Boston College Football: Piecing Together The 2015 Football Schedule

Plenty of unknowns right now; chief among them, will New Mexico State even travel to Chestnut Hill next season? But let's take a look at what BC's 2015 schedule might look like.

Here's what we do know:

– Boston College will have one BYE week this season (13 weeks for a 12-game schedule)

Non-conference

– Boston College will open the year at home vs. FCS Maine on September 5.
– Northern Illinois will pay a visit to Chestnut Hill on September 26.
– Boston College will hit the "road" to face Notre Dame at Fenway Park on November 21.

Conference

– Boston College's four ACC home games in 2015: Florida State, N.C. State, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest.
– Boston College's four ACC road games in 2015: Clemson, Duke, Louisville, Syracuse.

And here's what we'll assume (for now):

– New Mexico State is set to face BC on October 17.
– Boston College will travel to Syracuse to take on the Orange in the regular season finale on November 28 as part of the ACC's season-ending rivalry weekend.
– BC will again host a home ACC game on Friday night; likely the second weekend of the year for the third consecutive season (conveniently, September 11).

Based on all of the above, and the existing non-conference scheduling obligations of BC's eight ACC opponents in 2015, here are all the permutations (without an ACC team moving around any set non-conference dates):

Sep. 5 – FCS Maine
Sep. 12 – Florida State / N.C. State / Wake Forest / BYE
Sep. 19 – @ Clemson / Florida State / BYE
Sep. 26 – Northern Illinois (Parents' Weekend)

Oct. 3 – @ Duke / Florida State / @ Louisville / N.C. State / Virginia Tech / Wake Forest / BYE
Oct. 10 – @ Clemson / Florida State / @ Louisville / N.C. State / Virginia Tech / Wake Forest / BYE
Oct. 17 – New Mexico State (Homecoming)
Oct. 24 – @ Clemson / Duke / Florida State / @ Louisville / N.C. State / Virginia Tech / Wake Forest / BYE
Oct. 31 – @ Clemson / Duke / Florida State / @ Louisville / N.C. State / Virginia Tech / Wake Forest / BYE

Nov. 7 – @ Clemson / @ Duke / Florida State / @ Louisville / N.C. State / Virginia Tech / Wake Forest / BYE
Nov. 14 – @ Clemson / @ Duke / Florida State / @ Louisville / N.C. State / Virginia Tech / BYE
Nov. 21 – @ Notre Dame
Nov. 28 – @ Syracuse

We can start with week 2, where I'd imagine BC will once again host a Friday night ACC home game (which just so happens to be September 11. I'm willing to bet red bandana gear will make an return appearance). I doubt we'll ever see Florida State play in one of these Friday night games for a number of reasons, so that leaves it between N.C. State or Wake Forest. Let's pencil in N.C. State here given that BC-Wake Forest was a week 2 Friday night special just two years ago.

Six of BC's eight ACC opponents have existing non-conference obligations in week 3, which leaves the Eagles to face Clemson on the road, Florida State at home, or take the week off. Given that BC hasn't faced Clemson this early in the year since the 2009 season, just a hunch that the Eagles' road trip to Death Valley falls here in week 3.

If we skip over the month of October for a second, with BC set to make back-to-back "road" trips to end the season, the program is going to want to have at least one and probably both remaining November dates be home games. Like the Friday night deal, I doubt we'll see Florida State on the Heights in November. That leaves Virginia Tech and Wake Forest as the remaining ACC home games. Wake is unavailable on November 14 (at Notre Dame), so let's say Wake Forest on November 7 and Virginia Tech on November 14.

This leaves road games at Duke and Louisville, a home game against Florida State and a BYE week to fall in the month of October. Really hard to say how this will play out, though one thing the league office has done frequently in the past is give BC the extra week to prepare for Florida State. Let's do that once again here, giving BC a bye week ahead of a Halloween home game vs. Florida State. The Duke and Louisville road games are then left for October 3 and 10. Duke has a conflict on October 10—at Army—so let's leave it at @ Duke on October 3 and @ Louisville on October 10. This leaves us with:

Sep. 5 – FCS Maine
Sep. 11 (Fri.) – N.C. State
Sep. 19 – @ Clemson
Sep. 26 – Northern Illinois (Parents' Weekend)

Oct. 3 – @ Duke
Oct. 10 – @ Louisville
Oct. 17 – New Mexico State (Homecoming)
Oct. 24 – BYE
Oct. 31 – Florida State

Nov. 7 – Wake Forest
Nov. 14 – Virginia Tech
Nov. 21 – @ Notre Dame
Nov. 28 – @ Syracuse

This provides a fairly balanced schedule: 3 home, 1 road in September, 2-2 in October and 2-2 in November, as well as suitable opponents for Parents' Weekend (NIU) and Homecoming (New Mexico State). BC will likely have to face either Clemson or Florida State early and, while you'd probably like to see FSU early over Clemson, not at the risk of leaving all five road games spread across the final nine weeks of the season.

If it breaks this way, consecutive road games at Duke and Louisville will be no picnic; nor will the Virginia Tech–@Notre Dame–@Syracuse stretch to end the year. That said, BC probably wants to draw a team like N.C. State earlier than later, and you'll always take an extra week off to give Florida State your best shot.

This will be proven 100% incorrect when the ACC schedule is released (hopefully) later this month, and all of the above is predicated on New Mexico State showing up on the Heights on October 17, which, yeah. But perhaps I'll luck into getting a few of these dates right. I'm thinking N.C. State in week 2, Syracuse to end the year and maybe the Clemson road trip in week 3 are all decent guesses.