Boston College and Georgia Tech to Open 2016 Football Season in Ireland
College football is headed back to Ireland next season; but this time, it will have a twist.
Instead of the usual nonconference showdown, this neutral site matchup in 2016 will be a contest between two opponents in the same league—the ACC.
The Aer Lingus College Football Classic announced Thursday that Boston College and Georgia Tech will play Sept. 3, 2016, at Dublin's Aviva Stadium.
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The season-opening ACC matchup will air on ESPN2 at 7:30 a.m. ET, giving fans an early-morning option for the first big Saturday of the 2016 season.
The matchup will be the ninth time Ireland has hosted a college football game and the second time for Aviva Stadium. Boston College played in the first college game in Ireland, defeating Army in the 1988 Emerald Isle Classic.
| 1988 | Boston College 38, Army 24 | Landsdowne Road (Dublin) |
| 1989 | Pittsburgh 46, Rutgers 29 | Landsdowne Road (Dublin) |
| 1991 | Holy Cross 24, Fordham 19 | Gaelic Grounds (Limerick) |
| 1992 | Bowdoin 7, Tufts 6 | Pearse Stadium (Galway) |
| 1996 | Notre Dame 54, Navy 27 | Croke Park (Dublin) |
| 2012 | John Carroll 40, St. Norbert 3 | Donnybrook Stadium (Dublin) |
| 2012 | Notre Dame 50, Navy 10 | Aviva Stadium (Dublin) |
| 2014 | Penn State 26, UCF 24 | Croke Park (Dublin) |
"I know the young men on our team will remember this experience for a lifetime, and I'm so excited for them," Boston College head coach Steve Addazio said, according to the school's website. "They will get to explore a new country, be immersed in a new culture, and then play the first game on the opening Saturday of the college football season."
While it will be the first contest on Irish soil for Georgia Tech, head coach Paul Johnson was Navy's offensive coordinator for a previous game in the country.
"I'm excited for our guys to have the opportunity to experience playing in Ireland," Johnson said, according to Georgia Tech's website. "Our players really enjoyed it at Navy when we played in Dublin in 1996. It'll be something they remember for the rest of their lives."
The 2016 Aer Lingus College Football Classic will be the ninth meeting between Boston College and Georgia Tech and the first since 2012. Georgia Tech, which won the most recent matchup 37-17, holds a 6-2 record against Boston College.
So even though the 2015 season hasn't even kicked off yet, go ahead and set that early alarm for the first Saturday of the 2016 schedule. This international affair will have conference implications.
Justin Ferguson is an on-call college football writer at Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @JFergusonBR.
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