It's Comin' To Our City

Since 2001, Boston has been the center of the sports universe. The Duck Boats have paraded 11 world championships through its streets, including the World Series for the fourth time a little over a week ago. Vince Lombardi sits next to Larry O'Brien and Lord Stanley, and each win seemingly morphs the city from a football town to a baseball town to a basketball town to a hockey town.

On Saturday, though, the City of Boston will become a college football town.

ESPN GameDay likes to brag in its opening credits that it's "comin' to your city," and on Saturday, the familiar set will roll into the City of Champions for one of its most unique events. No. 14 Boston College, an upstart team rediscovering its championship-caliber mojo, hosts No. 2 Clemson, arguably the biggest and baddest team in college football's modern era.

"(We're) excited obviously for a big game here in Chestnut Hill," head coach Steve Addazio said. "It's only happened a couple of times here before, and it will bring a tremendous focus to our campus, to Boston College and to our program. That's always a great honor and a great opportunity."

It's not really a surprise that ESPN chose Boston for its weekly program, but the decision sent shockwaves through the college football universe. The Eagles previously hosted the show twice, including an emotional 2009 event when Mark Herzlich announced he had beaten cancer, but this one feels different because of what Saturday's game means contextually to both the present and past history.

It's the first time BC will play a ranked opponent as a ranked team at home since the No. 20 Eagles defeated No. 21 Maryland, 38-16, in 2006. It's only the seventh time in program history that this is happening, and it's only the third time in BC's ACC era. It's the first time the Eagles will play as a ranked team against a ranked team since it lost the 2007 ACC Championship to Virginia Tech.

More recently, though, it's a testament to how the Eagles earned national recognition. Pollsters inserted the team into the rankings after beating Wake Forest earlier this year, but its tenure ended less than a week later in a loss to Purdue. A subsequent loss to NC State nearly eliminated BC from receiving any votes, a hill it climbed after beating both Miami and Virginia Tech. That loss to the Wolfpack remains the team's only ACC setback, meaning it is currently one game behind Clemson entering Saturday.

"I think this is something that is good for the program, good for the university," Addazio said. "Our guys, they all know it and they are fired up about it. It's a signal that you are playing in a really significant game in November. This isn't one of those games where you have to play the motivation game. I think this game will speak for itself."

It adds a significant added flavor to a matchup that everyone already circled on the calendar. Clemson entered the season as the No. 3 team in the nation and never really looked back en route to a 9-0 record. The Tigers have been rolling through opponents with over 400 points already scored and a 240-36 margin in its last four games.

"We are facing an unbelievable challenge, playing the No. 2 team in the country in Clemson," Addazio said. "I will honestly and candidly tell you that this may be the best team I've ever seen in my career. It's certainly the best team I've seen since I've been at Boston College. They are in the top five in almost every statistical category. They are sensational on both sides of the field. They are explosive. They have first-rounders all over the field. They are a legitimate, legitimate big-time team."

This is the first apex of what Steve Addazio hoped to build when he arrived at BC in 2013. During his introductory press conference, he talked about his belief in Boston College as a national championship contender. He talked about the obvious disappointment in the players he inherited because the Eagles missed a bowl game in 2011 and 2012, but he also talked about how he knew they could lay the foundation for future success.

On Saturday, the Eagles have an opportunity to prove their coach as prophetic. Clemson sets the pace in the Atlantic Division, and a win on Saturday clinches the Tigers a spot in the ACC Championship with one last conference game next week against Duke. It keeps them on track for a fourth straight College Football Playoff berth and a possible fourth consecutive postseason game against Alabama.

The Eagles are in the way, but it's not something that's a given. A BC win hands the Eagles the inside track to the ACC Championship game because it would give them the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Tigers. It would potentially create a winner-take-all rivalry matchup at the end of the year against Syracuse, though the Tigers would need to lose to Duke in order to give the Orange a chance.

The biggest show in college football is dropping itself right into that atmosphere. Alumni Stadium proved it could rock for the Red Bandana Game, but this is on a whole other level. Some of the greatest memories are earned organically, and that's what BC has in its opportunity on Saturday. This is a team many believed could compete at Clemson's level, but BC had to earn the opportunity. Now that it has, potential becomes reality over a few hours, under the lights, in the cold New England autumn.

"I expect the atmosphere here will be sensational," Addazio said. "We are expecting a full a stadium and a crowd that will be in their seats early, creating a great home-field advantage, which I'm sure it will be."

Boston has seen its share of sports moments over the past 18 years. The sports pride and success oozes Celtic Green from a spoked-B held by a Green Monster, and all of that runs through the region down I-95 to Gillette Stadium. Last week, the Boston Red Sox flew home with their fourth World Series championship in this era, and it joins the five Super Bowls, one NBA Championship and one Stanley Cup. They all pile with the additional titles and banners, creating a city born to hold moments and events like Saturday. The city has been a hockey town, a basketball town and a pro football town. It proved last week that it's always going to be a baseball town.

Now it's time to become a college football town. It's comin' to our city.

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