"Clam Chowder Meets Barbecue"
With a title borrowed from HokieSports.com’s Roth Report, it’s time to talk about a topic I would have rather not had to breach: Boston College entering the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The move has been beaten to death in Big Media-land, so I’ll give you a selection of links to peruse, then come back with my thoughts.
- We’ll lead off with a good generalist article from the WaPo, then point you to the (Raleigh) News and Observer’s general take and its ACC-perspective timeline.
- The Boston Globe was more restrained in general, and its excellent Big East football writer Mark Blaudschun gave a big thumbs-down to the move south.
- At ESPN, Ivan Maisel labeled BC the future “Baylor of the Northeast”, and Andy Katz previewed the ripple effect on other conferences.
You won’t be surprised to hear that I’m seriously down on this move as well. Any of the other four BE all-sports members would have been a better move, in my view. Geographically, Pittsburgh or WVU would have worked much better; although WVU has standing rivalries with Maryland and VT and an outright hatred for UVa, its low academic reputation made it a no-chancer and turned Pittsburgh into the obvious geographic choice. If they had to have a Northeastern private school, Syracuse would have been a better cultural fit, particularly given its lacrosse history (the Orangemen were actually asked to join the ACC’s lacrosse league several years ago, but politely declined). The school with the most future promise might well have been UConn — it would certainly shore up any basketball reputation damage the Hokies and Miami might cause, and they likely deliver more of the New York media than BC does Boston.
So given all that, why the Eagles? I think we have to look back to the initial phases of expansion. Those strongly point to a conspiracy between BC and Miami to leave the ACC, if not necessarily to destroy the BE in the process. Boston College was, if anything, even more publicly enthusiastic than Miami at the initial announcement — in a rare convergence of opinions, both Hokies and Irish started referring to BC as Fredo on popular message boards.
Connecticut probably burned their chances with the aggressiveness of AG Richard Blumenthal. Pittsburgh and Syracuse merely suffered from being too boring, and as aforementioned, WVU couldn’t get past its academic reputation. Louisville, while amusing and potentially promising as an(other) incursion into SEC territory, was never a serious consideration; the ACC’s ego wouldn’t let it bring in a school from a (supposedly) lower level — which also hurt UConn.
Where are we now? A lot of that depends on whether BC’s lawyers can poke holes in the BE’s revised membership agreement, agreed to last month but reportedly not yet signed. If that happens, don’t be shocked to see them in next year, and a conference championship game established in Charlotte. Otherwise, they could be in for up to 2 years of lame-duck status. My bet is that they negotiate their way out for next year, perhaps compromising by agreeing to pay the revised $5M exit fee.
When that happens, the ACC will shift to its pre-set but currently hidden divisional structure — at least for football. BC will join a division with FSU, Maryland, N.C. State, Wake Forest and Clemson; the Hokies will draw the short straw and become BC’s “permanent rival” from the other division. In fairness, we have more history with BC than anyone else save Miami, and the Canes’ cross-divisional rivalry is clearly set with Florida State. (It’s been rumored that TV execs strongly suggested UM and FSU be placed in opposite divisions, to allow for a possible rematch in the championship game.) To have UVa and Miami in our division is really all we could ask for. We might have liked to establish a regional rivalry with Maryland, or re-establish our long-running series with Florida State (the only two schools Tech has played more often in its history are UVa and WVU, and FSU has only played UF, UM and Auburn more often), but you can’t have everything.
I’ll stick to my prediction that Syracuse and Pittsburgh will now go to war over the 12th spot in the Big 11. WVU, on the other hand, is watching Vanderbilt’s ongoing saga and praying that Vandy’s reform movement might lead it out of the SEC and open up a spot for the ‘Eers. UConn is essentially hosed.
14 October 2003 / 8 Comments / Tags: football