BC's Should-Be Intersectional Rival? And The Big Finish
by Brian Favat on May 29, 2011 11:09 AM EDT
in Big Finish
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PrintBrian: ESPN's Adam Rittenberg recently took a stab at listing the Big Ten's 'should-be' intersectional rivals. In a perfect world, he'd like to see games like Ohio State-Oklahoma, LSU-Michigan, Penn State-Pitt played on a semi-regular basis. This got me thinking about BC. In a world devoid of Athletic Directors scheduling MAC and I-AA cupcakes, which team would be the most compelling intersectional rival for the Eagles?
Forget Notre Dame and Syracuse for a moment, as we already have long-term series scheduled with both of these programs. What program would best serve as an intersectional rival for the Eagles a la Notre Dame-USC?
Maybe Stanford? Two private schools with strong academics? With plenty of BC alum living in the Bay Area, this could be a pretty good annual series, no?
Perhaps it should be Northwestern, our kindred college football spirit in the Midwest, or maybe Vanderbilt? How about Penn State, Michigan or one of the Pac-12 schools like UCLA or Cal (USC is spoken for)? Your thoughts? In a perfect world, which program would serve as BC's intersectional rival?
Jeff: Just because you went to Northwestern does not mean Northwestern is a dream matchup for BC. Penn State is the most likely to happen best choice. Penn State games get on TV and Penn State would realize that a game against BC would be beneficial to them as well as the Eagles. Also given that Penn State is the closest major football program to Boston aside from Syracuse it is a perfect fit. The matchup would not help either school's recruiting though.
How about BYU? BC has played BYU in recent memory and BYU has scheduled other ACC teams like FSU. It would be more of a win for BYU so they can recruit the East Coast better, but I see positives for BC as well. Mainly, we could probably get a ESPN family gaurantee in the contract and BYU might actually sign it.
As I see it, most major conference schools would be very interested in signing a home and home with BC since there is not an abundance of football programs in the Northeast, but few would be interested in a semiannual trip when we don't have any current history with them. Some day, BC will sign another deal with a current or by then former Big East school for ten or so games as we did with Syracuse. That day might not be just around the corner quite yet though.
Big Finish
Brian: Could the Big East be looking to Army and Navy as expansion candidates? Crazy, right? The Big East football/basketball split is inevitable at this point, no?
Jeff: Yes, it is crazy that they need football members so badly but have no room for basketball members.
Jeff: BC's Amber Jacobs will be inducted into the Boston College Hall of Fame in September. That cool with you?
Brian: Jacobs is sixth on the list of all-time leading scorers. Certainly cool with me.
Brian: HD believes that Montel Harris will break the ACC's 33-year old career rushing record (I wonder where she got the idea for this post.) You agree, right?
Jeff: Absolutely.
Jeff: The real question there should be which game will Montel Harris break the record in?
Brian: Gotta go with the Notre Dame game on the road, no? Either ND or the Thursday night home game against Florida State.
Brian: The Stokes Hall construction project is well underway, though the Dust Bowl is no more. If BC ever hosts another College GameDay, where they putting it?
Jeff: Clear off top deck of Comm Ave Garage.
Jeff: Offensive lineman Win Homer commits to BC. I know you're not happy with O-Line U lately so will he help?
Brian: Certainly. The Eagles will definitely have to reload in the trenches and the more O-Line commits we get, the better.
Brian: Last one. BC hoops' 2011 Big Ten-ACC Challenge opponent, Penn State, lost its head coach ... to Navy. Does this move make any sense to you?
Jeff: I could not believe this when I heard it. Penn State went to the dance last season.
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BC needs to look outside of their immediate vicinity if it wants to become a nationally recognized football program. We play plenty of games all along the eastern seaboard, and be it Northwestern in Chicago or a MAC team in Ohio, I think the midwest is covered.
When looking for an intersectional rival, I’d point to Texas or California as regions where BC needs to be regularly seen. How about Stanford/Cal (same area, both good schools) or Baylor/Texas Tech?
by chicagofire1871 on May 29, 2011 4:07 PM EDT reply actions
TCU?
Both religiously affiliated schools. Get to play in Texas without having to play the Longhorns. Future Big East opponent that holds no grudge against BC …
BC Interruption, SBN's Boston College Eagles blog
I’m good with TCU and Stanford, though that makes our schedule pretty difficult. Swap TCU for Baylor?
by chicagofire1871 on May 29, 2011 9:23 PM EDT reply actions
No Dustbowl?
Where will the nerds play their quidditch?
Seriously Though...
Penn State is the best natural intersectional rivalry. They are relatively close (distance wise), they’ve been on fairly equal footing in terms of success over the past 10 years or so, and the game would serve as a recruiting tool for both sides (they regularly compete over recruits).
Plus, there are few things more entertaining than 110,000 people shutting the eff up while their team is getting drilled by 25 (see: 2004).
Thinking bigger
As chicagofire1871 mentioned, time to “look outside of the immediate vicinity” and think bigger. BC and Cal have played once in history, and the Eagles have never traveled to Berkeley. We haven’t played on the West Coast in a non-bowl game since we played at Stanford in 2001. We’ve never played UCLA.
I’m a big fan of establishing rivalries with these like academic schools from other parts of the country. BC and Penn State share little other than geography, and there are plenty of other more traditional rivals that PSU should play first (i.e. Pitt).
In a perfect world, it’s more than just a home-and-home series. It’s more of a regular series like what Notre Dame has with USC and Stanford. Think: Cal, Stanford, UCLA, Northwestern, Vanderbilt
BC Interruption, SBN's Boston College Eagles blog
This.
I’m a huge proponent of the “like academic” approach to scheduling. Would love to see schools like Cal, Stanford, UCLA, Northwestern, Vanderbilt down the road (though pleased with ND, ’Cuse, USC, and perhaps Stanford on the current slate).
by Eagle in Brighton on May 31, 2011 9:27 AM EDT up reply actions
Speaking of Stanford ...
What’s up with that home-and-home series between BC and Stanford? Is it off now? I remember hearing rumors about it but then there was no formal announcement from either school.
Probably doesn’t bode well for us that Notre Dame and Stanford just inked a long-term extension to their series through 2019. Northwestern and Stanford also just agreed to a four game series in 2015, 2020, 2021 and 2022.
There’s still room for the Eagles on Stanford’s 2016 and 2017 schedules (the original years for the rumored series), but only two spots left on the sched after the 9-game Pac-12 schedule and Notre Dame. Not a great sign.
And if it’s any indication on how the Stanford AD thinks about scheduling, the Cardinal’s other two non-ND, non-conference opponents the next two seasons are Duke and San Jose State (though I can hardly blame the AD … gotta load up on cupcakes for a few games).
BC Interruption, SBN's Boston College Eagles blog
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