Earlier this morning, Tennessee AD Mike Hamilton confirmed plans that the Volunteers would be buying out of their two games with the North Carolina Tar Heels. The cancellation of the Vols' series with UNC breaks up a tough stretch of games early in the season. Tennessee will look to the MAC's Buffalo to replace the Heels on the schedule.
The Bulls had an open scheduling slot when BC had to bump its series with the Bulls back in order to make room for Notre Dame. Now the Eagles will open the 2015 season at Buffalo and host the Bulls in 2016.
With the Bulls replacing BC with Tennessee on the 2011 and 2012 schedule, the Eagles schedule conflicts over the next two years have been resolved. Aside from an open slot in 2013 which was a I-AA game against Northeastern, the non-conference portion of the schedule is nearly finalized through 2016:
2011 - UMass, Northwestern, at Notre Dame, at UCF
2012 - Rhode Island, at Northwestern, Notre Dame, Army
2013 - TBD, Syracuse, at USC, at Army
2014 - New Hampshire, at Syracuse, USC, Army (Yankee Stadium)
2015 - at Buffalo, Syracuse, Notre Dame, Army
2016 - Buffalo, at Syracuse, at Notre Dame, Stanford
Many fans will be happy to see the Eagles take a four year break from the MAC series, especially with the return of traditional rivals Army, Notre Dame and Syracuse to the schedule. However, I've always felt that the annual MAC game was a great way of keeping BC relevant in the Midwest. I think the MAC game has been helpful in keeping the Ohio recruiting pipeline open that has produced players like DeJuan Tribble, Nick Larkin, Cliff Ramsey, Matt Tennant, Marcellus Bowman, Alex Albright, Donnie Fletcher and Luke Kuechly. It will be interesting to see how BC recruits the Midwest going forward, especially without playing in the area during the 2013, 2014 and 2015 seasons.