A JERSEY GUY: Teams Now Scrambling For Games

After a summer of uncertainty about whether there would even be a college football season this fall, teams are not only getting ready to play, but looking for non-conference opponents.

With the actual start of the 2020 college football season a few weeks away from becoming more of a reality, several teams have switched their focus from merely preparing for the season, to looking for non-conference opponents to kick things off.

Included in that grouping are UCF from the American Athletic Conference, and Pittsburgh and Boston College from the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The reason for the last minute search is that each of those teams lost games when their opponents shut down the season.

The initial reaction was to remain passive and merely accept an open date.

But, that has changed as we get closer to Labor Day weekend kickoff games that might actually begin the 2020 season.

One problem.

It is a seller's market, with a minimum number of teams available for the Sept. 12 open date most teams are targeting.

Teams in the ACC have been instructed to follow a 10 conference, one non-conference (home) game format.

BC lost its Sept. 12 opponent in Ohio U when the Mid-American Conference shut down its fall football programs.

New Eagle coach Jeff Hafley and new athletic director Patrick Kraft's first inclination was to wait for BC's  season opener at Duke on Sept. 19th.

That feeling has changed with a few ground rules. The Eagles would like to face a non-conference opponent who they should be able to beat, but will also get them ready to open their ACC season with a new coach and a new starting quarterback in Notre Dame transfer Jurkovec.

Jurkovec was only cleared to play by the NCAA earlier this month, but has 3 years of eligibility remaining and could be a cornerstone for any BC revival under Hafley.

Getting some non-ACC experience before the season opener has become part of the BC summer plan, if possible.

The problem?

There are teams that have openings on Sept. 12 and would like games, but most of them don't fall into the "Cupcake" U. category that most teams want in their season openers, especially those teams with new coaches and new QBs.

The AAC, which has the freedom to schedule as many as four non-conference games for each team, would seem to be a prime target area for the Eagles.

The second problem?

Teams such as UCF, Memphis and Cincinnati all have openings on Sept. 12, but they are also the pre-season favorites in the AAC.

Another AAC team, Temple, would seem to be a perfect fit for BC. Middle of the road AAC team, new coach, Rod Carey, who was hired by Kraft, who came to BC from Temple.

But Temple, which would be a great fit for Pitt on Sept 12 as well, has shown no inclination to start its season earlier than its Sept. 26 conference opener against Navy.

Temple would also be a good fit in a cross-state game at Pittsburgh on Sept. 12. 

Another possible opponent for either the Panthers or the Eagles is Army, but the Cadets, who run a rarely used Triple-option offense, are regarded too much of a pain in the butt, low reward game by most coaches.

Neither Pitt nor BC has expressed much interest in scheduling the Cadets.

A realistic possibility could be Liberty, which is still transitioning into the FBS level, and already has three games scheduled against ACC opponents (North Carolina State, Virginia Tech and Syracuse).

There has been some question about how Liberty is handling its COVID-19 testing procedures, but if the Eagles can figure a way to deal with that, it could be a solution.

If that doesn't happen, the Eagles best bet would be to maintain the status quo and open their season at Duke on Sept. 19, barring any COVID-19 spikes in Eagles territory of course, which would slow down or cancel the entire process.