Fans eagerly awaiting a Boston College-Southern Cal match-up in 2013 have to wait no more, because the Eagles will face off against the Trojans on Dec. 26 in the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco.
Executive director Gary Cavalli extended the invitation to the two teams Sunday afternoon.
"On one hand, we've got a big program that isn't exactly where they're used to, and on the other we've got this over-achieving team playing well," Cavalli said.
This will be the Eagles' 11th straight bowl game and their second trip to San Francisco. The first featured a 35-21 victory over Colorado State in 2003.
Head coach Frank Spaziani led the Eagles to an 8-4 season despite facing a number of challenges, from the transfers of quarterbacks Dominique Davis and Justin Tuggle and running back Josh Haden to the injuries that plagued captain Mike McLaughlin and the illness that sidelined Mark Herzlich.
"From where we started in August to being bowl eligible is absolutely phenomenal," Spaziani said.
The Eagles' ability to triumph over adversity is what led the Emerald Bowl committee to invite BC.
"We've had BC here and, after all they've gone through this year, we jumped at the chance to invite them," Cavalli said. "They fit our profile of a prestigious program based within a large TV market who can get the Bay Area football fan excited about the game."
The Eagles opponent, the USC Trojans, suffered one of their worst seasons under Pete Carroll with a record of 8-4, but they still have all the prestige and shine of one of the premier programs in the Pac-10 conference.
"We might never get USC here again, so we're really excited they're coming to the Bay Area," Cavalli said.
BC will have nearly three weeks of preparation before the game and the plans on traveling to San Francisco on Dec. 21.
"The first thing we really need to do is get guys healthy," Spaziani said.
The Eagles hope this extra time will be enough for key players to return, including Alex Albright, James McCluskey, and Jim Ramella.
Though USC is noticeably absent from the top 25, the offense still features freshman quarterback Matt Barkley and playmaker Joe McKnight.
"Our mentality all year has been, we go to bed Friday night thinking we can win, then we wake up Saturday thinking, we can win," Spaziani said. "That's the way I've always played the game."
The Emerald Bowl will be just the third meeting between BC and USC, with the Trojans holding a 2-0 advantage in the series.
"We really look forward to the East-West match-up," Cavalli said. "We think every year it's attractive to Bay Area fans." Two of the past three Emerald Bowls have been sellouts.
Cavalli acknowledged that BC probably would not be able to match the amount of fans USC will bring, but says he is just fine with that. "We're looking for USC to bring us the fans in AT&T Park, but we're counting on the BC fans to give us some high ratings and maybe even surprise us with their attendance because of their high profile," he said.
The Eagles take on the Trojans at 8 p.m. EST, 5 p.m. PST, on ESPN. "We know the Pac-10 is a heck of a league," Spaziani said. "They could have thrown a couple great teams at us, but it wouldn't change anything. We're going to go out there and play our game like we always do."
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