Boston College Football: Army Game In Jeopardy Due to Shutdown

Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports

The intersection of politics and sports is often highly disturbing. Now, the meeting of those two regions has potentially endangered the Homecoming football game between the Boston College Eagles and Army Black Knights on Saturday.

Because of the federal government shutdown, which took place at midnight Eastern Time when the 2014 fiscal year began without appropriations in place, the Department of Defense has frozen athletic events at all service academies. This means, amongst other things, that the Eagles and Black Knights may not play on Saturday.

The game between Air Force and Navy this Saturday may be cancelled (the veracity of this report is in question), and Boston College’s game might be next. Athletic Director Brad Bates had this to say on the matter:

The only other common date which both teams have free and available is December 7, which is after the Eagles’ current season finale at Syracuse but a week before the Army-Navy game. That also happens to be the day of the ACC Championship Game, in which the Eagles are unlikely to play. That contest will not be held until primetime, which would give Boston College a chance to host a game at midday without much issue. Furthermore, there are no major home games at the school that day. For that to happen, however, it would require the cooperation of both schools and the conference, assuming the shutdown is over in two months.

Boston College could also potentially drop the game and find a last-minute opponent, which would be harder to do logistically at this point than rescheduling with Army.

Short of either of those things, Boston College may be robbed of what could amount to a sixth win this season and therefore not qualify for a bowl game. On the other hand, if it is considered a forfeit, the Eagles could be gifted a win by the NCAA. It would certainly make for one of Boston College’s most bizarre “wins” ever, but how the NCAA will deal with this is hazy and that is by no means definite.

It has been reported that service academy games have been played during previous government shutdowns. If this is the case, then that may mean that politics are being played with college football, which is unfortunate. (This might not be the case, however, if Defense was funded independently during previous shutdowns.) Someone had to be in the wrong place at the wrong time for this to happen, and the bad news is, it was us.