So who could be our rival for rivalry week?

[Chris02M]

just thinking about bcs level teams how about:

kansas state
missouri
byu?

 

[Rocco]

BC keeps the NY vs Boston rivalry going, but then again, no one in Boston cares about BC.

An annual game with Rutgers would also be fun. Losers have to go fake baking for a month and wax their hair into a blowout.

WVU - Schartzwalder Trophy... bummer

Penn St - they wont budge on the MetLife deal

 

[longtimefan]

I would vote for MD.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

I expect the Terps will be persona non grata to all of the ACC for more than a few years.

 

[44PRIDE]

scUM

 

[HarrisonJBounel]

I attended during the McNabb days. I can't accept Rutgers as a rival. We used to take a knee in the 3rd quarter playing those guys. I don't see why it would be anyone other than BC. Great regional/relevant rivalry.

That's what Penn State probably says about us.

 

[kingottoiii]

People might not want to admit it, but Boston College was turning into a rival before they left for the ACC. I'm talking about at the end, after Miami and Va Tech had moved back past us again. We had some very chippy games with BC, and were involved in a lot of recruiting battles against them. Does our reason for leaving a certain web site ring a bell? We wanted to be Penn State's rivals, but they beat us for about 20 years in a row, before we finally kicked their tails in the 1987 game.

Hogwash. There was 2004 and that was it.

 

[DomeStranger]

Penn St, Pitt, WVU, & SU ... Every team can say they've played the other 3 more than any other team. It's an interesting thing we all have in common. Back when even though we were Independents we were actually in our own league. I'm all for scheduling these teams whenever possible for whatever reason.

 

[Opus]

Navy, Army? Not the stiffest competition but we used to play them some.

 

[mantonio]

Rivalries develop organically over time, through events we cannot fabricate on a fan board...

 

[sutomcat]

Never mind - was just thinking out loud and wanted to change the topic off of conference realignment.

Even before we got into the ACC, we were going to play BC again every year and the game was going to be played on Rivalry (Thanksgiving) weekend.

The ACC was fine with this and basically committed to Syracuse playing BC on the Friday of Thanksgiving weekend every season. That is what is going to happen.

However...

Syracuse was originally paired with Boston College as its our out of division football rival and special basketball rival. Pitt was paired with Maryland. With Maryland gone, I think our Rivalry Week opponent might change depending on what the ACC does to replace the Terps.

If the ACC takes Louisville, I expect the ACC to just replace Maryland with UL, so UL and Pitt get paired together as rivals and Syracuse would remain paired with BC.

If the ACC takes UConn, the natural thing to do would be to pair BC and UConn as rivals, and pair Syracuse with Pittsburgh instead.

I am guessing BC will still be unhappy with adding UConn to the conference (even though DeFilippo has recently or is about to retire). Making UConn their top rival would rub salt into the wound; I could see the ACC pair them with Pitt, at least initially, to keep BC people a little happier.

Anyway, if we get switched to pair with Pitt, I think it is bad news for us. We get a much harder annual opponent in basketball and in football, and a much longer road trip for the game for CNY based fans as well. Plus, there are far less SU fans in Western Pennsylvania than in New England.

I have to agree with UEO. In retrospect, it would have been prudent to take UConn and RU when Pitt and SU were taken, so the East Coast was secured from B1G expansion.

But we all know that would never happen with FSU and Clemson threatening to leave to keep the conference if it became too Northern.

If the ACC fails, more than anyone, I think it is on FSU and Clemson for blocking Northern expansion and for choking on the football field, time and time again.

Anyway, the ACC expansion decision is a really important one for the conference and for Syracuse, for a number of reasons. At this point, I would add UConn. I would add UL too provided that doing so would get Clemson and FSU to since a GOR agreement. No more coddling to these schools...they should be considered former members until they prove otherwise.

 

[SmilinBob]

Good question and great points Tom. I'm fine with BC, Pitt or UConn. If PSU joins (I know it won't happen) let's face it, it'll be PSU/Pitt.