Report: Boston College Pushed Off Elon's 2015 Football Schedule

According to the Burlington, N.C. Times-News' Adam Smith, Boston College has been replaced by Wake Forest* as Elon's 2015 FBS opponent. So, no maroon-and-gold confusion coming to a gridiron in 2015.

And there was much whalepants rejoicing!

#Elon has moved Boston College off its 2015 football schedule and added a game at #Wake Forest to open that season.

— Adam Smith (@adam_smithTN) July 31, 2014

A Boston College-Elon game would have been the first ever meeting between the two programs. The Phoenix recently moved from the Southern Conference to the Colonial Athletic Association and will start competing in the CAA this fall.

The move certainly makes sense from Elon's perspective. The program still cashes a check without having to hop on a plane (Wake Forest and Elon are about an hour apart). The Eagles, however, are left without an FCS opponent on next season's schedule. It will be interesting to see whether BC foregoes an annual FCS game in favor of four FBS opponents next season, though things are pretty murky when it comes to the Eagles' 2015 schedule; a somewhat scary situation just 13 months before the start of the 2015 season.

FBSchedules.com lists Army, Buffalo (site TBA), Elon, New Mexico State and Notre Dame (Fenway Park) as BC's 2015 non-conference opponents, though the status of a few of these games is very much up-in-the-air at this point. Of course, that's also one-too-many non-conference opponents, so in a vacuum, the Elon cancelation isn't too surprising.

Howevah ...

The Buffalo series has been on the books for what seems like forever; a holdover from the string of MAC series inked by DeFilippo. The series, originally scheduled for 2011 and 2012, was bumped back by BC to make some room for two games against Notre Dame. In turn, Buffalo replaced BC with Tennessee. Next season, the Bulls list non-conference games against Albany (9/5), at Penn State (9/12), at Florida Atlantic (9/19) and Nevada (9/26) on the 2015 schedule, which, after an eight-game MAC schedule, leaves no room for a possible game vs. BC.

Same deal for New Mexico State, which ends the shortest Division I independent stretch in college football history for their new conference digs, the Sun Belt, in 2014. The Aggies list at Florida (9/5), UTEP (9/19), at New Mexico (10/3) and at Ole Miss (10/10) as their four non-conference games in 2015; once again leaving no room for a return trip to the Heights. (I also seem to recall an off-hand comment Addazio made in one of his pressers leading up to last year's N.M.S.U. game to the extent of the Eagles road game in Las Cruces being a one-off with no return trip from the Aggies, so).

Army, which has complete scheduling flexibility as one of the nation's few remaining independents, has seven games scheduled for 2015, with three left to be scheduled -- Duke, Wake Forest and at Boston College. This seems like a pretty solid 2015 non-conference scheduling lead, though BC bailing on this year's Army game at Yankee Stadium could conceivably throw the final game in the latest four-game series with the Black Knights into question as well.

About all we do know about the 2015 non-conference schedule at this point is that the Eagles will play a "road" game down the B-line against Notre Dame at Fenway Park on November 21, 2015. But that's it, really.

I'm sure the athletics department is working things out behind the scenes; just as I'm sure a more geographically suitable FCS / CAA replacement can be found in relative short order. Without cross-checking next year's schedules, Maine, Villanova (Nova @ UConn in '15) or the Patriot League's Fordham (@ Army) would make sense to backfill for Elon, should Bates opt for another FCS game. I just can't recall another time where the following season's non-conference slate was in flux nearly one year before the start of the season.

But hey, maybe this Boston College-Penn State 2015 thing has legs after all.

* lol sorry Enzo.