The list of players invited to the NFL Combine were released today, and it's no surprise that Boston College linebacker Luke Kuechly made the list. Kuechly will have to show his skills against other linebacking prospects such as Arizona State's Vontaze Burfict and Alabama's Don'ta Hightower and Courtney Upshaw.

Interestingly two BC players not getting invites were cornerback Donnie Fletcher and defensive lineman Max Holloway. Fletcher had a disappointing Senior Bowl, but it was surprising that he was left off the list all together. Kuechly is the lone Boston College rep this year.

To get ready for the combine, Kuechly has been in Texas training with Wisconsin QB Russell Wilson, Texas A&M QB Ryan Tannehill along with 29 other NFL prospects. In training Kuechly has been working on his strength and quickness and he has a busy schedule ahead of him as he prepares for the Combine:

"Yes, there are football-specific drills. But the combine presents a specific set of predictable tests. With the right preparation, prospects will be ready for exactly what's thrown at them. From an athletic standpoint, that means Kuechly's working on his [40-yard dash] time, plyometrics, stretching, footwork, making sure he maximizes his explosiveness.

From an off-the-field perspective, it means getting ready for the Wonderlic test and making sure he interviews well with coaches, general managers, scouts and personnel men."

Already viewed by most as the top linebacker in the draft, and a top ten pick, Kuechly will have to show that he has the NFL ready skill set that most Eagles' fans have witnessed over the previous three years. But really is any of us worried that Kuechly might flounder in the Combine. I highly doubt it. If there is any player that can live up to the challenge, it has Luke Kuechly.

And for any of you that want to watch him rock the combine, it will be held February 22 – 28, 2012 and can be seen on the NFL Network.

Heights Sports editor Greg Joyce is reporting that Boston College special teams coach Dave Brock is leaving the Boston College football program to become the offensive coordinator at Rutgers under first year coach Kyle Flood.

"Boston College football coach Dave Brock will be leaving to take the position of offensive coordinator at Rutgers University for the 2012 season. The move has been confirmed by a BC source, though no official announcement has been made yet by either BC or Rutgers."

The move is hardly surprising for Brock, who was tabbed as interim offensive coordinator after Kevin Rogers took a leave of absence after the UCF game. After serving as BC's OC for 10 games, he was more or less demoted to Special Teams coach following BC's hire of OC Doug Martin.

Brock has past offensive coordinator experience, having called the offense at Kansas State (2008), Temple (2002-04) and Hofstra (2000-02). So it only makes sense that he'd jump at the opportunity of going back to being a coordinator at a BCS AQ program.

I liked that Spaz was able to retain Brock and had moved him to Special Teams, as I thought he could breathe new life into a unit that has struggled, particularly in the return game. This feels like a loss especially when it comes to recruiting. Rutgers just hauled in a top 25 recruiting class this past season and Brock should help Flood continue that momentum on the recruiting trail.

Hopefully BC's replacement is a strong recruiter that fits well with the Eagles' recruiting strategy, whatever that strategy may be.

We now know that the Syracuse Orange will be joining BC in the ACC's Atlantic Division, there will be no changes to cross-divisional permanent rivals and that the conference will move to a nine-game football schedule ... whenever Syracuse and Pitt extricate themselves from the flaming wreckage of the Big East.

So, let's pencil in what BC's future football schedule will start to look like starting in 2013.

Obviously we have to make some fundamental assumptions here. The first is that the existing home-road ACC schedule won't change from the 2005-2012 model (specifically with respect to BC's Atlantic Division matchups) and that our non-conference schedule stays as-is.

Slotting Syracuse into the existing Atlantic Division schedule. Currently BC, Clemson and Wake Forest play three Atlantic Division home games in odd numbered years, and just two in even numbered years. Flip that for Florida State, Maryland and N.C. State.

Odd-year ACC Atlantic home games
Boston College -- Florida State, N.C. State, Wake Forest
Clemson -- Boston College, Florida State, Wake Forest
Wake Forest -- Florida State, Maryland, N.C. State

Even-year ACC Atlantic home games
Florida State -- Boston College, Clemson, Wake Forest
Maryland -- Florida State, Wake Forest, N.C. State
N.C. State -- Boston College, Florida State, Wake Forest

The ACC could easily slot Syracuse into this schedule, giving the Orange home games against BC, Clemson and Wake Forest in odd-years and against Florida State, Maryland and N.C. State in even numbered years. Unfortunately, this is the reverse order of BC and Syracuse's remaining nine-game non-conference series, but I'm sure if the Orange do join in 2013, the conference would just switch the order of home games.

This gives every Atlantic Division team three home games and three road games within the Division.

From the Coastal, in order to avoid a rather sizable gap in years between facing Coastal Division opponents, I've assumed that BC's away-home in consecutive years rotation will continue. After plugging in Pitt, that leaves BC with the following non-Virginia Tech Coastal Division opponents:

2012 -- Miami (home) and Georgia Tech (away)
2013 -- Georgia Tech (home) and North Carolina (away)
2014 -- North Carolina (home) and Virginia (away)
2015 -- Virginia (home) and Pittsburgh (away)
2016 -- Pittsburgh (home) and Duke (away)
2017 -- Duke (home) and Miami (away)

Let's get to it.

2013*
Non-Conference (3): @ USC, Army, Stony Brook
ACC Home (4): Wake Forest, N.C. State, Florida State, Georgia Tech
ACC Away (5): @ Syracuse, @ Maryland, @ Clemson, @ North Carolina, @ Virginia Tech

Gene's decision to swap home dates with Army starts to make more sense now if he expects both Syracuse and Pitt will join the ACC a year earlier than expected. That gives the Eagles a sixth home game and a home attendance boost for when (hopefully) the program has improved from last year's 4-8 low water mark.

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Congrats to Will Blackmon ('06), Mark Herzlich ('10), Mathias Kiwanuka ('05), Chris Snee ('04) and the New York Giants for their 21-17 victory over the New England Patriots last night in Super Bowl XLVI. It's the second Super Bowl ring for Snee and Kiwi and the first for Blackmon and Herzlich.

Blackmon and Herzlich become the 23rd and 24th Boston College Eagles to win a Super Bowl ring, while Snee and Kiwi become the seventh and eighth Eagles to win more than one Super Bowl. It's the fourth consecutive season that a former Boston College player earns a Super Bowl ring.

Blackmon, Herzlich, Kiwi and Snee join Steve DeOssie (Super Bowl XXV) as the only Eagles to win the Super Bowl as members of the New York Giants. The seven Super Bowl rings won by former Eagles as members of the Giants is the most of any NFL franchise.

Congratulations are also in order to the John ('76) and Chris ('79) Mara, Tom Coughlin, Jack Bicknell Jr. ('85), Sean Ryan, Jerry Palmieri, Jerald Ingram and Jen Conley. No other NFL franchise has more ties to the Heights than the Giants and it's great to see the franchise representing Boston College well with their second Super Bowl in four years.

"It's a quality school and they don't always get the cream of the crop, recruit-wise, but they've produced a lot of NFL players, particularly offensive linemen, and that's something to be proud of,'' Mara said. "They produce quality kids, because they take quality kids. They don't take a lot of questionable characters.''

Complete list of Boston College grads that have won Super Bowls below. Go Eagles!

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The school with the most players on tonight's Super Bowl rosters is down to just three. The Giants' Mark Herzlich is inactive for tonight's Super Bowl against the Pats. Bittersweet for the former Boston College linebacker who overcame the odds and reached the Super Bowl in his first pro season.

Also inactive for tonight's game -- if you believe Bill Belichick's injury report -- is Patriots DT Ron Brace.

With center Dan Koppen also out for the season, that leaves just three Eagles that will see the field tonight -- guard Chris Snee, linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka and return man Will Blackmon. They all play for the Giants (hint, hint).

Brace and Koppen or Blackmon, Herzlich, Kiwanuka and Snee look to become only the 23rd and 24th (and 25th and 26th) former Boston College Eagles to win a Super Bowl. Snee (XLII), Kiwanuka (XLII) and Steve DeOssie (XXV) are the only Eagles to have won the Super Bowl with the Giants, while Koppen (XXXIX, XXXVIII), Damien Woody (XXXVIII, XXXVI), Mike Cloud (XXXVIII) and Chris Sullivan (XXXVI) have all won as members of the Patriots.

Leave your thoughts on the game below. For more on Pats, check out Pats Pulpit and Big Blue View for the Giants.

And to the Giants, please don't make me watch Jimmy Fallon / Drew Barrymore dreck.

It's Super Bowl Sunday, the biggest sports day of the year. Here at BC Interruption, the writers usually keep their professional allegiances to themselves, and prefer to keep a BC-centric mind frame towards their writing. But today is different. Today I can no longer speak to Brian, because when he isn't rooting for the Eagles, he supports the New York Giants. On the other hand I have lived in the Boston area my entire life, and live and breathe the New England Patriots. It's a Civil War here at BCI, and only one of the writers will be left standing.

Part of BC Interruption's National Signing Day Coverage.

Justin Simmons
Hometown: Stuart, Florida
High School: Martin County HS
Position: Defensive back
Height: 6-3
Weight: 175 lbs
40: 4.59

Rankings: Rivals 3* (position 47), Scout 2* (position 131), ESPN 2* (rated a 74, position 110, regional 665, state 240), 247 Sports 2* (rated a 79, position 106, state 206). Selected Boston College over Florida International, Georgia State, Illinois, Presbyterian, Purdue and Western Michigan. Recruited by Ryan Day.

Stats: Finished senior season with 90 tackles, five interceptions, two defensive touchdowns and one fumble recovery; led team to its first playoff win in 20 years ... accumulated more than 1,000 all-purpose yards and eight touchdowns.

Strengths: Via ESPN: "Simmons lacks a lot of wow factor to his game in terms of great speed and explosiveness but he simply makes plays and is a versatile athlete. Big target receiver with good intermediate production but we see the fulltime move to safety at the college level."

Realistic Outlook: It's a bit unclear whether Spaz will use Simmons as a wide receiver or a defensive back, but I'd say the priority should be using Simmons on offense. He hsa good size and could blossom into yet another under-the-radar Boston College receiver, starring with Marcus Grant, Harrison Jackson, Joel Zoungrana and Spiffy.

Welcome to the Heights, Justin!

Today's announcement that the ACC will be moving to a nine-game conference schedule, combined with Syracuse and Pittsburgh's placement in the Atlantic and Coastal Divisions, respectively, is great news for the ACC's football schedule makers. This should help ease some current constraints on the annual ACC schedule.

Here's how I'd like to see the annual ACC schedule set up:

Week 1 -- Non-conference games, including 1-2 matchups with the SEC in the Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Classic
Week 2 -- Non-conference games

Week 3 -- Optional non-conference game for programs that play their regular season finale against a conference opponent (e.g. BC, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Maryland, N.C. State), start of ACC play for the rest (four games, eight teams)

Weeks 4-12 -- Eight conference games over nine weekends (or ten weekends if there are two bye weeks in that particular year), front-loaded with Atlantic vs. Coastal matchups and back-loaded with intra-divisional matchups

Week 13 -- Non-conference game for programs with season-ending, non-conference rivalry games, intra-divisional matchups for BC, Syracuse, Maryland, N.C. State, North Carolina, Duke, Virginia and Virginia Tech

The schedule for the final weekend of the regular season becomes very straight-forward, and will consist of:

Non-Conference
Clemson vs. South Carolina
Florida State vs. Florida
Georgia Tech vs. Georgia
Miami vs. USF
Wake Forest vs. Vanderbilt
Pittsburgh vs. West Virginia

ACC
Atlantic: Boston College vs. Syracuse
Atlantic: Maryland vs. N.C. State
Coastal: North Carolina vs. Duke
Coastal: Virginia vs. Virginia Tech

With nearly half the conference playing a non-conference game the final weekend, this increases the chances that both the Atlantic and Coastal division champs will be decided at least a week early, which will help ticket sales for the ACC Championship Game. This also avoids any Atlantic vs. Coastal division matchups during the final weekend of the regular season, which eliminates the disastrous possibility of a ACC Championship Game rematch the following week.

It's a very cut-and-dry scheduling format that conferences like the Big Ten and Pac-12 have used for a few years now -- three or four non-conference games at the start of the season, eight or nine conference games and a non-conference game towards the end of the season to cater for rivalry games.

While this schedule format works well for the ACC, it's not very good news for Notre Dame. The Irish currently play their Big Ten rivals Michigan, Michigan State and Purdue at the beginning of the year, USC and Stanford towards the end, and fill the rest with games against programs traditional rivals like Syracuse, Pittsburgh and BC (and also games against Maryland, Wake Forest and Miami).

But if you ask me, the conference should be primarily focused on maximizing its own television revenue (setting up the conference schedule) before worrying about fitting Notre Dame onto the schedules of BC, Pitt and Syracuse. With other conferences following this blueprint (i.e. the Big Ten and Pac-12), the ACC scheduling in this way just might be the one development that could threaten Irish independence and force them to join either the Big Ten or the ACC.