When we first received our first peek at Boston College's upcoming football schedule for 2015, our eyes did not fixate on home matchups against Maine, Howard, nor Wake Forest.

Instead, they immediately darted to November 21st, the second-to-last game of the Eagles season, a night in which they will take on the preseason's fourth-ranked team according to Sports Illustrated, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, under the lights at Boston's cherished Fenway Park.

A 7:30 kickoff, the magnitude of this contest should envelope the city as a whole, causing all eyes to be focused in on what should be an intriguing matchup. Dubbed as a team capable of competing in the four-team College Football Playoff come January, the Irish are expected to be in the running for a top-four position in the polls come late November, making the timing of this game a crucial one for the squad.

The intriguing factor of this game from a logistics standpoint is the fact that this contest, the first football game to be played at Fenway Park in 47 years, is considered to be a home game for Notre Dame, despite the overhanging fact that South Bend, Indiana is separated from Yawkey Way by 778 miles.

Due to this technicality, the Fighting Irish have the ticketing rights to the event, meaning that many of the tickets for the game are in their hands, allowing them to set the face value for an entry stub into Fenway Park. Thus, Boston College will have approximately just 5,000 tickets (out of a total capacity of 39,195) at their disposal, making this availability of tickets to fans in the Boston area as limited as ever for any sporting event held at the Fens.

Boston College associate athletic director for ticket operations Jim O'Neill expressed to the Boston Globe in May 2014 that “I feel pretty safe in saying that people are going to have to have some sort of affiliation with Boston College to be able to get a ticket from us...It may even be the toughest ticket that I’ve ever had to deal with in my 25 years here."

Despite the fact that Boston natives will be forced to cope with the inevitable struggle of finding tickets to the event, it does not take away from the fact that the game itself will be an incredibly intriguing one. Entering the season with a revamped offensive line and a brand-new starting quarterback in Darius Wade, the Eagles will be forced to prevent Notre Dame linebacker Jaylon Smith, touted as one of the most impactful defensive players in the country, from wreaking havoc.

Featuring an improved defensive front as well, it will be interesting to witness how Boston College fares against Fighting Irish quarterback Malik Zaire, a formidable field general who can inflict damage both through the air and on the griund, and his speedy wide receiving tandem of William Fuller (1,094 yards and 15 touchdowns in 2014) and Chris Brown (548 yards in 2014).

Matchup anticipation aside, we must also speculate the shape that both of these programs will be in come this matchup. Notre Dame's front-heavy schedule, which includes the likes of Texas, Georgia Tech, Clemson, and USC all before mid-October, will put their resilience to the test immediately, allowing the rest of the football-watching nation to learn whether the team truly deserved their spot at fourth on the Sports Illustrated preseason poll.

While Boston College, ranked fifth in the ACC Atlantic Division heading into the season, faces considerably lessened expectations, those surrounding the team still expect improvement from a program which has garnered seven wins in each of the last two seasons since head coach Steve Addazio took control in 2013.

Will the rushing attack be able to create room for Wade to operate comfortably in his first season at the quarterbacking helm? Will the defense be able to build on a strong showing in 2014? These questions should all be answered by the time the Eagles grace the Fenway Park turf late this autumn.