BC's Bowl Possibilities

With the college football regular season winding down -- this is the final week -- it is time to start getting ready for a month of postseason bowl games. Boston College, ranked No. 19 in the nation by both major polls (AP and Coaches), is on the way to a bowl game for the sixth consecutive year looking for their fifth straight win under coach Tom O'Brien. The 8-3 Eagles, who finished in second place in the ACC Atlantic Division behind Florida State, are hoping to play in a fairly high-profile game after spending the last few Christmas breaks playing in the Meineke Car Care Bowl, San Francisco Bowl, Motor City Bowl, Music City Bowl and the Insight.com Bowl. The only problem for the Eagles is that some of the more high-profile bowls may not be interested in taking BC as a participant. The fact of the matter is that the BC fan base does not have the reputation of traveling to support the team and the directors of a game are concerned with selling tickets. Of course, if BC had taken care of business and beaten North Carolina three weeks ago then this would not be an issue. The Eagles blew the game in Chapel Hill, costing them the Atlantic Division title and a spot in the inagural ACC Championship Game against Virginia Tech. Even a loss to the Hokies would have assured BC a place in the Gator Bowl -- one of the top games that isn't a BCS (Rose, Fiesta, Sugar and Orange Bowls) affiliate. But BC did lose to the Tarheels and now their fate rests with the selection committees from the various bowl games and with their conference commissioner, John Swofford. Boston College's Athletic Director, Gene DiFilippo, must lean heavily on Swofford to get his team into a more prestigious game. The current thinking of many of the "experts" is that BC will end up in the MPC Computers Bowl in Boise, Idaho against Boise State. BC would be a good draw for this relatively unknown game as they are a good team from a powerful league like the ACC. Also, the directors of the game won't have to worry about ticket sales because Boise State's fans are known to be rabid followers of the Broncos and the game will also be played on the blue turf that is home to Boise State. But BC deserves more. I'm not one of those BC fans that think the Eagles are a step or two away from having a football factory but as a season ticket holder and someone who watches BC play quite often, I know this team should be getting more respect from some of the other bowls. That is not to say that Boise State is a bad team -- they are quite entertaining to watch -- but if the ACC wants to build BC into an attractive member of its' football family then they must find a way to get the Eagles into a higher-profile game to garner more interest from the BC fans. A December trip to Idaho is not the way to accomplish that. The ACC needs to get BC an invitation to the Peach Bowl in Atlanta on December 30. BC would be paired against a team from the SEC (possibly South Carolina or Alabama) in a game that would help the Eagles gain more national recognition -- something that will help recruiting, make the team more competitive and help build support in the Boston area. Otherwise the conference will risk having the BC football team lose some of its' momentum as a program on the rise and in turn the ACC will suffer as well because their league will not be as competitive as they hoped for when thet brought Boston College into the fold along with Miami and Virginia Tech.