Boston College Football To Host Georgia Tech In 2016 Croke Park Classic Per Report

According to a Yahoo! / Eurosport.com report, Boston College football is set to return to Ireland to face Georgia Tech in the 2016 Croke Park Classic in Dublin.

American football is set to return to Croke Park in 2016 despite the row which overshadowed this year's edition when the GAA were forced to move the All-Ireland semi-final replay between Kerry and Mayo to Limerick.

TheScore.ie understands a deal is in place that will see Boston College host Georgia Tech at Headquarters though it is likely the game will be moved from the last weekend in August to avoid any repeat of the events of 2014.

Neither school has confirmed the report.

More college football games across the pond has been the subject of much speculation around these parts, with many pegging Boston College as a logical candidate to make the return trip to Ireland in an upcoming season.

If the report is accurate, the Eagles would be making their second trip to Ireland. BC and Army played in the first-ever college football game on the Emerald Isle during the 1998 season, with the 2-7 Eagles pulling off the "home" 38-24 upset over the 8-1 Black Knights.

After a long break, college football returned to Ireland in 2012 when Notre Dame and Navy squared off in the Emerald Isle Classic at Aviva Stadium. Penn State and Central Florida opened the 2014 season at Croke Park in Dublin. A BC-Georgia Tech game at Croke Park would be the third college football game played at the historic venue, joining a 1996 game between Notre Dame-Navy and this year's Penn State-UCF game. In all, there have been five college football games played in Ireland.

Boston College would be giving up a home game to play in Ireland as the Eagles are set to host the Yellow Jackets in 2016 per the ACC's cross-division rotation. The Eagles also have non-conference games scheduled against UMass (Sept. 17) and at Northern Illinois (Sept. 23) in 2016, though the return trip to face the Huskies can be moved to September 2, 2017 if needed. If BC is giving up a home game to play an ACC game in Ireland, I'd suspect the program will move that NIU return game to 2017 to maintain a seven home game a year schedule.

Since joining the ACC in 2005, BC and Georgia Tech have only faced one another three times in ten years. BC won the 2007 game in Atlanta, 24-10. Georgia Tech returned the favor a year later, eking out a 19-16 victory on the Heights. The Jackets won the most recent meeting, 37-17, down in Atlanta during the 2012 season. Georgia Tech leads the all-time series 4-2.