Earlier Sunday, I had a twitter exchange with News & Observer ACC writer Joe Giglio. He was adamant that BC is going to the Pinstripe Bowl. Joe's logic makes sense. As he explained in his other tweets, both Florida State and Georgia Tech are going to major bowls. Even if the 'Noles lose, they will still make one of the tier one bowl that is not hosting a playoff game. With those two teams in elite bowls, the rest of the conference starts to slot into tiers. BC continues to make the most sense for the Pinstripe Bowl. We are close. We are a decent TV draw. We haven't been there before and we won't embarrass ourselves with ticket sales.
There is one catch though: Notre Dame. Even though the Irish went to the Pinstripe Bowl last year, they can still go this year. Even in down years, Notre Dame will sell more tickets and get a better TV rating than BC in the same bowl. What we have to hope for is that the Pinstripe Bowl doesn't select Notre Dame (based on future potential or another bowl winning the right to pick Notre Dame). Once the Irish are off the table for the Pinstripe, then BC becomes the most logical alternative.
The Pinstripe Bowl doesn't have much history, but I think it would be well received by BC fans. We would probably play a name-brand team and many of our fans could buy tickets.
I trust Giglio's got the scoop. Now let's hope no other team -- including ND -- screws it up for us.
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Just grateful to be going to a bowl - but sitting outside in late December in NY? I guess with enough scotch and some of those electric bun warmers - it might be survivable. Also, NYC is always a great place to visit for a long weekend. Take in a Broadway show and a BC Bowl game - not a bad weekend.
BCI sourced Giglio for their post on bowl process. According to them, there is a lottery among 5 bowls to see who gets ND. So the odds are in our favor, but the luck of the Irish could work against us.
Short of a tier 1 bowl I think the Pinstripe gives us the best chance to show we can buy tickets. Could be a great time. We just need to prevail in 2 lotterys, the selection, and weather.
It doesn't matter which third-rate bowl we go to. We will not travel well and we will play a very mediocre opponent.
What matters is that we win a bowl game for the first time in seven years.
Fox Sports last bowl project had us playing Penn State in the Pinstripe. Are you kidding me? I'd love every second of that. Former rivalry, two rebuilding programs, two teams with big local market interest.
Regardless of who we'd match up with, BC has a huge Alumni base in the region that can all get to that stadium within a shorter drive than we can get to Alumni. NY, NJ, CT are some of our biggest post-grad destinations. And we're all used to the cold.
Personally speaking, I went to the Stadium Series games there last year and while it is freezing, the folks at Yankee Stadium do a good job hosting these events. There's also plenty of bars across the street for "tailgating" and "staying warm."
Tim,
The Pinstripe opponent will be a big 10 team, could be PSU. I think there is allot of knee jerk reaction here based upon the recent past. Of course any time you show up to the game the most important thing is to win, but if we get the Pinstripe I think allot of the past negatives could be mitigated.
I did a quick survey of major sports news sites for BC bowl projections:
CBS Sports -- Military - BC v ECU
Phil Steele -- Pinstripe - BC v PSU
Scout -- Sun - BC v Stanford
Orlando - Pinstripe - BC v RU
SportNews - Military- Memphis v BC
2/5 are appealing.
Bottom line: no one has a clue. 5 well-known sports news organizations, 5 different guesses.
Give me the Sun Bowl!!
The BC community has got to start looking at the world through the "glass half full" eyes of "BJK". ND is no longer the engine and BC the caboose. At one time, ND was the tail that wagged the Catholic dog community. That is no longer the case. ND is preparing to implode. They brought in unqualified players to prop up Kelly. Rightfully, the administration kicked out four. This paralleled what happened to end the "Era of Ara". BC has the "goods and services" to leapfrog the giant. They just have to figure out "how and why".
How great would a BC-ND Pinstripe Bowl be? Anything saying they can't play each other? Afterall, even though ND gets dibs on ACC Bowl slots, they are an Independent.
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