Brian: 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.