Five non-BCS schools we should schedule

Want to see a BC Athletic Department representative roll his or her eyes: suggest that BC should drop the FCS and MAC games and schedule non-conference games against Alabama, Ohio State and Texas every year. We all know it is not going to happen. The FCS game is a permanent slot on every FBS school's schedule. BC is also not going to ever play three BCS opponents out of conference in one season. That means with most of our BCS opponents spoken for over the next ten years (Notre Dame, Syracuse, USC, Northwestern) we should really start to get strategic and creative in which non-BCS opponents we should play. I have my ideas and would like to here yours. (Because BC doesn't have the money to buy games I am assuming that these agreements will always be home and home or on occasion a 2 for 1 in BC's favor.)


1. Northern Illinois The Chicagoland area is important for BC and BC football. We have a strong alumni base there. We continue to accept many students from the area and the football team is now recruiting the area competitively again. Given our history with the MAC, Northern Illinois would probably entertain a 2 for 1, since BCS programs rarely play at their stadiums. The only argument against playing there is that our Chicago fans already have Northwestern and Notre Dame games to attend. There are other pockets of alums that also deserve to see BC in person.

2. San Jose State My rationale for playing the Spartans is very similar to the idea behind playing Northern Illinois. I would much rather play Stanford or Cal in front of our Bay Area fans and alums, but we might have to wait seven or eight years before Stanford and Cal are open on the same year we only have one BCS opponent. We could probably get San Jose State on board in the near future.

3. Temple For years BC wanted Temple off the schedule and now I am suggesting adding them back! But my logic is a bit different now. When the Temple game was a Big East conference game, it represented a dead spot in the schedule. It was filler to pad the win total and generated zero excitement. At the time Temple was one of the worst programs in college football. Now things are a little different. They are much improved and might represent an interesting matchup on occasion. Plus with 12 games, you are going to play some lower level teams. So shouldn't BC play a team that it has a bit of history with? It doesn't hurt that eastern PA and New Jersey are still important recruiting grounds for us. And financially it is an inexpensive trip.

4. Navy Army is back on the schedule, so let's get the Naval Academy back on too. I assume BC has not been in a rush to play Navy because it would represent a very tough game. But assuming that Navy will maintain their current success another five to ten years is presumptuous. What BC should rely on is our history with the Service Academies and our inherent advantages over them on the football field. In most years BC would be a heavy favorite to beat Navy. Not scheduling them out of fear is lame.

5. Tulane Because our ACC schedule brings us south so often, I know Gene wants to visit other areas of the country. But that shouldn't prevent us from playing Tulane. Not only would it be a fun and unique trip for many BC fans, but we should also seek out like minded schools for our opponents. We take pride in doing things the right way and recruiting student athletes. Shouldn't we play other schools that do the same?