Headlines: Kickoff Times for Weekend of October 3

The good news (or bad news, depending on how you are feeling about BC football this morning)? The October 3 Boston College vs. Florida State game will be on television. Woo. On a major television station and not the internet to boot.

The bad news? This came could still be a noon kickoff.

The ACC announced today that ESPN/ABC has declared a six-day option for the two ACC games on October 3. The actual start time will be announced no later than Sunday, September 27.

The games to be held are:
Oklahoma at Miami, ABC, at either 3:30 or 8 pm
Florida State at Boston College, ESPN, ESPN2 or ABC at either 12 noon or 3:30 pm

Rest of the ACC schedule for the week of October 3 after the jump.

Saturday, Oct. 3
Virginia at North Carolina, RAYCOM, 12 noon
Clemson at Maryland, ESPNU, 12 noon
Virginia Tech at Duke, ESPN360.com, 12 noon
NC State at Wake Forest, ESPNU, 3:30 pm
Georgia Tech at Mississippi State, CSS, 7:30 pm

So When Did the ACC Atlantic Become the Big XII North?

Jeff: With the announcement yesterday that the Wake Forest game will not be picked up by Raycom or an ESPN network, we're forced to wonder: will any BC games get a big spotlight like an ABC 3:30 or ESPN night game. Unfortunately, the answer is probably not, at least not the home games.

Now if North Carolina or NC State are ranked when the Eagles play them and BC has 1 or fewer losses, that may all change (but that is obviously unlikely). But BC may win the Atlantic Division this year ... how can that be?

Well, I've realized that the ACC Atlantic Division more resembles the Big XII North of the past few years. While Big XII football is very good, all the powerhouses are in the South Division and whoever wins the North is sure to annually be a big underdog in the Big XII Championship Game. Nationally, their has been little-to-no interest in games involving two Big XII North opponents the last few years with the exception of Kansas-Missouri two years ago. Sadly, this will be the same for the ACC Atlantic this year. Throughout the season, some Atlantic Division programs may be ranked (be it Boston College, Florida State, Clemson or NC State), but nationally they will not get any interest because of the offseason and their showing in the first couple weeks of this season. Meanwhile, whichever ACC Coastal team emerges (be it North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech or Miami (Fla.)) will be heavily favored in the ACC Championship Game.

How many other times after the second week of the season have we been able to say that the Boston College-Florida State game has no chance of hosting ESPN's College Game Day? Not to mention the chances of getting any prime time games - especially at home - are slim without being thrown the "ESPNU 7pm game" bone. Looking back at my lack of interest in the Big XII North the past few seasons, I don't blame ESPN one bit.

Brian: It is still way too early to call the ACC Atlantic the Big XII North. To be fair, the ACC Atlantic will never be the Big XII North so long as Florida State and NC State are members of the Atlantic Division. The fact that Boston College vs. Wake Forest isn't on national television can be attributed to a few key facts about the September 26 game lineup.

For one, the two big heavyweight ACC matchups of the week happens to be the Coastal Division matchups between Miami (Fla.)-Virginia Tech (picked up by ESPN/ABC) and North Carolina-Georgia Tech (picked up by Raycom). After those two games are scooped up by TV, two of the biggest ACC schools left on the board – Florida State and NC State – happen to play non-conference games both against Big East opponents. As these schools will be two of the better remaining television draws, they get placed on ESPNU. That leaves Rutgers at Maryland, Wake Forest at Boston College, and TCU at Clemson for ESPN360.com.

Does it suck that the one Atlantic Division matchup of the weekend is being overshadowed by two Coastal Division matchups? Sure, but those four Coastal programs may all be ranked Top 25 nationally next week. Do TCU and Clemson have a gripe for not being placed on national TV? Definitely. At the end of the day, though, it's all about ranked opponents, compelling matchups and TV ratings. By the un-luck of the draw this week, BC's game against Wake Forest will be relegated to the internet.

Simply, it all depends on the ACC college football lineup from week to week. There is still a good chance that Florida State vs. BC will be the late afternoon game or a night game on the weekend of October 3. The only better matchup that weekend is Oklahoma at Miami (Fla.) which will likely be picked up by ESPN/ABC in primetime.

Jeff: Not if Florida State loses to BYU as you predict and everyone expects.

Brian: Maybe so. But if BC doesn't benefit from any primetime or nationally televised ACC games this season, there will definitely be Atlantic Division matchups that get the national TV nod over Coastal matchups. It just so happens that the best Coastal Division matchups this season all happen in the first six weeks of the year, while many of the heavyweight Atlantic matchups not involving the Eagles (Florida State-Clemson, Florida State-NC State, Clemson-NC State) fall later in the year.

And lest I forget the number one reason why the Atlantic Division will remain relevant when it comes to TV rights and scheduling: Duke and Virginia are still on the other side. The fact that the four best Coastal teams face off against one another next weekend happened to be a perfect storm of bad luck for BC, Wake Forest, TCU and Clemson.

While I don't agree that the Atlantic has become the Big XII North, there is still the possibility that the Coastal closely resembles last year's Big XII South ... at least when it comes to the final division standings.

Headlines: Wake Forest Game Kickoff Set For 2pm

Boston College's home game against Wake Forest will start at 2pm and be shown on ESPN360.com. Plan accordingly.

Rest of the ACC's week 4 schedule after the jump.


Saturday, Sept. 26
North Carolina at Georgia Tech, RAYCOM, noon
South Florida at Florida State, ESPNU, noon
TCU at Clemson, ESPN360.com, 1 pm
Wake Forest at Boston College, ESPN360.com, 2 pm
Miami at Virginia Tech, ABC/ESPN*, 3:30 pm
Pittsburgh at NC State, ESPNU, 3:30 pm
Rutgers at Maryland, ESPN360.com, 3:30 pm
North Carolina Central at Duke, 7 pm

* Game televised regionally on ABC and shown to other parts of the country on ESPN.

2009 ACC Atlantic Division Ultimate Football Schedule

Brian: Collegehoops.net came up with their 2009 ultimate ACC Atlantic football schedule, picking a game a week following the same rules that ACC programs have to follow. Here are the rules:

• Four non-conference games
• Eight conference games (five within the division and three against Coastal Division opponents)
• ACC Championship Game

Here is Collegehoops.net’s ultimate schedule:

Week 1: South Carolina at NC State (9/3)
Week 2: Clemson at Georgia Tech (9/10)
Week 3: Florida State at BYU (9/19)
Week 4: TCU at Clemson (9/26)
Week 5: Florida State at Boston College (10/3)
Week 6: Maryland at Wake Forest (10/10)
Week 7: NC State at Boston College (10/17)
Week 8: Florida State at North Carolina (10/22)
Week 9: NC State at Wake Forest (10/31)
Week 10: BYE Week (11/7)
Week 11: Clemson at NC State (11/14)
Week 12: NC State at Virginia Tech (11/21)
Week 13: Florida State at Florida (11/28)
Week 14: ACC Championship Game (12/5)

The ACC Atlantic ultimate schedule is a great idea, but I have some issues with this version of the ultimate Atlantic Division schedule. Namely, it’s far too NC State heavy. I’m a fan of Carter-Finley Stadium and everything, but there’s nothing “ultimate” about having to watch TOB and the Wolfpack five times in 2009. If I was going to come up with an ultimate ACC Atlantic schedule, it would look a little different (with changes in bold).

Week 1: Maryland at California (9/7)
Week 2: Clemson at Georgia Tech (9/10)
Week 3: Boston College at Clemson (9/19)
Week 4: TCU at Clemson (9/26)
Week 5: Florida State at Boston College (10/3)
Week 6: Boston College at Virginia Tech (10/10)
Week 7: Wake Forest at Clemson (10/17)
Week 8: Boston College at Notre Dame (10/24)
Week 9: BYE (10/31)
Week 10: Florida State at Clemson (11/7)
Week 11: Florida State at Wake Forest (11/14)
Week 12: NC State at Virginia Tech (11/21)
Week 13: Clemson at South Carolina (11/28)
Week 14: ACC Championship Game (Tampa, FL)

South Carolina at NC State doesn't really do anything for me. Replace this with Maryland's return trip to Pac-10 title contender California. In week 3, BC at Clemson will have Atlantic Division champ implications straight out of the gate, so this game is much better than FSU at BYU. In week 6, would you rather see the Maryland and Wake Forest pillow fight for last place in the Atlantic, or the fifth installment of BC vs. Virginia Tech in the last 3 years. Go with the ACC Championship Game x2 rematch. In week 7, I give the slight edge to Wake at Clemson instead of NC State at BC.

And in week 8, how can you not throw some love the Holy War’s way, as it’s possibly the last game in South Bend in a long time. Florida State vs. North Carolina isn’t that great of an intra-division game. Use week 9 for the BYE week instead of NC State at Wake Forest and go see Florida State travel to Death Valley in week 10. That game also has Division champ implications whereas NC State at Wake Forest likely won’t. In week 11, go check out FSU at Wake Forest as Wake has had the Seminoles number the last 3 years. Finally, I’d rather go to Clemson at South Carolina instead of Florida State at Florida. I’d simply rather go to a more competitive game, and Florida is going to run away with that game.

Jeff, your ultimate Atlantic Division schedule?

Jeff: How can you possibly choose Clemson vs. South Carolina instead of Florida State vs. Florida. Are you nuts? But anyway, for the rest of my schedule it would go something like this. Differences from your schedule are in bold.

Week 1: Miami at Florida State (9/7)
Week 2: Clemson at Georgia Tech (9/10)
Week 3: Boston College at Clemson (9/19)
Week 4: Rutgers at Maryland (9/26)
Week 5: Florida State at Boston College (10/3)
Week 6: Boston College at Virginia Tech (10/10)
Week 7: NC State at Boston College (10/17)
Week 8: Boston College at Notre Dame (10/24)
Week 9: NC State at Florida State (10/31)
Week 10: Florida State at Clemson (11/7)
Week 11: Florida State at Wake Forest (11/14)
Week 12: BYE (11/21)
Week 13: Florida State at Florida (11/28)
Week 14: ACC Championship Game (Tampa, FL)

I would must rather see the battle between Rutgers and Maryland than watching Clemson play a third week in a row and beat down TCU.

Brian: That would only be two straight games in Death Valley as the first game would be in Atlanta. What? I can't stay at your place for a week and catch both the BC and TCU games against Clemson? Sounds like a great week to me.

Jeff: My schedule leaves me 6 games with Florida State 5 games with Boston College, 3 with Clemson, 2 with NC State, and 1 each for Maryland and Wake Forest. Boston College and Clemson are the only stadiums I would like to visit twice. Sounds like a good year to me!


Clearing out the RSS reader ... Dave Shinskie is getting his old man strength up ... The ACC.com features Boston College as part of their 12 days of ACC Football ... Under Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech dominates the ACC on the road, but two of Beamer's four losses in conference came against the Eagles ... Buster Sports argues that the ACC and Big East should swap West Virginia for BC ... CBSSports's Dennis Dodd ranks the best FBS schools of the past decade and has BC at #22 ... All About Sports ranks Matt Ryan the 6th best player in the ACC this decade ... B.J. Raji remains unsigned up in Green Bay ... Ron Brace feels at home with the Patriots ... 850 & 620 THEE Blog Joe Ovies is not a believer in BC in 2009 ... Tomahawk Nation takes a look at BC basketball's 2009 recruiting picture (or lack thereof) ... The Hockey News takes a look at BC's incoming recruiting class ... BCMike, there are 32 days until your next fix.

2012 Fantasy Scheduling and the Big Finish

Brian: With the official announcement adding Army to the schedule in 2014 coming on Wednesday, the schedule for the next five years becomes just a tad bit clearer. What I thought would be fun is to fill in the non-conference scheduling blanks over the next 5 years and suggest opponents for the Eagles to play, starting in 2012 (the 2010 and 2011 seasons are set as of now). Below are the future schedules to the best of our knowledge (relying heavily on Patrick Reilly’s unofficial BC Eagles football page) complete with BCI approved suggestions for how Gene and the department should fill in the scheduling holes.

2010 - Kent State (9/25), Notre Dame (10/2), Hofstra (10/9), @ Syracuse
2011 - Northwestern (9/3), @ Central Florida (9/10), UMass (10/1), Buffalo (10/8)
2012 - @ Northwestern (9/15), OOC #2, OOC #3, OOC #4

First, suggestions for 2012.

In 2012, we have 3 spots to fill and with the return trip here to Evanston already on the schedule, hopefully these are three Eagle home games for a total of seven. The ACC schedule breaks in our favor giving us what I would consider the second most optimal home ACC slate of games - Clemson, Virginia Tech, Miami and Maryland. I would like to see one more big time BCS opponent visit BC in 2012 for a return visit in 2013 (to fill the hole left from Syracuse opting out of the 2011 and 2012 games). Penn State is the first school that comes to mind but it looks like they already travel to fellow ACCer Virginia in 2012, and I doubt the Nittany Lions would be willing to make two ACC road trips in one season. So while a team like Vanderbilt isn’t a marquee BCS opponent, it is a BCS opponent nonetheless and an SEC one at that. The Commodores have two slots open in 2012 and in the spirit of smart schools facing off on the gridiron (Northwestern-Vanderbilt, Stanford-Duke, Stanford-Northwestern and BC-Northwestern all have future home-and-home series scheduled), let’s schedule Vanderbilt to come to Chestnut Hill in 2012 for a return trip to Nashville in 2013.

My assumption is that the I-AA scheduling trend will continue for the foreseeable future so let’s schedule an interesting team, someone new. It turns out that Fordham will begin offering 60 scholarships starting in 2010, making them eligible to schedule teams from the FBS nee I-A. Fordham has already scheduled games with Connecticut, Army and Navy and the Rams actually have a lot of history playing football with Boston College (albeit not recent history). I say bring Fordham into the cupcake rotation in 2012.

One of the neat little loopholes in the NCAA football scheduling process concerns their treatment of Hawai’i. If a I-A team agrees to travel to Oahu to play the Warriors, they get the opportunity to schedule a thirteenth game to offset the cost of traveling to Hawaii. I say BC should take advantage of scheduling a 13th game by scheduling a trip to play Hawaii. Since Gene has rumored that we are going to make the Syracuse game the annual game after Thanksgiving and Syracuse opted out of the 2012 game, it would be logical to schedule this game at that time of the season to replace the 'Cuse game. The problem would be that the ACC Championship is the next weekend, and you don’t want the team traveling across the entire country a week before the ACCCG. So I say we should play Hawaii the third week of September, and give our one yearly preference to the league office to have our BYE week fall on the following week.

Finally, in the spirit of renewing series with familiar teams a la Fordham, I say we should bring Navy back to the Heights in 2012. Navy apparently has four slots left on the 2012 schedule and just as we are renewing with Army in 2014, I think we should throw a service academy we have a good deal of history with back on the schedule to (at least temporarily) stop our annual MAC-love fest.

@ Northwestern
@ Hawaii
Vanderbilt
Navy
Fordham

Jeff: I like the idea of playing Vanderbilt, but I am not particularly a fan of playing 13 games. We suffer enough injuries throughout the season and will hopefully be headed to the ACC Championship Game and a bowl that year as well so that leaves a possibility of playing 15 games that year which is just far too many.

So let's go with Vanderbilt and a I-AA team which leaves one slot left. We'll already have played two BCS bottom feeders. After the crappy 2011 schedule of Northwestern, Buffalo, UMass and Central Florida, DeFilippo will have to pull out all the stops to get some national attention. He'll need to keep buzz going for the football program in case we don't continue to win the Atlantic Division annually ... not to mention keeping the donors and alums happy in the process. So Gene is going to call Michigan and sign a one year deal to play at a neutral site like Philadelphia or New York. That game is guaranteed to be on national TV and Gene can even agree to give Michigan all the revenue from the game because they would really be saving his behind from having a terrible non-conference football schedule back to back years.

@ Northwestern
Vanderbilt
Michigan (neutral field)
I-AA team (no preference)

Brian: I'll concede on the Hawaii game but a neutral site game against Michigan? Who are we, Notre Dame? That will really silence the "BC wants to be Notre Dame" critics, given that Notre Dame is scheduling neutral site games left and right in locations that don't make a whole lot of sense in my opinion, e.g. Washington State in San Antonio. Of course I like the idea of playing Michigan, but I'm not crazy about this neutral site proposal. How about scheduling a Big XII team? When was the last time we ventured into Big XII territory? I'd suggest a home-and-home series with Missouri, with the Tigers visiting BC to open the season on September 1, 2012 and the Eagles returning to Columbia in 2015 (in 2013 and 2014 we'll play both Syracuse and USC from BCS conferences). Besides, Missouri and Illinois have called off their season opener after 2010. Sounds like a great opportunity to swoop in and gain some national attention with a marquee opening weekend matchup, and 3 of 4 teams on the non-conference slate coming from BCS conferences.

Missouri
@ Northwestern
Vanderbilt
Fordham

Jeff: Playing a Big XII team doesn't work for my one year neutral site idea.

Brian: It's hardly an original idea, which is why I'm against your neutral site idea. Besides, we get a "neutral" site game two years later with Army at Yankee Stadium.

To round out years 2013-2014, the schedule currently looks like this:

2013 - @ Southern California, Syracuse, OOC #3, OOC #4
2014 - Southern California, @ Syracuse, New Hampshire, @ Army (Yankee Stadium)

I'm guessing one of the two slots in 2013 will be filled by a I-AA team, so 2013 would be a good year for a return to Nashville to avenge last year's Music City Bowl loss. That would give us a respectable three BCS conference opponents in 2013 and one I-AA team. Make it happen, Gene.


Big Finish

Brian: Not only is Yankee Stadium snapping up Army home football games left and right, but it is now rumored that Steinbrenner and the Yankees are looking to host a bowl game. Good idea?

Jeff: Great idea. Bowls have evolved past playing in only warm climates so why not have one in New York City? If you can't make a trip to a warm climate it might as well be to a great destination and NYC certainly qualifies.


Jeff: BC is listed as 20-1 to win the Atlantic Division this season. Is it worth it to throw $10 on the Eagles?

Brian: Sure. $10. Much more than that though? Well, questionable.


Brian: The 2009 ACC Football Kickoff is almost here. This year fans can interact with the Kickoff as the event will be streamed online. You excited?

Jeff: Um, sure, maybe. Or perhaps I'll just catch the highlights.


Jeff: Football Outsiders picked BC to finish 9-3, 5-3 and second in the Atlantic Division. Surprised?

Brian: Surprised? A little. Hard to imagine a three-way tie atop the Atlantic Division at 5-3. I'm assuming Football Outsiders have the Eagles losing to Clemson, Virginia Tech and ... Wake? UNC? NC State?


Brian: HD ranks our defensive backs third in the conference behind only Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech. Agree? Disagree?

Jeff: I'm good with that. They are better than most that's for sure.


Jeff: Down here in my part of the world, Spiller for Heisman posters were distributed by the Clemson athletics department starting this week. Do you think he has any better than 50-1 chance of winning?

Brian: Better than 50-1? Sure. Will he get an invite to NYC? Absolutely not. I can think of at least 10 players off the top of my head that have better chances and will be on a team that finishes better than Clemson in 2009. Spiller isn't even arguably the best player in the conference.


Brian: Last one, gather round your laptop screen for the first two games of the season. ESPN announced their college football lineup and the Northeastern and Kent State games will be on ESPN360.com. You surprised BC at Clemson in week 3 isn’t getting picked up by the Worldwide Leader?

Jeff: Not really surprised about that one. Clemson is not a national draw at all and they are on ESPN on Thursday night the week before. It's certainly a no-brainer to televise Nebraska vs. Virginia Tech over BC vs. Clemson, anyway.

Source: BC to play Army at New Yankee Stadium in 2014

On Monday came news that Army and Notre Dame agreed to play the first college football game at the New Yankee Stadium in 2010. Of course Notre Dame wanted to be the first college football team to play at the new Stadium as they take their three-ring traveling circus of neutral site games to the City that doesn't sleep.

But wait, Notre Dame in 2010 was just the tip of the iceberg for Army, as they move their football operation from West Point to 161st and River. Scheduling the Irish seems to have opened the Army football scheduling floodgates for The House That Steinbrenner Built. Release the hounds!

Army will play a college football game against Air Force in 2012 at Yankee Stadium, the Times Herald-Record has learned.

This will be the first time the teams have played at a neutral site since 1965. Air Force beat Army 14-3 at Soldier Field.

The game was originally scheduled to be played Nov. 3, 2012 at West Point’s Michie Stadium, according to Air Force’s sports web site. It is not clear if the date will remain the same for the Yankee Stadium game.

Army will also play Rutgers in 2011 and Boston College in 2014 at Yankee Stadium, according to a source.

The Yankees have a press conference scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday to announce more college football games, including Army home games in 2011, 2012 and 2014.

Army senior associate athletic director Bob Beretta wouldn’t confirm the games.

“To make an announcement at this time would be inappropriate,” Beretta said. “We will have a major announcement on future games and sites Wednesday.”

Your thoughts, Eagles fans?

Like the move? Disappointed we are getting Notre Dame, Air Force, and Rutgers' seconds? Will the novelty of playing in New Yankee Stadium have worn off by 2014? What about the fact that a majority of you are - you know - Red Sox fans? How about the fact that we play in the Bronx before our I-90 rival, New York's College Team, gets to play there?

Your turn. Go.


H/T Troy Nunes...

BC vs. Virginia Post Mortem, Duke and the Big Finish

Brian: I am flying solo today for this segment as Jeff is already headed off to Atlanta to catch the day's ACC Tournament quarterfinal action. So you are stuck with just me.

I was unable to watch the game last night (stupid ESPN programming), although I did catch the epic 6 OT game between Syracuse and Connecticut on the plane last night! Which, from everything that I read about the BC game (Herald, Globe, News & Observer and BCEagles.com) I guess if I was going to miss an Eagles game in favor of a game like Syracuse vs. Connecticut, it could have been worse, right? The Eagles seemed to cruise last night, leading by about 10 points most of the way.


Sounds like Southern played very well last night. However, I wouldn't expect the same sort of performance - 13 points, 9 rebounds - against Duke forwards Kyle Singler, Lance Thomas and Gerald Henderson. Although not sure we need Southern to play as well as he did last night to win this game. Remember, Southern threw up the goose egg in the box score the first time the Eagles faced Duke this season.

Tyrese Rice with another zero in the box score in the first half. Off nights from our two leading scorers - Rice and Trapani - just can't happen again tonight if we have any hope of winning.

Lots of focus on attendance for this year's ACC men's tournament. The New York Times, the News & Observer, and commissioner John Swofford all weigh in on the issue. Funny how everyone is quick to blame Boston College for the football ACC Championship Game attendance woes, yet when the conference's premiere basketball tournament takes a nose dive a la selling out the place, the excuse is "big building, down economy." Can't that excuse also conveniently explain this year's ACCCG attendance issues? I mean, the economy hasn't worsened THAT much from December to March, has it? And Jacksonville and Tampa have larger stadiums than every other ACC stadium except for Doak, Death Valley and the cavernous Dolphins Stadium.

The reported draw for the opening round of games was 26,352. Not a bad day's take, even though from the sound of it, only a fraction of that crowd was left when BC and Virginia tipped off.

I also don't get the commissioner lamenting over the fact that the game isn't in Greensboro or Charlotte where it could have been a sellout. The Georgia Dome can seat more fans for basketball than the Greensboro Coliseum or the Time Warner Cable Arena f.k.a. Charlotte Bobcats Arena can, and at the end of the day, it's all about the revenue - and not the fact that it is a sellout - for the conference. Look no further than the cost of the tournament ticket book: $396. If the primary goal was to sell out the place and have a great atmosphere, wouldn't you simply lower the ticket price to do so? $396 is pretty steep in my opinion. Simple supply and demand, commissioner.

I also found this Clemson zinger in Bob Ryan's latest column on BC hoops pretty funny. (Much to the behest of Mrs. Jeff). Ryan explains how Boston College has had great success already in the ACC Tournament, winning their first game in each of their first four ACC tournaments, while Clemson's record in their first game of the tournament is a paltry 6-52.

As for the fallen Tigers, one well-seasoned ACC observer summed it up in a very succinct manner. "That's why they're Clemson," he pointed out.

I'm actually pretty shocked that Georgia Tech pulled off the upset and it doesn't seem like the home court advantage had much to do with it. The Jackets will be a tough out for Florida State. While I am glad the Eagles drew Virginia last night instead of Georgia Tech, I would have much rather played FSU than Duke tonight.

We turn our attention to the Duke Blue Devils, the Eagles quarterfinals opponent. The game is at 9pm on ESPN2. Since the Eagles last saw the Blue Devils, Coach K switched up their lineup, benching everyone's favorite Dukie Greg Paulus, moving Jon Scheyer to point and playing freshman guard Eliot Williams at the 2. Since Coach K made the change, Duke is 5-1, including impressive wins over Wake Forest and Florida State. Duke guard Nolan Smith is listed as "probable" to play today.

Something tells me Duke and Coach K will come out guns blazing tonight. This is a hungry Duke team playing for a strong NCAA tournament seed (maybe a 2?). Having lost to UNC twice in the regular season, they can see a potentially vulnerable, Lawson-less North Carolina team in their sights. Also, I don't think the Eagles can rely on the Blue Devils shooting 3 of 16 (18.8%) from 3 point range tonight. While I remain optimistic that the Eagles will hang tonight and can possibly pull off the upset, it will be a much tougher billing than knocking off Duke back on February 15.

Honestly though, in the ACC Tournament, when it is all said and done, we always know it comes down to Duke and North Carolina right? Of course it's UNC and Duke. It's always UNC and Duke ... /sarcasm


"Extra" Big Finish, ACC Tournament style

Jefff: Ron Green Jr. takes a look at this weekend's ACC Tournament from an American Idol perspective. Paula and Simon comment on Boston College's hoops season, but what would Randy say about the Eagles?

Brian: "So check it out dawg! Check this OUT! You had some nice moments this season but at times you were a little pitchy. A few pitch problems in there for me but it was OK. At the beginning of the competition, I didn't think much of your chances, but yo! You made it your own season, and at times, ... it was kinda HOT, yo."


Brian: Robert Morris is dancing, remember them? First time since 1992 too. Does this at all soften the blow of losing to the Colonials 57-51 last year?

Jeff: Last year's loss was fairly painful and still is in my recent memory. So, umm, no.


Jeff: Bowling Green, facing a university-wide budget shortfall of up to $10 million (three quarters of a million being due to the athletics budget) may cut its D-I men's hockey program as a cost-cutting measure. Your thoughts?

Brian: This would be terrible for the sport. A lot of programs and a few conferences have folded up shop over the past couple of years, but this would be the most accomplished program to fold in a very long time. As you know, Jerry York won the school's only National Championship back in 1984, and it would be pretty embarrassing if a program that won a National Championship was shut down. More bad news for Bowling Green is that the school's president shut down the Kent State men's hockey program in 1994 so the move would hardly be unprecedented. My only question would be are there any other athletic departments that will be forced to make a similar move in this economy?


Brian: Want to watch the NCAA tournament without your boss or company being none the wiser? There's an iPhone app for that. Jeff, you impressed?

Jeff: That is fantastic.


Jeff: It looks like for the second time in three years, the MAC is wreaking football scheduling havoc over a BCS conference team. This year, it is Miami (Ohio), who can't honor their 2009 September 12 home date against Colorado. Brian, your thoughts?

Brian: The solution is simple. You know I have been bitching about BC beefing up their non-conference schedule. September 12 we play Kent State at home. Drop the MAC team Kent State in favor of hosting the Buffaloes at Alumni this year. This beefs up (pun intended) our out of conference sched - Colorado should be better than they have been the last few years - and gives the MAC a little dose of their own medicine.


Brian: Yesterday I predicted a BC win tonight over New Hampshire. Are you as confident in the Eagles going into the Hockey East quarterfinals tonight?

Jeff: Absolutely. They'll win the series against New Hampshire and it starts tonight with a W.


Jeff: Last one, the BC baseball team (10-3, 2-1 ACC) is also in Atlanta this weekend, taking on the 6th ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (11-1, 3-0 ACC). Can the Eagles build on their success from last weekend's series win over Florida State?

Brian: My gut tells me that BC won't be able to take the series but I hope they can steal a game from Georgia Tech.


Huge weekend for BC sports. Leave any thoughts on the ACC Tournament, NCAA tournament selection process, Hockey East Tournament, baseball or Pro Day in the comments section below. Go Eagles!

Role Play: BC Hoops, ACC Football Sched and Gaylord Hotels

Brian: It's been far too long since we last had a good ol' fashioned role play. So let's get to it!


Brian: Jeff, you are Rakim Sanders. How you feeling big boy?

Jeff as Rakim Sanders: Didn't you see me last night? I'm feeling well enough to be a star in this league which is all that matters. Sure I still have a little pain in my wrist but my jumper is fine and I can get to the rim as well.

Brian: Rakim, some say you have freakish athletic ability yet sometimes you don't bring it come game time. How do you defend yourself?

Jeff as Rakim Sanders: Sometimes I play hurt because me at 65% is better than some at 100%. Other times I'm worried about schoolwork. Who are you to be questioning me anyways? This is the last time I come on your stupid blog.


Jeff: Sticking with basketball, Brian, you are Coach K. Are you concerned with your teams upcoming trip to the Heights?

Brian as Coach K: I am worried about the Eagles for the first 20 minutes! Ha. Skinner's Eagles haven't been able to put together 40 good minutes all season with the possible exception of the game in Chapel Hill. My Blue Devils won't be caught sleepwalking like those silly Tar Heels. We are going to play your Eagles tight for 20 minutes, then when the second half starts up, I'll showcase my superior coaching ability, make some adjustments and blow the Eagles out of Conte Forum. I am going to press the Eagles after every bucket in the second half until Skinner starts to tear up. That's right, he will shed man tears at how horrible his in-bounds plays are. Plus all we have to do is get Tyrese Rice and Josh Southern in foul trouble early in the second half, and it will be smooth sailing.


Brian: Jeff, you are ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas. Why you hating on the impact ACC expansion has had on ACC college hoops?

Jeff as Jay Bilas: In basketball, it would be nice if you played every team in the conference twice every year. That's my problem with the expansion and I'm sticking with it. You must be able to relate since you are a hockey fan and Boston College plays Boston University 4 or more times some years.

Brian: Jay! How you have already conveniently forgot that our Boston College Eagles came within a bucket of winning the ACC Tournament championship game in our first year in the league! Or that both Boston College (2006, 2007) and Virginia Tech (2007) have represented the ACC in the Big Dance post-expansion? ACC expansion has lined the coffers of your beloved Duke athletics program. You probably want the ACC to go back to 8 teams so you can have your cute little basketball-only conference that also plays football. Embrace expansion, buddy. It's a good thing.

Anyway, despite your blatant Duke homerism and anti-expansion stance, you are one of the better college basketball analysts for the four letter network. So tell me, who is in the tournament from the ACC this week?

Jeff as Jay Bilas: Your beloved Eagles, Duke, UNC, Wake, Clemson, FSU, Virginia Tech and Miami. You know all three of those former Big East schools are on thin ice though.


Jeff: Brian, you are a member of the ACC scheduling committee. Why the delay for the release of the football schedule and are you at least going to get it right?

Brian as ACC scheduler: Well, we had to wait to see how some of these out of conference games were going to pan out. We wanted to wait until the teams from North Carolina gorge themselves on creampuff opponents in early September. And we also want to take an extra amount of time to ensure teams like Florida State, Virginia Tech and Miami (FL) have the most favorable schedule possible. Because those programs sell! Some say we have a football perception problem. What better way to fix that than give those programs the easiest schedule possible in terms of when who plays who and screw the little guys! I'm looking at you, Duke, Wake Forest and Boston College!


Brian: Last one. Jeff, you are Colin Reed, the CEO of the Gaylord Entertainment Co., the title sponsor of the 2008 Music City Bowl. Given the state of the economy these days, and the fact that your company's stock price is down 71.96 percent from a year ago, does it still make sense for a company of 4 hotel chains to be sponsoring a mid-tier SEC-ACC bowl game?

Jeff as CEO: Brian, first of all we also own a radio station so it's not just about the hotels here. While the stock price has taken a major hit over the last year, our company has weathered reccessions before and will handle this one as well. If your Eagles hadn't stunk up the field in December at our game, we might be doing a little better financially right now but we'll still be fine.

Headlines: Initial Thoughts on 2009 Out-of-Conference Sched?

Brian: The Boston Globe's College Sports Blog gives us a glimpse at the schedule for the football team's non-conference slate of games.

From what I can gather from the post, the non-conference sched will break down like this ...

September 5 - Northeastern
September 12 - Kent State
October 24 - at Notre Dame
October 31 - Central Michigan

The rest of the ACC schedule will be released either late this week or early next week. ACC games this coming year will be:

Home: Florida State, North Carolina State, Wake Forest, North Carolina
Away: Clemson, Maryland, Virginia Tech, Virginia

Jeff, your thoughts?

Jeff: I think the only big news here is that it appears that the Parents' Weekend game will probably be an ACC opponent. I have no problem with this but given out out of conference slate and the fact that we play at Notre Dame this year, this is terrible for ticket sales. Terrible. Florida State will clearly be the hot ticket for a home game this year, followed distantly by whatever turns out to to be the Parents' Weekend game and then followed even more distantly by one of the other ACC games. Do you agree?

Brian: There won't be a marquee home game outside of Florida State and maybe North Carolina State. Wake Forest will be competitive (as usual) and who knows how UNC will respond to the loss of their offensive playmakers.

I think the benefit of this schedule is that Spaziani, Tranquill and the team will get the first two weeks to break in the freshmen and possibly a new offensive philosophy. That part of the schedule I like.

I also like the fact that the schedule breaks for two weeks in late October. Two years ago - the four straight out of conference games seemed to be a little too much, and this past year having the Notre Dame game in the heart of the late season ACC games led to a predictable letdown before the Notre Dame game (the Clemson game). Since the team seems to get up for the Notre Dame game such that there is the possibility of a letdown on either the weekend before or the weekend after, I'm glad we follow that game with a home out of conference against Central Michigan. That being said, Central Michigan is no pushover as we learned full well back in September 2006.

Also important to note that this season, there will only be one BYE week (as teams play 12 games in 13 weeks), as opposed to the two open dates college football teams had this past season.

Headlines: BC-Maryland Set For 3:30

Yep, 3:30 kickoff on ABC or ESPN2 for the Atlantic Division crown. See you on campus.

Rest of the ACC Turkey Day weekend lineup after the jump.

Miami at NC State, Raycom, Noon
Georgia Tech at Georgia, CBS, Noon
South Carolina at Clemson, ESPN2, Noon
Virginia at Virginia Tech, ESPN, Noon
Florida at Florida State, ABC (ESPN2*), 3:30 pm
Maryland at Boston College, ABC (ESPN2*), 3:30 pm
North Carolina at Duke, ESPNU, 3:30 pm
Vanderbilt at Wake Forest, ESPNU, 7 pm


While Jeff and I will be on campus Saturday, ESPN's College Gameday will not. They are goin' Bedlam. No Atlantic Division title game, no Commonweath Cup, no Border War and no Civil War. Only what feels like the 12th consecutive week Gameday visits a Big XII campus ...

Headlines: BC-Maryland Gametime Set for ...

Huh?

ESPN/ABC declared a six-day option for the games of Nov. 29. The game times and networks for these games will be announced no later than by noon this Sunday, Nov. 23.

OK. Sounds like ESPN/ABC needs another week to see how this whole ACC race will shake out. Still, I'm surprised that Maryland at BC has no shot of being the primetime game considering it could be the ACC Atlantic Division championship game.

Full ACC schedule for the week of November 22 after the jump.

The following games will be played either at noon or 3:30 on the last Saturday of ACC regular season action (on either ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ABC or Raycom):

Maryland at Boston College
South Carolina at Clemson
North Carolina at Duke
Miami at NC State
Virginia at Virginia Tech

Florida at Florida State will be played at either 3:30 or in primetime on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2.

Georgia at Georgia Tech will be at noon on CBS. Vanderbilt at Wake Forest is set for 7:00pm on ESPNU.

Headlines: BC-Wake Game Time Announced

It's a 3:30 start on ESPN or ESPN2. Good news.

BC will either be fighting for a spot in the ACC Championship Game if they can get past Florida State this weekend, or trying to play spoiler to Wake Forest's Tampa bid (assuming the Deacons take care of NC State this Saturday). Headlinin' the weekend for the ACC is Florida State at Maryland, the other crucial Atlantic battle.

Rest of the ACC lineup for Saturday, November 22 after the jump.

Clemson at Virginia, Raycom, noon (split network)
NC State at North Carolina, Raycom, noon (split network)
Boston College at Wake Forest, ABC (ESPN or ESPN2, 3:30 p.m. ET)
Duke at Virginia Tech, (ESPNU, 5:30 p.m. ET)
Florida State at Maryland, (ESPN, 7:45 p.m. ET)

Headlines: Florida State Gametime Set

It's an 8pm start on ABC. Prime time game at Doak Campbell Stadium. The primetime slot is definitely more a product of Florida State's success (6-2, 3-2 ACC) than Boston College's lack of success over the last two games (5-3, 2-3 ACC). Nevertheless, this will be a huge game with Atlantic Division implications.

Rest of the ACC lineup for Saturday, November 15 below:

Duke at Clemson, Raycom Sports, 12 Noon
North Carolina at Maryland, ABC (ESPN*), 3:30 pm
Wake Forest at NC State, ESPNU, 3:30 pm
Boston College at Florida State, ABC, 8 pm

Headlines: Irish-Eagles Game Time Announced

It's an 8pm start on ABC or ESPN. Woo!

Rest of the ACC schedule for the weekend of November 6-8 below.

Thursday, November 6
Maryland at Virginia Tech, ESPN, 7:30 pm

Saturday, November 8
NC State at Duke, ESPNU or ESPN 360, 3:30 pm
Notre Dame at Boston College, ABC or ESPN, 8 pm
Virginia at Wake Forest, Raycom at 12 noon or ESPNU at 3:30 pm
Clemson at Florida State, TBD
Georgia Tech at North Carolina TBD

Headlines: Clemson Game Time Announced

The November 1 home game against Clemson has been set for a 3:30 kickoff. To be honest, I'm a little surprised given that Clemson has fallen off the map and is now sitting at 3-4 (1-3 ACC).

Selfishly, I'm a little disappointed. I was hoping for a noon game so I could go to the game but be back in New York Saturday night in time to rest up for the NYC Marathon the next morning. Now I'm not so sure I'll be able to get to the game. Bummer.

Fortunately, the blog will be represented as Jeff will be making the trip up to Chestnut Hill for the game.

Rest of the Saturday slate of games for November 1 below.

Miami at Virginia, Raycom, Noon
Clemson at Boston College, ESPNU, 3:30 pm
Duke at Wake Forest, ESPN360, 3:30
Florida State at Georgia Tech, ABC (ESPN), 3:30 pm

Headlines: Kickoff in Chapel Hill Set For ...

Noon.

Lame.

Noteworthy, North Carolina will be without the services of their star senior wide receiver Brandon Tate. Tate is out the rest of the season with an injured right knee. Tough loss for the Heels.

Rest of the Saturday slate of games for October 25 below.

Boston College at North Carolina, Raycom, 12 noon
Wake Forest at Miami, ESPNU, 12 noon
Duke at Vanderbilt, 3 pm
Virginia Tech at Florida State, ABC (ESPN2), 3:30 pm
Virginia at Georgia Tech, ESPNU, 3:30 pm
NC State at Maryland, ESPN 360, 3:30 pm

Headlines: Boston College vs. Virginia Tech Gametime Announced

The ACC scheduling powers that be finally cut Boston College a break. The Eagles (4-1) will host the Virginia Tech Hokies (5-1) at 8:00pm on the Heights. Rest of the ACC schedule for the weekend of October 16 & 18 below.

Wake Forest at Maryland, RAYCOM, 12 Noon
Georgia Tech at Clemson, ESPN or ESPN2, 12 Noon
North Carolina at Virginia, ABC (ESPN2), 3:30 pm
Miami at Duke, ESPNU, 3:30 pm
Virginia Tech at Boston College, ESPN or ESPN2, 8 pm

Hopefully there is more where this came from ...

Toss Up: Tackling Topics from DeFilippo's Chat

Today we tackle some of the same questions that were asked of Gene DeFilippo during a live chat session on bceagles.com in a game of BC Interruption Toss Up.

Gene DeFilippo: We have Notre Dame on our schedule for the next two years. With eight tough ACC games and Notre Dame, we don't need any more teams from the BCS leagues. Look at the schedules of others in the ACC, the Big East, or the SEC, and you will see similar names to some of the schools we play out of conference.

Toss Up - How do you like your non-Notre Dame out of conference schedule? Filled with BCS opponents or non-BCS opponents?

Brian: I like what Wake has done with their schedule, scheduling the bottom feeders of the BCS - Ole Miss, Vanderbilt. I think we can look for similar games in the future (with Northwestern already on the future schedule) and at least be open to 1-2 other BCS opponents in a given year. I'm not a big fan of having one BCS conference team on the out of conference schedule (Notre Dame, Syracuse, Northwestern, USC) and then 3 other non-BCS opponents in a given year. Doesn't really mesh with the Jags "anyone, anywhere, any time" philosophy.

Jeff: Assuming Notre Dame stays on the schedule beyond just 2 more years, I like how our schedule shapes up. Syracuse every year is a winnable regional matchup similar to the Wake-Vanderbilt game you mentioned. Meanwhile, USC will be exciting and playing Northwestern is much better than some other options. The only thing missing is UConn. Having UConn on the schedule annually would further indicate ACC supremecy over the Big East and would sell tons of tickets for both universities. If ND doesn't renew with us or we end up with any open dates, Gene needs to pick up the phone and get the Huskies on the books.

Brian: Not again ...

Gene DeFilippo: Syracuse comes onto the schedule in 2010, and we will play them each year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Toss Up - BC v. Syracuse football annually after Thanksgiving? Good for the rivalry, or bitter reminder of 2004?

Brian: I am going to say this will only serve as a bitter reminder of 2004. I don't like this idea. What happened to scheduling Maryland in late November every year? Let's make football after Thanksgiving count by playing an ACC Atlantic foe the last week of the season. As much as I love the tradition and history of games like Georgia - Georgia Tech, Clemson - South Carolina, Florida - Florida State, these games don't have much meaning to the regular season and are sort of an anticlimatic end to the regular season.

Jeff: No no no. Having Syracuse as the last regular season game is perfect. It would be nice for our ACC championship game fate to already be determined prior to the last game of the year so that there is no chance of playing a must-win game one week and the ACC Championship game the next week.

Gene DeFilippo: Boston College did not drop the game with Army. It was Army that asked out of the game. We, too, are disappointed that we will not be making the trip to West Point this fall. The Army team is on our schedule in future years, and we certainly hope to play those games both in Alumni Stadium and on the campus at West Point.

Toss Up - Scheduling the Army Black Knights going forward? Love it or hate it?

Jeff: I would love to see Army be the Parents Weekend game for a couple of years. I think you need to keep the Parents' Weekend game a winable one and for the near future, scheduling Army would certainly accomplish that. Eventually, hopefully Army strengthens their program like Navy has in the last 5+ years but in the meantime they are basically a 1-AA team.

Brian: Ahh, Jeff. The Army game is only good if BC also travels to West Point for games that the greater NYC area fans can go attend, so it can't be the Parents Weekend game every year. Still, I like this, although is the Big East trying to steal the service academies away? If so, I don't like this idea.

Jeff: If BC did play Army it would most likely be 2 home games for every 1 away game so that covers 2 of every 3 years anyway.

Gene DeFilippo: Boston College is required to apply to the city of Boston to obtain an entertainment license to play our football games. The license the city grants us stipulates that we may open the gates to our parking lots two hours prior to a noon game and three hours prior to a game that starts at 1:00 or later. The additional hour was granted to us last year, and it was very successful. I am thrilled that the city will give us that same three-hour period for most our home games.

Toss Up - Better chance of the city of Boston backing the BC Master Plan or giving permission for BC fans to tailgate 9:00am to 9:00pm?

Brian: This is an easy one. The BC Master Plan will eventually be pushed through. Tailgating from sunrise to sunset will not.

Jeff: I don't care how unrealistic it is - I'm going with tailgating here. That would be a dream come true and also the reason why every BC fan needs to attend an away game and experience real post-graduation tailgating. As a student, you can tailgate all day long regardless but once you graduate you are at the mercy of when the parking lots open up. At Virginia Tech, for example, this year for the Thursday night game cars needed to be removed from tailgating lots by 4:00pm or something like that. But that didn't mean that tailgaters couldn't come in earlier than 4:00pm to get the evening started. At BC that would never happen.

ESPN began this poll and not surprisingly, Notre Dame is currently the #1 most hated team in all the land.

Last one, Toss Up - Second most hated in your mind, Ohio State or USC?

Jeff: This is an easy one to answer - Ohio State. Boy do those fans love their Buckeyes and think that the Big Ten and Ohio State football is king.

Brian: I have nothing against the men of Troy. Although both school's respective conferences are holding up a college football playoff by standing on tradition, I'd give the slight edge to Ohio State because they can coast through a weak Big Ten schedule and then get crushed in the BCS championship year after year.

Poll Results: Best Away Football Game To Attend

Here are the poll results from our side bar poll - the best away football game to attend this season. Our readers have spoken and overwhelmingly think that the November 15 date with the Seminoles is the best road game to attend this fall.

1. Nov 15 @ Florida State - 32 votes (58%)
2. Oct 04 @ NC State - 12 votes (21%)
3. Nov 22 @ Wake Forest - 5 votes (9%)
4. Oct 25 @ UNC - 3 votes (5%)
5. Aug 30 @ Kent State - 3 votes (5%)

BC's last trip to Doak Campbell Stadium two years ago was a 24-19 win behind a DeJuan Tribble pick 6 and some ironman play by Matt Ryan. Ryan played on a bum foot and ankle and still managed to complete 16 of 26 for 262 yards.

Not sure if the BC Interruption crew will make it to Tallahassee this fall, but we will definitely be making the trip to Raleigh for the October 4 game vs. NC State. We'll report on the road for a few of the home games as well.

Headlines: ACC Football to Move to 9 Games?

Life is tough as an ACC official as ACC brass meet today in Amelia Island, Florida.

Brian: The ACC spring meetings begin today in sunny Amelia Island, Florida. Previously discussed on this blog is a proposal on the table to move the men's basketball conference schedule from 16 games to 18 games. Also on the table is an ACC football proposal to expand from an 8 game conference schedule to 9 games. Let us today consider the football proposal. Currently, only the Pac 10 plays a 9 game, round robin conference schedule in football. Jeff, your thoughts?

Jeff: Well I think you already know my opinion on expanding the ACC basketball conference schedule. I like it. There are plenty of meaningless out of conference games in the basketball season that I would be happy to see go. The ACC is NOT going to stop the ACC-Big Ten Challenge or any similarly lucrative out of conference matchups. So I am all about expanding the basketball schedule and getting 2 more teams that you play within the conference in a home and home series each season.

Football is a different animal though. Nine games is still not enough to play everyone in the conference every year so I don't see a ton of value in it. I think having nine conference games would almost force DeFillipo to schedule more MAC teams or other easy victories without 2 optional out of conference games assuming that the BC-Notre Dame series continues. I do not see that as a good thing. I want to see BC play USC or another PAC-10 team, Big Ten or SEC team each year. And I would think you can throw my idea of BC playing UConn every year in Foxboro out the window if the ACC goes to 9 conference games in football.

Brian: I also don't think that the ACC will move to 9 conference football games. A ninth game would only be another home game every other year for teams. So while the 9 game slate is touted as saving money and making scheduling easier for the teams in conference, some years it would take away from that lucrative 7th home game for ACC teams. Plus, as you mention Jeff, if ADs were given one less out of conference game to schedule, it's likely that the matchups piting major BCS teams together would suffer in favor of games against lesser competition. I can't see Clemson scheduling SEC rival South Carolina and Alabama in the same season over Furman, Coastal Carolina and other non-BCS schools. ADs will look to pad their resume with wins and will most likely be more reticent to schedule more than 1 blockbuster BCS matchup a season.

Jeff: I didn't say that I don't think the conference will move to 9 games, but I don't want them to. Ultimately, I definitely think that the ACC will move to 18 conference games in basketball and I would guess that football has about a 50% chance to move to 9 games.