Report: UConn moving their BC home game to Fenway

According to Blauds, UConn is set to move their game this season from Rentschler Field to Fenway Park. If this comes together, it would be great news for BC.

Supposedly UConn is doing it for the money. But who cares what their motivation is? In this scenario, BC gets a guaranteed payout for a game 15 minutes from Alumni. The travel costs (with buses and hotels) are identical to a home game. BC can probably stay in their usual team hotel and keep nearly the same home game schedule. Heck, they could even do the Mass on campus and potentially the walk and STILL get to Fenway on time to warm up there. Like our game at Gillette against UMass, this is an away game to the computers, but becomes a virtual home game for us. Plus, there is a nice recruiting boost and a tiny spark to local interest in Boston.

I know plenty of people were unhappy when BC played Notre Dame at Fenway two years ago as the "road" team. I don't get the frustration. These schools are not taking over our town. Other than diehards, no one really pays attention to the fact that we are the road team. Even if the field is painted with UConn logos, the casual fan will just see a Boston team playing in Boston. Recruits don't care.

Tickets were tight when BC played Notre Dame in Fenway. I don't envision that same problem this time. If anything, more BC fans will be in attendance than would have gone to see the game in East Hartford.

I don't know who else wants to host us in Fenway, but I am all for it. As long as we get paid and don't lose a game at Alumni, it makes sense. Thanks to Fenway Sports Group and Brad Bates for making this happen.

Fenway is not the answer

I waited on responding to the Globe's hacky piece on BC turning down a return trip to Fenway in 2016 because there was a lot to address even in a short, poorly argued article. I've been a huge proponent for more football at Fenway, but that doesn't make it the perfect destination for BC under any old circumstance. BC should and will return to Fenway, but it needs to be under the right circumstances.

2016 was always a no go
Even with its proximity, Fenway remains a gimmick/marketing game for the BC fanbase. It is not part of the traditional on campus experience and requires a change in behavior from our fans and on the team operations. We already have a huge gimmick game in 2016. In case anyone at Fenway or the Globe forgot, BC is putting a ton of energy and marketing into the trip to Ireland. Even with the disappointing ticket sales, it is taking tons of coordination and tapping into our most loyal fans and customers. If BC had included Fenway in 2016, it would have hurt Ireland all that much more. I assume the negative comments and information about the Ireland trip were planted by Fenway people who can't believe BC passed on the opportunity. And although we are not hosting the UMass game at Gillette, having another game so close to campus also hurts demand for anything special BC might have attempted. 

Losing the home field advantage
Playing a road game at Fenway was brilliant. BC kept travel costs to a minimum yet could leverage the recruiting and marketing aspect of the game. Who cares that we dressed in the visitor's locker room? The number of people who paid attention to Boston College being away in Boston's most famous landmark was minimal. If you are reading this blog you pay attention. If you are a casual BC fan or casual college football fan, you probably didn't realize and forgot about it five minutes after the game ended. If UConn or UMass want to move their future home games against us to Fenway, I would be all for it. It would be easier for our fans and a less hostile environment. However, us elevating those opponents by choosing to play them in Fenway is a bad idea. Think of it this way: would more UConn fans buy tickets and pour into Fenway than Alumni? Where is our team more likely to feel at home?

Keeping as many games as possible at Alumni
Financially I am sure Fenway would have been as successful or even more than a standard home game. But there are ancillary benefits to a game on campus that BC can't always measure with dollars. Games bring fans and alumni back to campus. It creates a feeling. A connection. It is a great showcase of what BC is. It also serves as a great tool for future students. Plus the more we move home games away from BC, the more fuel we give to the neighbors who hate BC. There are already too many restrictions on our home games. If we create a regular alternative, how long before the locals cap home games at five and demand more played at Fenway? Plus keeping games on campus adds value to our donor programs and our season ticket packages. Scheduling, bad football, and tone deaf marketing has hurt our ticket sales and made buying a package questionable at best. If we take more and more home games out of the package, we are telling our loyal customers that the games they are buying for Alumni have even less value. It will erode what value those seats currently have.

Aside from winning, we should use our marketing efforts to create a better Alumni Stadium experience so that people want to come to our regular home field.

Fenway's baseball problem
The Red Sox may exploit Fenway any chance they get, but it will always be a baseball stadium first. In 99% of the seasons, the only time to play in Fenway will be November. For TV reasons and overall scheduling reasons, the ACC would prefer that all our November games be conference games. Why should we move desirable important ACC games away from Fenway?

What Fenway should do
The Red Sox would have an event at Fenway every day of the year if they could. Them planting an anti-BC story in the Globe is just sour grapes and another way to put pressure on BC to play more games at Fenway. But if they want a regular game there, then it is time to start the Fenway Bowl. That sort of event would be perfect for BC. We could play there often. It would be lucrative for both parties and allow BC to leverage the Boston aspect of our school and football. Even in the years when BC wasn't in the game, there would probably be enough interest from other ACC fanbases to keep the bowl viable.

What next?
BC needs to put all of its energy into improving the Alumni experience. There is no reason to go to Fenway in 2017 either. In my opinion the earliest games to consider bringing back to Fenway is Holy Cross in 2018. But to do that, BC would have to move the game from September to November. There is historical justification for playing the Crusaders in Fenway and it could be a way to turn a less desirable into a hot ticket.

In-game comments post: Notre Dame

Fenway Park. Notre Dame. This is supposed to be fun. Let's make it a good one and hope that something special happens.

Leave your thoughts and comments below.

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BC-Notre Dame preview

The bye week made this forgettable season that much more forgettable. There certainly hasn't been one game we will remember in a positive light, but I can't even think of one play that stood out. Fenway will provide a unique stage this weekend, but at this point I can't count on anything great happening.

What's on my mind (not totally related to this game) 
Doug Flutie's parents dying this week will get a mention or two during the broadcast. I think we all appreciate what the Fluties did for BC and Natick. In thinking about them, I also started thinking about all BC parents...even those parents whose children are not BC athletes. When people write how Boston College came together, they start with the Jesuits, they get into the parochial history in the Boston area with education and Catholics, most will mention the students and alumni, and the many great faculty. Flutie even gets plenty of credit. But BC parents don't get enough credit for the school's success. There wouldn't be so many good members of the BC community if there weren't so many good BC parents. Those parents instilled values and intelligence in many of our alumni that served them well before they arrived at the Heights. So thank you to the Fluties and all the BC parents out there.

Three Simple Keys
1. Use Fadule to open up the run. I'm glad Fadule could pass against NC State. But that's really not what we need. Balance would be ideal, but given our opponent and talent, I would rather run the ball. Let's see more read option and a few early passes. Then the Irish will stop stacking the box and we will get some longer runs.
2. No big pass interference penalties. I expect Notre Dame to copy Clemson and NC State's success and go deep. We need great play from all the DBs and we also need them to avoid dumb penalties.
3. Better blocking from the Tight Ends and WRs. It has been a mess all year. If we are ever pulling off an upset, we need these guys to sustain blocks all over the field. 

Gambling Notes
-- Notre Dame has won four straight over BC
-- Brian Kelly is 3-1 vs BC (one loss came when at Central Michigan)
-- Addazio is 1-4 against teams in the Top Ten
The current line is BC+16.5

Factoid
This is only the third time BC has played Notre Dame on a neutral field.

Scoreboard Watching
We should all be on the Clemson bandwagon now. Just hope they steamroll everyone and win it all. We don't necessarily need a dominant power in our division, but winning championships helps the ACC's long term credibility.

I hope to see...
Fadule play the whole game. As touching as it might seem to play Troy Flutie this weekend, I don't want ceremonial snaps to take over a game. We are probably going to lose regardless of who plays at QB, but I still want to try to win. Rotating QBs just sets us back.

BC is in trouble if...
There is no pressure on Kizer. If he can just stand in the pocket, he will destroy our DBs.

Bottom Line
I can't talk myself into this one. At this point we've played all the cards. The only ones left to play are the huge in-game risks and Addazio clearly won't do that. I think BC will play hard, make it interesting in the first half, but ultimately stall out on offense. I think Notre Dame will add two touchdowns in the second half and win comfortably.
Final Score: BC 17, Notre Dame 28

Guest Blogger: Inside the Irish's Keith Arnold

Because we haven't played them in a few years, the Irish don't seem as familiar to BC fans these days. Throw in the injuries and roster changes and there are very few Notre Dame players who have faced BC. To get a feel for this talented team and perspective on Notre Dame's run for the playoff, I asked Keith Arnold of Inside the Irish a few questions. His answers are below.

1. Kizer hasn't really played like a back-up quarterback. What are his weak spots and do you think he is good enough to lead the Irish to a Championship.

Keith Arnold: If Notre Dame fans aren't surprised by the impressive performance of DeShone Kizer they're lying. He was outplayed in the spring game by walk-on quarterback Montgomery VanGorder, the defensive coordinator's son, and looked absolutely terrible—rock bottom as a quarterback, he admitted a few weeks ago.

But Kizer's most impressive trait has been his ability to be unflappable. Pair that with an elite physical skill-set—he's 6-foot-4 and nearly 240 pounds—and he's used his great football IQ, NFL-caliber arm and sneaky-good zone-read option skills to move the passing game and serve as the goal line and short yardage running option.

Is he good enough to lead Notre Dame to a championship? Good question. I think he's good enough to win out the regular season—and then my bigger question is about the Irish defense, not the play of the first-year quarterback, oddly enough.

2. I know that many Notre Dame fans dislike Kelly and think he cannot win the big one. Where do you stand on him?

Keith Arnold: A Notre Dame fan that can't appreciate what Brian Kelly's doing—and really, has already done—is never going to be happy. (A shock, right?) I tend to think (and I wrote it last week) that this is going to be the beginning of a really impressive run for the Irish, who have a loaded roster, some really talented young depth, and stability at quarterback that should lead them for three more seasons (at least).

Has Kelly been perfect? No. Did he rub people the wrong way early in his tenure? Some. But before he was immortalized and turned into the daffy and fun Dr. Lou, Notre Dame managed to run Lou Holtz out of South Bend, too. That didn't turn out too well. Athletic director Jack Swarbrick understands what he has in Kelly. The institutional arrogance that sometimes comes along with Notre Dame doesn't exist under the Golden Dome anymore—it's mostly relegated to certain subsets of alums and fans.

Can Kelly win the big one? Again—can't be sure until it happens. I don't think the Alabama game after the 2012 season was an indication of that. The Irish didn't have the horses then.

I thought Kelly's ability to out-maneuver LSU last year with a decimated defense was a great schematic victory. He also did some great things this season in wins over USC and the option teams, Navy (finally earning some respect) and Georgia Tech.

3. With Stanford looming, is there any chance Notre Dame overlooks this game?

Keith Arnold: I don't know if it's possible to overlook this game. The venue, the green jerseys, Boston College—an opponent that's pretty high on the Irish rivalry list, especially for fans. Add to that the leverage of the situation with a playoff berth on the cusp, and I'm more worried about the Irish being tight than looking ahead.

What really interests me about this game is figuring out how the Irish play offense against a really stingy and attacking defense. Notre Dame's offense line is hit-and-miss. They can key huge gains in the run game and then completely whiff and lose individual battles. And I'm curious if the Eagles can manufacture any big offensive plays against a defense that's really allowed everybody but Texas to make a handful of big-chunk plays. So far, they haven't been able to do that at all. Maybe Notre Dame will help open things up.

There are three-win teams. And then there's B.C. I tend to think this is the most dangerous version of this game—there's literally no reason for the Eagles NOT to pull out all the stops to try and steal a victory here.

4. What is your prediction for the game?

Keith Arnold: I don't name scores (would hate to let people confirm my stupidity), but essentially I just don't think Boston College can score enough points on offense to win this football game.

I'm not sure how well the Irish will move the ball, but I do think there'll be a big play or two in the passing game. But ultimately, it comes down to me seeing the Irish pulling away in the second half, more because the Eagles defense gets absolutely no support from the offense, not because of any great performance by the Irish.

I take all of this back if Notre Dame turns the football over early and more than once. Then it's chaos scenario and I actually think the Eagles will be a totally frightening team if they can get this game to the fourth quarter.

But I just don't see that happening in a stadium that should be mostly Notre Dame fans.

Spoilers?

When we used to play and upset Notre Dame annually, the game took on huge importance to the casual BC fan. During that time I always enjoyed upsetting the Irish, but tried to downplay the rivalry. I wished that those casual BC fans would instead put their ficus on our games that counted. This year is different. BC has nothing to play for. This year we need to upset the Irish just to give the season and rivalry a little boost.

One game shouldn't make a season, but if Addazio can pull off a win this week, it will answer the doubters and critics. If he and Fitch assemble an offensive gameplan that wins, then maybe their youth and injury excuses were legitimate. If the depleted DBs can stay with Notre Dame's talented WRs, then maybe Don Brown is a miracle worker.

Plus, winning will give the team confidence for Syracuse and for next year. It will help on the recruiting trail too.

But best of all, it would spoil another Irish season. If Notre Dame wins out, they are likely in the Playoff. Lose to us and they are out. Wouldn't that be nice?

I will preview our actual chances on Thursday, but for now, I hope everyone in the BC locker room believes we will win. Spoiling their season just might save ours. 

Throwbacks for Fenway!

As expected, BC will wear a special uniform for the game at Fenway. But instead of some nouveau "Cool" look, BC is going old school with a throwback look to the '80s. The color will be a little more mustard than our current gold. The helmet stripe is gone and the pants have the white-maroon-white trim.

But these are not truly identical to the Flutie days. We didn't have the "vintage" BC logo on the shoulder and the arm stripes are on the undershirt, not the true jersey. Plus in the '80s, the jerseys were very short, and guys like Flutie often had their abs showing.

Even if it is not a true throwback, I like what Under Armour did here. These should be popular and hopefully boost sales a bit.

By the way. The Irish will wear green. We know how that goes against us.