(05-15-2011 02:21 PM)Eagle78 Wrote: Good question. BC doesn't really have a "main rival," so to speak. This is partly due to the fact that there are few schools who play college fooball that share a similar make-up to the BC. ND is obviously one of the bigger games on our calendar. We consider them to be a big rival. However, ND probably wouldn't agree (although I can assure you that we are a bigger game on their schedule than their fans would care to admit). In the ACC, its probably Clemson. BC and Clemson fans have really meshed well together and the games are big for both teams. The schools actually share a trophy each year for the winner of our annual game. VT is also an important game...and we have had some memorable games with them.
Perhaps the biggest opportunity to develop a long-term main rival comes with Syracuse. Both teams have played each other I think over six decades. The series has been competitive. We have signed up for a long-term deal to play them and the schools are aiming to play the games as an end-of-the-regular season, Thanksgiving weekend contest. It would also be a BE vs. ACC game. It has all the makings of a potentially great series. We shall see.
Getting back to this point, and giving it more thought, I realize BC and UC have something in common on this front.
UL is, by far, the BE school we've had the most history with. After that, we've played WVU, RU, and USF maybe a dozen times, at the most.
Our longest running series is with Miami-OH, one which many UC fans don't want to continue. After Miami, then UL, I think the third longest series is Ohio, which I don't think we've played in three decades.
So, while we're a public school, and not private like BC, UC has been in a transition from a MAC-level, to a major college, for the better part of 3-4 decades (perhaps longer). We're too new to major college athletics to really have a lot in common with even schools in the BE.
This is why UC fans were collectively freaking out last year, while conference realignment was the order of the day. If the BE ever imploded, and especially UL would get taken up, we'd be in considerably deep yogurt if ever left out. No doubt, we've been one of the most significant beneficiaries of the ACC raid of the BE.