With Big Ten’s Move to Conference-Only Schedule, BC Won’t Play Purdue in 20

Boston College won’t get a chance to avenge its embarrassing 30-13 loss to Purdue—at least not in 2020.

The Big Ten announced on Thursday afternoon that the conference will be moving to a conference-only schedule for all fall sports, including football.

“By limiting competition to other Big Ten institutions, the Conference will have the greatest flexibility to adjust its own operations throughout the season and make quick decisions in real-time based on the most current evolving medical advice and the fluid nature of the pandemic,” the conference’s statement reads.

The league’s statement also clarifies that summer activities will continue to be voluntary, and that Big Ten student-athletes who choose not to participate in athletics because of COVID-19 concerns will not lose their scholarships.

The announcement comes a day after the Ivy League prohibited varsity athletic competition until Jan. 1, and hours following the ACC’s statement pertaining to its delay of Olympic Sports competition until Sept. 1—a schedule change that affects 16 BC athletic events.

The Big Ten’s decision has resulted in the cancellation of several noteworthy non-conference matchups: Michigan at Washington (Sept. 5), Ohio State at Oregon (Sept. 12), Penn State at Virginia Tech (Sept. 12), Miami at Michigan State (Sept. 26), Purdue at BC (Sept. 26), and Notre Dame at Wisconsin (Oct. 3). And those are just some of the bigger matchups.

BC was slated to host Purdue in Week 4—the tail end of a home-and-home series that was scheduled between the Power Five opponents in January 2016.

In 2018, The Boilermakers ran away with a 17-point victory in West Lafayette, Ind., handing then-No. 23 BC a sobering loss less than a week after the Eagles made their first appearance in the AP Poll since 2008. Anthony Brown, who entered with a nation-leading 240.2 passer rating, threw four interceptions, AJ Dillon logged just 3.1 yards per carry, and the Eagles’ offense—which averaged 52.7 points per game through the first three weeks of the season—mustered up just 95 yards of total offense in the opening three quarters of play.

It was a disastrous defeat for the Eagles. For Purdue, on the other hand, the outcome was quite a relief. Jeff Brohm’s Boilermakers had lost their first three games of 2018 by a combined eight points, and, at the time, Purdue’s dominant victory over BC marked the program’s first ranked win in seven years.