Friday is the new Thursday

Thursday night games were an honor. Friday night games are a chore. That seems to be an undercurrent among BC fans...even among those who commute to games from outside of New England. But Virginia Tech's decision to beg off of a Thursday night in 2013 is the surest sign that Thursday night games are now devalued across college football.

VT explained their desire to not host a Thursday game was the pain it caused their fan base and the logistics on campus. I don't know if I totally buy that. The Hokies never seem to have a problem filling the stands on a Thursday. My suspicion is now that the NFL plays weekly on Thursday, the game is less of a recruiting tool and less popular with fans. The TV ratings also reflect that the time slot has lost its luster.

That is why I am glad to see BC embrace the Friday option. Unlike Thursday, the ratings for the Friday games continue to grow. And playing in New England means we are not disrupting many high school football games, like Friday night games would in other parts of the country.

I am not a season ticket holder, so it is easy for me to overlook the commuting factor, but I would have to imagine a Friday night game is easier for people south of Connecticut too. The drive might take a little longer but showing up for work on the next day is no longer an issue.

I think we will learn to love the Friday game. I also think it will have a positive effect on marketing the program. BC won't have all that many chances at the spotlight over the next two years. We need to make the most of them.

Thoughts on the 2013 Football Schedule

The ACC finally released their football schedule. The BC-specific schedule is here:

August 31 -- Villanova
September 6 -- Wake Forest
September 14 -- at USC
September 28 -- Florida State
October 5 -- Army
October 12 -- at Clemson
October 26 -- at North Carolina
November  2 -- Virginia Tech
November 9 -- at New Mexico State
November 16 -- NC State
November 23 -- at Maryland
November 30 -- at Syracuse

Nova! The big news was Villanova replacing Stony Brook as the opener. Adding the Wildcats was all the result of some musical chairs pulled off by ESPN and the ACC, so that Pitt (Villanova's previously scheduled  opponent) could play a conference game against FSU opening weekend. This is a win-win for BC. We get an easier "W" against a lessor FCS opponent and we get a somewhat more appealing game. Villanova has the cross-demographic appeal to old school whalepants fans and the younger SuperFans who have friends at the fellow Catholic school.

First Friday. We've played plenty of Friday games before, but this year's game against Wake Forest represents our first official Friday under the revised ACC TV deal. This will be a test of our attendance and TV appeal.

Manageable dates. On paper our toughest games will be Florida State and Clemson. Prior to FSU we get a bye and play Army at home before our trip to Death Valley. That should give the staff plenty of time to prepare. One of the most frustrating aspects of the Spaz regime was our cowardly gameplans against elite teams. Hopefully the schedule allows Daz to have the whole team up for these games.

2013 ACC Football opponents announced!

I know football just ended and many are still skeptical after four years of Spaz, but I got a tingle in my spine when the ACC released our opponent for next year. Our old home and away series as well as our cross divisional games got shuffled a bit due to the arrival of Pitt and Syracuse. New looks for BC include a home game against Syracuse and the Virginia Tech series getting tweaked so that they come to Alumni again in 2013. Our lone cross-divisional game will be UNC (the only ACC team we have yet to beat in Football).

I don't know about you but this has me excited. September can't get here soon enough.

Get your New Mexico State tickets! They're going fast!

Blauds broke the news that BC filled its open schedule slot with New Mexico State. The home game will be played in November and BC's home schedule now includes Army, Stony Brook and New Mexico State. That lineup is not going to help ticket sales. While I wanted BC to find a power program for the open spot or consider a road game payday, I can live with New Mexico State. If we have an outside chance at a bowl game, we need another W from somewhere. NMSU shouldn't be very good and by November we should have all of our transition issues resolved. You can't really spin any other benefits. There is no recruiting advantage nor media interest. But the ACC screwed up our schedule and Bates made the best of it.