Florida State finds itself in a familiar position today on college football's signing day: among the top 10 of the national recruiting rankings and on top of the ACC's projected rankings.

The Seminoles have commitments from six of the top 50 prospects in the country, according to Rivals.com, including two of top 10. They are in the mix for another handful of top recruits, which means if the fax machine spits out the right combination today, coach Jimbo Fisher might end up with the No. 1 class in the country.

But winning in February hasn't been a problem for Florida State or the ACC's other top programs. It's turning the highly rated talent from high school, at least as judged by recruiting experts, into college wins that has been a challenge.

Four of Florida State's past five classes have been rated among the top 10 nationally by Rivals, but the Seminoles don't have an ACC title or a top-10 finish in The Associated Press poll since 2007 to show for the recruiting haul. Their only consolation is one Atlantic Division title and a top-20 finish, both in 2010, Fisher's first season.

Meanwhile, Virginia Tech, a program with one top-20 class during the past five years, has won four division titles, three ACC titles and the most games of any ACC team (53) since the beginning of the 2007 season.

Mike Farrell is the national recruiting analyst for Rivals and one of a half dozen collaborators at the popular website who determines the star rankings of the players, which in turn is how the team rankings are measured. The more stars a player has - five is the most, two is the least - the more points a team gets. The more points a team gets, the higher its national ranking.

Some players end up being overrated, some underrated, Farrell said. It's not an exact science, he said, but the hits and misses usually even out.

"We rank them out of high school and roll the numbers out there," Farrell said. "It's up to the college to coach 'em up."

Top recruiting counts

The ACC, in its seemingly eternal pursuit of elite football status and respect from the rest of the country - particularly from its big brothers from the SEC - has had seven top-10 rated classes, by four schools (Florida State, Miami, Clemson and North Carolina), since 2008. None of those schools has finished among the top 10 in the final AP poll over that time period, though.

The only ACC team with a top-10 finish was Virginia Tech, in 2009. Were the recruiting rankings off, or was the talent lost in translation from high schools to college?

Maybe a little of both, Farrell concedes, but the success of the top-rated class in the country has been impossible to argue. Five programs (Texas, Louisiana State, Southern Cal, Florida, Alabama) have boasted the No. 1 class in the country, as rated by Rivals, since 2002 and all have won a national title within the five-year window of the class' entry.

Since taking over at Alabama in 2007, Nick Saban has produced the No. 1 overall class three times (2008, '09 and '11) and won the Bowl Championship Series title in 2009 and this season. Saban's five recruiting classes all were rated among the top-10, and the Crimson Tide has gone 55-12 within that time frame.

By comparison, Florida State, the top-rated ACC program with four top-10 classes and a top-25 class, has gone 42-24 since the start of the 2007 season. Miami, the second highest-rated ACC program, with four top-20 classes and No. 36 last year, has a 34-29 record.

Success in SEC territory

The good-but-not-great results haven't slowed Florida State on the recruiting trail. Fisher went into the state of Alabama, the home of the past three BCS champions, and landed Jameis Winston, the top-rated quarterback in the country and 10th overall in the class, and defensive end Chris Casher (36th overall in the class).

The Seminoles also have lined up defensive tackle Mario Edwards (No. 3), defensive end Dante Fowler Jr. (No. 28), running back Mario Pender (No. 38) and linebacker Ukeme Eligwe. Ten of the Seminoles' 16 commitments are rated at least four-star prospects, and three are five-star. Alabama is the only other program with three five-star recruits, according to Rivals.

"It's a small class, but it's loaded with talent and quality," Farrell said. "They got the nation's best quarterback and three really good players on the defensive line. And to go into Alabama (to get Winston and Casher), like that, it's pretty special."

None of the ACC schools from the state of North Carolina have a top-100 recruit, despite there are six such players from the state. Florida, which went 7-6 in Will Muschamp's first season, poached a pair of top-10 prospects in offensive lineman D.J. Humphries (No. 2 overall, Mallard Creek) and defensive end Jonathan Bullard (No. 6, Crest). Georgia landed running back Todd Gurley (No. 42, Tarboro) and running back Keith Marshall (No. 48, Millbrook).

Berry produced two top-100 players in linebacker Nick Dawson (No. 89) and receiver Germone Hopper (75). Dawson committed to Louisville, and Hopper was the only in-state recruit to pick an ACC school. He went with Clemson.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Rivals ranked Florida State at No. 7 followed by Miami at No. 8 and Clemson at No. 9. Miami has four of the top-100 players and the Tigers, who hit the recruiting lottery last year with receiver Sammy Watkins, have two.

The ACC has 14 of the top 100 recruits who have made commitments (15 players are undecided). That's third among power conferences, behind the SEC (25) and Pac-12 (20).

The question now is, what will the ACC do with its new-found talent?