. I hope that we will.

"If we don't, it won't mean that we don't have a bunch of really good teams. But it certainly gets you off on a fast start and puts you in a position to create the narrative about your programs [if you win], and the success that you may have throughout the year."

It's worth noting that the ACC has a terrible record of 1-10 against Power 5 non-conference opponents in Week 1 stemming back to 2018, so there is a narrative here that the conference is fighting against. Is the ACC a true power conference, or is it simply Clemson and everyone else?

There was a point when the ACC could point to Florida State and Miami, at least, as two legitimate blue chip programs, but both of those schools have a long way to go to build back to the powerhouse status they once boasted.

As far as 2022's Week 1 is concerned, no ACC program is going up against a ranked Power 5 nonconference team, but there is at least one big ACC game on the slate.

West Virginia will take on No. 17 Pitt on Thursday night.