All this speculation is ignorant. There will be no conference started by Notre Dame. BC has burnt its bridges, as has Virginia Tech and Miami. Any speculation about renewing anything with them in the near future is ludicrous.

bitcruncher Wrote:BC has burnt its bridges, as has Virginia Tech and Miami. Any speculation about renewing anything with them in the near future is ludicrous.

I'm not so sure about that. After BC left, Syracuse said they would never play BC for their turning on the conference. However, after the situation cooled a little, they realized this was still a long-time rival and for the good of the school and tradition, they decided to renew the rivalry for at least six years.

I think maybe Miami or VT have burned bridges, but I think Syr, UCONN and Pitt would sway the conference to welcome BC back if they expressed interest.

Yes, Im a Louisville fan because they own us in football. Rematch in few?

I don't look down on Louisville, but some institutes of higher education do. I could care less; they are, and have been awesome in athletics and Im a sports fan, not an education man. I was just brainstorming an idea as to why Boston College thinks they're Notre Dame.

Frogman, I LOVE the south and I am opinionated too.

I'm an opinionated southerner myself.

It's not our fault that SOUTHERN football is king and you guys just get a little jealous!

BC would not likely try to rejoin the BEC out of pride.

But one could imagine a circumstance in the future where BC could find itself aligning with these schools again. Maybe three years, or thirty. You never know.

Boston College
Cincinnati
Connecticut
Louisville
Maryland
Pitt
Rutgers
Syracuse
Virginia Tech
West Virginia

Not too bad a grouping.

Orange Eagles Wrote:I know we talk about this over and over, but just wondering what are the actual chances that BC could end up back in a conference with its old rivals (SU, UConn, Rutgers, Pitt, etc).

Maybe its my own hope that this will happen again that is driving this, but realistically sometime in the future do you see this happening?

It could have any number of scenarios like BC joining BE again, some of the rivals joining them in ACC, BC comes to join newly formed conference, etc.

I dream of the day BC and SU are old-time rivals again!

Let's see... Hmmmm....

Well, if North Carolina, Duke, NC State, and Wake Forest felt that they desired a smaller conference to reintroduce the round-robin basketball schedule AND the BCS rules at the time favored smaller football conferences....

Well, I think that about explains it.

army56mike Wrote:It's not our fault that SOUTHERN football is king and you guys just get a little jealous!

Actually SEC football is king. The ACC is a stepchild in the south.

Orange Eagles Wrote:

bitcruncher Wrote:BC has burnt its bridges, as has Virginia Tech and Miami. Any speculation about renewing anything with them in the near future is ludicrous.

I'm not so sure about that. After BC left, Syracuse said they would never play BC for their turning on the conference. However, after the situation cooled a little, they realized this was still a long-time rival and for the good of the school and tradition, they decided to renew the rivalry for at least six years.

I think the folks who are now in charge are the ones who agreed to play BC in the future. There is now a new President, and a new AD and a new coach. None of them were calling the shots when BE left. And for sure Gross and Robinson had no affiliation with SU at the time, but I'm not sure about current the president.

Well, I don't think it matters really. Time wounds all heals.

frogman Wrote:I dont' think people in Boston give two hoots about FSU, UM and VT. Growing up in the north, N.Y.C. had rivals in Boston and Philadelphia. The only far away places that could have tried to rival NY were Los Angeles and Chicago.

THe rest of the country is just--- small. Bostonians would not get excited about FSU or VT no more than they would Ill. or Iowa.

BC was never a true rival for UM or VT no more than NC State is a true rival for the old FSU. They were just another team to get beaten by.
The top teams and challenges in the old BE were Miami, West Virginia, and VT. Regional rivals were Syr., Pitt, BC and a terrible RU team. NOw add UCONN that has been a BC rival in BB.

When the BE fans talk about taking back anything we lost, we hardy mention Miami or VT. Why? Because who in the northeast really cares about those schools- frankly. It's always about adding BC or MD. Why? Because they fit a northeast rivalry footprint.

As Miami has shown, after a while a school tires of traveling up and down the coast for sports. (That is why the BE must consider UCF- in order to give USF a local rival or we will lose them at some point.)

BUt my point is the northeast/ deepsouth thing has never worked and culturally Boston is a big northeast city. Boston's rivalry ties are with NYC (SOX fans hate Yankees and we hate them right back.) and Conn. (in terms of wealth and uppityness). The BC-Florida/Georgia thing isn't taken seriously in Boston. I think it's another thing Swofford and Shalaya created that will crumble. Cluturally, the northeast is very different from the south.

BC fans loved to come to MSG for the tournament. Now they have to go to North Carolina? If the BE allsports conference establishes itself- it's a no brainer. Any northeasterner could tell you that.

Remember BC did not leave the BE to join the ACC. Miami left to join the ACC and BC and VT followed Miami thinking Miami was the money school of BE football. Now we all know better. If the raid took place today, BC stays put.

You have some good insight about the differences in culture, but you have to wrap that around the structure of college football...

If you're going to say that BC has nothing in common with FSU, Miami, and VT because they're not northeastern teams, then you have to also assume that BC fans won't "give a hoot" about West Virginia, Louisville, Cincinnati, or South Florida...IMO, I think BC fans will get excited about any team that is a top 10 team, so they would get excited about FSU and Miami in the past, and West Virginia and Louisville currently

Also, IMO, any true northeastern conference is going to start with Penn State, and possibly Notre Dame....and these schools aren't going to want to be associated with Louisville, Cincinnati, and South Florida...

Orange Eagles Wrote:

bitcruncher Wrote:BC has burnt its bridges, as has Virginia Tech and Miami. Any speculation about renewing anything with them in the near future is ludicrous.

I'm not so sure about that. After BC left, Syracuse said they would never play BC for their turning on the conference. However, after the situation cooled a little, they realized this was still a long-time rival and for the good of the school and tradition, they decided to renew the rivalry for at least six years.

I think maybe Miami or VT have burned bridges, but I think Syr, UCONN and Pitt would sway the conference to welcome BC back if they expressed interest.

Bitcruncher is right to a huge extent. Boston College would never come back to the hybrid Big East as currently constructed.

But if the much-speculated-upon split is delayed until 2013, when the TV contracts are up, I could see BC coming home then.

Penn State will NEVER leave the Big Ten. Notre Dame will NEVER join any conference for football and will NEVER form their own.

Boston College, however, could return down the road if the current hybrid version of the Big East splits and the money is right.

01) Boston College
02) Connecticut
03) Syracuse
04) Rutgers
05) Pittsburgh
06) West Virginia
07) Cincinnati
08) Louisville
09) South Florida
10) Central Florida

That is a beautifully constructed conference there. Four in the Northeast, four in the Mideast, and two in the Recruiting State.

The Big East football schools, after dragging Boston College back home, can order the ACC to take Temple as their replacement.

As far as geographic footprint goes, I can live with that, since I never want a future all-sports league to foolishly have 12 teams.

The Fighting Irish would have their own conference, the Catholic version of the Big East, while staying independent in football.

01) Holy Cross
02) Providence
03) St. John's
04) Seton Hall
05) Villanova
06) Georgetown
07) Notre Dame
08) DePaul
09) Marquette
10) St. Louis

^^ I'd like to see the ACC's response to the BE trying to "order" them to take Temple.

Their response would be to say "thank you, sirs, may we have another" since there will not be any other acceptable options for them anywhere remotely close to the ACC footprint.

Miami and FSU will not allow USF, UCF, FAU, or FIU into the ACC. Duke, UNC, NC State, and Wake Forest will not allow ECU into the ACC. Marshall will not be invited to the ACC. Memphis will not be invited to the ACC. Southern Conference, CAA, and Big South schools will not be invited to the ACC. Big East schools, after owning the ACC on the field for several years in a row, splitting to make more money, and taking back Boston College like we own those tailfeathers certainly will not have any interest in joining the ACC. Penn State will not leave the Big Ten for the ACC. Notre Dame will not have any interest in joining any conference whatsoever.

Temple would be the only somewhat palatable option they would have to at least retain a little piece of the Northeast footprint they so greedily covet. We will have the final laugh.

If BC wanted to leave the ACC, why stop there? Try signing Md up. Both probably have the equal likliehood of happening (small).

wvucrazed Wrote:^^ I'd like to see the ACC's response to the BE trying to "order" them to take Temple.

I'd rather take Maryland along with BC, and tell the ACC to get stuffed.

This is exactly how these threads go into the tank. Maryland has no reason to leave the ACC. They have been in that league for more than 50 years, all their history is tied up in that league, and they are in that league's geographic footprint.

Boston College would have a reason to leave the ACC after a much-speculated-upon Big East split. BC was a founding member of the Big East, most of their history is tied up in our league, and they belong to our league's geographic footprint.

Father Layhe and Gene Deflipper will not be at Boston College forever. Hopefully their next administration will be smart enough to admit that they made a serious mistake and bolted to the ACC out of fear, greed, insecurity, and stupidity.

Whether we like it, or not, the ACC will continue to exist even if we manage to bring BC back home after a split. So, to prove we are not as bad as them, we should even help broker a deal to have Temple replace the Eagles in the ACC.

That would give both the ACC and the post-split Big East football league more natural geographic footprints. I can live with Temple going to the ACC if we get Boston College back. This is better than the BC sore thumb problem of today.

They have gotten a good start.

However, U Virginia, which lost to Wyoming, just beat GT.

Not sure BC has proven themselves against true top 15 team. They will be playing a lot of tough games a few weeks from now.

Time will tell. But I doubt they will win the ACC title.