Slotting in Boston College in UCLA’s Future Schedules: Makes Sense for Many Reasons

Hats off to gbruin for entertaining us with the SBN Draft posts this off-season.  It reminds me of the first couple of years when the college football blogosphere.  The whole universe was coming into form through interactions spearheaded by old school blogs such as Blue Gray Sky, EDSBS, Burnt Orange Nation, Maize n Brew, Dawg Sports, M Zone and many other cool sites.  We really got into in the back and forth and all the fun with the blogger round tables and blogpolls. Then it sort of became a little too professionalize and started feeling like a chore.

This whole exercise around the college draft has brought some good memories when blogging about the game and various schools in general. It has also given this community an opportunity to reconnect with old friends from places like BON, Dawg Sports, Barking Carnival, UW Dawg Pound and while also to take note of number of cool communities such as BC Interruption, Streaking the Lawn, Shaking the Southland and Bucky's 5th Quarter.

Now the stand alone note on Boston College is worth a followup. Boston College has always been one of our favorite schools and we have been talking about getting UCLA to schedule a home and home with Boston College for a while. Well, we think there is an opening after reading a recent post at BCI.

Let's begin with taking a look at UCLA's tentative schedule for next few years (courtesy of BruinGold.com):

If folks have access to better listing on our schedules please let us know. The spaces next to 2014 was blank on BruinGold and wasn't sure where else to look for future schedules. Meanwhile, Brian has already set up the tentative schedule for BC Eagles over at BCI.

Seems like it could make a lot of sense for UCLA and BC to slot each other for a home and home series in 2017 and 2018. UCLA can visit BC during the second weekend of 2017 football season while BC can open their 2018 season at the Rose Bowl? This makes sense for a lot of reasons. Let me explain after the jump and then would love to hear your thoughts.

I think UCLA gets lot more from scheduling a school like Boston College than programs like Nevada on the road. It is a game I think our alums and fan base will be fired up to attend. We have huge alumni base in New York, Washington, Boston and all over the East Coast, who will love to schedule a whole weekend around a football game in Bean town.

Greg has already done a great job of talking up BC and giving a little taste on what one can do in Boston. I can assure you this if UCLA ever schedules a game against Boston College we could put together tons of posts and perhaps organize multiple events - pub crawls, tailgates on and on - around this game. Bruins turned out in thousands for a game in Tuscaloosa. I am sure the number will be even higher for a game in Boston.

There is also the added benefit of visiting Boston in perhaps the most pleasant and beautiful time of the year. The weather is going to be mellow. The whole town will be rocking with students back in the city. It is also kind of the time of sports nirvana with the baseball season heading towards the Fall Classic and football season under way.  

Full disclosure here - as someone who attended law school in Bean town there are lot of personal connections but I do believe UCLA alums will be all over this road trip. Again, think about the huge turnout Bruins had for the game against Notre Dame, where folks had a great time in South Bend but also in Chicago. In this case, we would get the opportunity to take in a game in Chestnut Hill, which I think is one of the most beautiful campuses in the country, while taking in the joys of Boston. This is a WIN-WIN from all directions.

Hope we can make this happen. What about other schools? We have had discussions on it before and we can always have it again. I previously identified Virginia, LSU, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina (besides BC) as possible fun road trips for UCLA.  Interestingly four of the programs mentioned previously - BC, UVa, Georgia and Wisconsin - are part of the mythical SBN 12 Pack. Funny how that worked out. Like minded schools often seem to attract each other.

Anyway besides BC what other schools could be pragmatic options? I am not talking just about our wish lists, but options that could good fit based on their schedule. BC seems like a reasonable choice here given the opening in their own slots.

Thoughts?

GO BRUINS.