Atlantic Coast Convos' John Cassillo posted an interesting hypothetical the other day -- what if conferences were arranged by academic ranking and not by athletics earning potential? Boston College didn't make the cut for the conference right below the Ivy League, with Stanford, Duke, Northwestern and Rice headlining the "Almost Ivy League."

BC fell to the second conference that includes North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Miami, Washington, Wisconsin, Penn State, Illinois, Texas, Tulane, Ohio State and Maryland. Oddly enough, this conference feels all too similar to the conference we put together as part of last offseason's SB Nation Conference Re-Draft. Coincidence?

As the league's name indicates, it's loaded with ACC (five) and Big Ten (four) teams, all of whom are likely pretty thrilled to be in each other's company - though Washington may feel like it's out on an island. Solid rivalries also stay intact with so many conference foes remaining together. From a television standpoint, this collection grabs Boston, Atlanta, MIami, Seattle, Milwaukee, the states of Ohio and Texas, and Baltimore. Several schools (Texas, Penn State, Ohio State) are huge draws, and you could see three or four in the top 25 early this upcoming season.

Here is the divisional breakdown as proposed by Atlantic Coast Convos:

North Division
Boston College Eagles
Illinois Fighting Illini
Ohio St. Buckeyes
Penn St. Nittany Lions
Washington Huskies
Wisconsin Badgers

South Division
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Maryland Terrapins
Miami Hurricanes
North Carolina Tar Heels
Texas Longhorns
Tulane Green Wave

And before you scoff at the fact that Texas is included in this conference, apparently Texas to the ACC had real legs last offseason only to have the ACC rebuff Bevo (?). Obviously will never happen, but fun to think about an annual football schedule comprised of your school's academic peers. One better: promotion and relegation based on changes to academic rankings.

I'm reminded of that scene in Field of Dreams where Ray's brother-in-law Mark desperately tries to convince him to sell the farm.

Mark: Let's settle this thing now.
Ray: Look. I'm not selling.
Mark: You have no TV money. Come next fall, you'll have no marquee ACC programs to play. But, I have a deal that allows you to play marquee SEC football teams in primetime TV slots. On Saturdays!
Karin: Daddy Weaver? We don't have to go to the SEC.
Mark: You'll deliver the Washington D.C. market to a network already broadcast in our nation's Capitol!
Ray: What about UVa...
Mark: Do you realize how much the next SEC TV deal is worth?
Ray: Yeah. Yeah. $25 million a season.
Mark: We can't keep a great football program in a basketball conference.
Ray: Read my lips. We're staying, all right? We're staying.

And scene.

Remember all those apocalyptic, doomsday scenarios that send Florida State, Clemson, Miami and Georgia Tech to the Big 12, Virginia Tech and N.C. State to the SEC and Maryland, Virginia, Duke and North Carolina to the Big Ten? Well, that plan is news to Virginia Tech A.D. Jim Weaver who says the Hokies are staying put.

"Virginia Tech is in the middle of the footprint of the conference, he said. "We have wanted to be in the Atlantic Coast Conference since its beginning in 1953. We're happy with our membership and the quality of the academic institutions we associate with and we believe we are in the proper conference for us."

Three ACC football titles, four BCS bowl games and five Coastal Division titles in seven years would probably make me happy with my conference affiliation too. As for all those other conference realignment rumors swirling, Weaver doesn't seem too concerned.

"I don't really think there's anything going on," Weaver said. "I think it was an individual who made some comments from his perspective that got things riled up a little."

While Weaver doesn't ultimately call the shots for Virginia Tech, the school's A.D. also probably wouldn't speak out of turn unless he knew he had the backing of the school's president and Board of Trustees. This seems to confirm what I've been saying recently: the ACC's untimely demise is greatly exaggerated.

I believe Weaver when he claims that Virginia Tech is in the right conference, a conference that it took the school over 50 years to finally join. And if Virginia Tech is staying, so is Virginia. And if Virginia is staying, so is North Carolina and Duke. And Wake Forest. And probably BC.

On Tuesday, Phil Steele unveiled his 2012 preseason all-conference teams for the ACC and Big 12. Coincidence? Boston College linebacker Kevin Pierre-Louis was the Eagles' only first team selection and one of nine players honored.

Tight end Chris Pantale was the only second-team all-conference selection. The Eagles' fourth-teamers included: running back Rolandan Finch, wide receiver Colin Larmond Jr., offensive guard Bobby Vardaro, offensive tackle Emmett Cleary, defensive tackle Kaleb Ramsey, linebacker Steele Divitto and punt returner Bobby Swigert.

Florida State lead all ACC schools with 20 selections, though Greg Reid supposedly counts thrice. Clemson was second with 13. Rounding out the top half of the conference were North Carolina and Virginia Tech, both with 11, and Georgia Tech and Miami with 10. BC's total is seventh best in the conference, though all but two of those selections were fourth-teamers. Cue the young, inexperience narrative.

The bottom five included N.C. State (8), Maryland and Virginia (7), Wake Forest (4) and Duke (2).

First-team Eagles
LB Kevin Pierre-Louis

Second-team Eagles
TE Chris Pantale

Fourth-team Eagles
RB Rolandan Finch
WR Colin Larmond Jr.
OG Bobby Vardaro
OT Emmett Cleary
DT Kaleb Ramsey
LB Steele Divitto
PR Bobby Swigert

Check out the complete 2012 preseason All-ACC team over at Phil Steele's website.

Boston College spring football review (Notre Dame 247)
"I think more or less it was really just a divorce. It just wasn’t going to work out," [Boston Herald's Rich] Thompson said. "I don’t think they thought they were going to get anything out of him. The knee is too damaged."

Eyeing The Enemy: Breaking Down BC With BCInterruption (Lake The Posts)
Let’s welcome back SBNation blog BC Interruption for a first deep dive in to our 2012 opponent from the ACC, Boston College.

101 Days of BC Football: Josh Bordner, #8 (Soaring to Glory)
What will Bordner’s role be in 2012: doing what he was doing last year, eventually rising to the starting role if Rettig trails off, or holding a clipboard? With Doug Martin taking charge of the offense now, I don’t know. Quarterback-by-committee has never been a favorite thing of mine, and we’re not mid-2000s Florida (see: Leak, Chris and Tebow, Tim), either. Still, one can’t help but wonder if we will see Bordner serving a more significant function on Boston College by the time the season is over.

ACCross The Web, May 22 (ACC Sports Journal)
Always a great read.

Wowing them back home (SalemNews.com)
"It's impossible to describe watching this all unfold for him," said Panella, an economics major at Bates College who recently returned home to Boxford from a semester spent abroad in Spain. "Nobody can believe it's happening. Even Chris, he probably can't even think about it; he just has to play and think about it later after the season."

Chris Kreider's boldest statements have come on the ice for New York Rangers (Sporting News)
"It's a big stage to come into the league," McDonagh, just 22 himself, said afterward. "Not a lot of guys can do that—come into the playoffs and be effective as he has. And he just goes about his business and is trying to learn. Guys are telling him this and that, and some guys can shy away from it or not think that much about it, but he's all ears."

Cross roads (New England Hockey Journal)
"It’s convenient to say because that’s the last time we lost," said associate head coach Mike Cavanaugh (North Andover, Mass.). "If you look at that weekend, I didn’t think we played great hockey, but we lost in overtime and we lost with a minute left, I think. The following weekend against UNH, we beat them in overtime and we win with a minute left, so they were pretty similar weekends, except one weekend we sweep and the other weekend we get swept."

From NEHJ: Rookie leaders take steps (New England Hockey Journal)
As expected, the Eagles already have suffered heavy losses even before graduation day. Kreider signed with the New York Rangers in time for their playoff run and canceled his senior season, and Dumoulin also opted out early to sign with Carolina. Leaving at graduation this spring are defensemen Cross — a Bruins prospect — and Edwin Shea (Shrewsbury, Mass.), and forwards Barry Almeida (Springfield, Mass.) and Paul Carey (Weymouth, Mass.), who all were integral parts of the program during their four years. That said, Gaudreau leads a talented group of returning players, including Bill Arnold (Needham, Mass.), who scored 17 goals and 19 assists in a breakout sophomore year, and Milner, who showed emphatically over the last few months of the season that he should enter his senior year as the Eagles’ No. 1.

Women's Basketball To Host Northwestern In ACC-Big Ten Challenge (BCEagles.com)
The Boston College women's basketball team will stay home for the 2012 ACC-Big Ten Basketball Challenge this season. The Eagles will host Northwestern on Wednesday, November 28 at Conte Forum. The announcement was made by both the ACC and the Big Ten this afternoon. The two conferences also announced an extension on the ACC-Big Ten Challenge until 2016.

Today the school confirmed last week's New England Lacrosse Journal's report stating that Boston College women's lacrosse head coach Bowen Holden will not return next season.

Bowen Holden will not return as Boston College women's lacrosse coach after seven seasons directing the Eagles.

"We appreciate Bowen's efforts to build our program over the course of the past seven seasons, and we wish her the best for the future," Director of Athletics Gene DeFilippo said.

The release goes on to list Holden's accomplishments guiding the women's lacrosse team over the last seven seasons.

Holden departs BC with a 64-60 (.516) record. In 2012, she led BC to a 10-8 overall record and a 1-4 mark in the ACC. Her streak of three consecutive winning seasons is the most in school history, and, since BC joined the ACC, the 2012 senior class departs as the winningest class ever with a .577 winning percentage. The 2012 squad was also ranked in the top 20 nationally throughout the entire season, another first for the program. Additionally, Holden coached three All-ACC honorees, including the first 4-time honoree in ACC and BC history. BC was the only ACC school with two freshmen honorees and the 2012 ACC Freshman of the Year.

And that's just last season. Her accomplishments also include the school record for most wins in a season (12, in both 2010 and 2011), the program's first ACC Tournament victory, first national ranking, first NCAA Tournament appearance as well as three Top 10 recruiting hauls over the last five seasons.

While I don't follow the women's lacrosse program all that closely, it would appear that Holden leaves the program in a better state than she found it. Makes this move and this press release all the more curious.

The Rettig era of Boston College football will end after the 2013 season.

Hayden Rettig, one of the top quarterback recruits in the class of 2013 and brother of the Eagles junior signal caller, has committed to LSU, according to Derek Ponamsky. Rettig is a consensus four-star recruit and considered one of the top 15 pocket passers in the 2013 class. The Cathedral High School (Los Angeles) QB held offers from Arizona, Arizona State, Auburn, Boston College, California, Miami, Rutgers, UCLA and Vanderbilt.

Here is SB Nation Recruiting's scouting report on Rettig:

At 6'3 and 210 pounds, Rettig possesses good size for the quarterback position. He clearly has been the recipient of some quarterback coaching, as his feel for the game and approach are quite smooth and polished. Rettig has the arm to get the ball where it needs to go, but also shows some anticipation. That's important, as all too often quarterback recruits with big arms get in trouble by relying on RPMs and not timing or accuracy.

The Eagles have already added a QB to the 2013 class in Roxbury Latin's Mackay Lowrie, but landing Chase's younger bro would have been a strong statement and endorsement of Spaz and the new coaching staff. The hope was that Rettig would blossom under first year OC Doug Martin's new offense and that might be enough to convince Hayden to also play on the Heights. Guess it wasn't meant to be.

Best of luck to Hayden at LSU.