There is a lot to digest about the season opening loss to Rutgers, but one thing that is not being discussed is how scheduling and playing programs like Rutgers is probably not in BC's best interest.
Once we joined a conference in the '90s, BC also added a long series of games with Notre Dame to fill out its non-conference schedule. This worked on many levels. It provided a great recruiting talking point and generated a lot of fan, alumni and media interest. When Notre Dame wanted to end the series, Gene replaced their first gap in the schedule with USC.