The halfway point of the season is here, and the ACC is sitting with two unbeaten teams in the College Football Playoff hunt.

This should be a time for celebration, considering just about every "expert" pegged the league to have zero playoff contenders this year.

But instead, there has been a great deal of consternation over where Clemson (No. 5) and Florida State (No. 11) are ranked in the AP poll at this point. While it is true these rankings are meaningless, they do give a glimpse into what the selection committee could do once its first Top 25 is released Nov. 3.

While Clemson is riding high, the sudden swoon of Georgia Tech from preseason No. 16 to ACC cellar dweller has done the league no favors. Joshua S. Kelly/USA TODAY Sports

The reason for the undersell is relatively simple. Week 7 provides the perfect example.

There are zero games in the ACC on Saturday featuring two teams with winning records. Every other Power 5 conference has at least two games involving winning teams on each side.

The ACC has six teams with winning records. Every other Power 5 conference has more. Do not even come with SEC/Pac-12/Big 12/Big Ten teams padding their schedules with easier nonconference games. The ACC has five losses to Group of 5 teams, a losing head-to-head mark against the American and failed in multiple games against Power 5 teams it had opportunities to win.

There are only three ranked ACC teams in the Top 25 at this point, and we have to wait until Nov. 7 until two of them play. Bet you can guess which two are featured in that game.

In a nutshell: this is why the ACC can’t have nice things like national respect. Harsh? Yes. Fair? No. But all true.

For a decade now, the league has been waiting on a healthy middle class to develop to lend it more credibility. There have been sporadic moments, and some really big wins over the last two seasons. We have covered those in great detail. But once again, there is no healthy middle class right now, and that is a problem.

A final score like Wake Forest 3, Boston College 0 is a problem. Why? Clemson and Florida State play both. The Seminoles struggled to pull away from both, and that is a way bigger reason why the Seminoles are sitting outside the top 10 than some conspiracy theory that says every single voter in America is out to get them.

A Week 7 game like Virginia Tech-Miami being relegated to the dustbin of “games that used to matter” is a problem. Why? Because the ACC needs both to be good again.

Even that nasty word Dabo Swinney went crazy over on Saturday is a problem. Why? Because it indicates the outside world expects Clemson to win every single game without a problem, a ridiculous standard a program with only a handful of 10-win seasons must uphold for farcical reasons.

Boston College and its No. 1 defense come to town next. If Clemson finds itself in a struggle, just wait on the antiquated notion it can’t put away teams it should, with a blatant disregard for the actual opponent. Fact: The Eagles have given up 14 total points on offense in their three ACC games.

The overall play across the ACC has not been what many hoped it would be, but there is … hope. There are no elite conferences this year. There are no elite teams. The ACC might be No. 5 among the Power 5, but the margin between the top and bottom is as close as it has been in years.

Though the ACC is battling perception problems (again), the league is in position to get a team into the playoff. If Clemson or Florida State wins out, the ACC should feel good about its chances to land a team in the CFP. It would be nearly impossible for the selection committee to overlook an unbeaten conference champion, even with a schedule that features only a few ranked opponents.

It would be nice if the rest of the league helped the flag bearers out just a little more. But it’s not as if this is uncharted territory for both Florida State and Clemson. They’ve been carrying the ACC banner for years now. So in that respect, 2015 really is no different. Two playoff contenders won’t do much to fix the league’s reputation. It has to be a group effort.