Are Boston College fans ready for ACC's prime time?

For the past year, Boston College seemingly has been on trial as it joined the Atlantic Coast Conference. The big question: Can the Eagles keep up with the other big-time schools?

In reality, it may be Boston's sports fans who are on trial.

And the question for them is whether Boston -- the No. 5 television market in the Nielsen ratings -- really is a great sports town.

''A true sports town," said BC football analyst Pete Cronan, ''supports its pro teams even when they're having so-so years and also has room for Division 1 college programs. Any true sports town would be generating some real excitement over BC's foray into the ACC."

Mull that one for a while and think about how this market has supported the Celtics, Bruins, BC, and other local franchises over the past few decade.

In the past, BC has earned good TV ratings when the team played well. Now, with major ACC attractions coming to town, the school has the chance to leverage that association into new marketing opportunities. Fenway Sports Group, an offshoot of the Red Sox, is betting it will happen, partnering with the school in branding and marketing initiatives.

The Eagles' new TV era dawns tomorrow when BC opens its season at Brigham Young (Channel 5, 3:30 p.m.). Paul Page, Ray Bentley, and Vince Welch call the game for ABC.

The game also marks a change in the team's radio lineup on flagship WRKO (680-AM), with Jon Meterparel taking over on play-by-play alongside Cronan over a 12-station network put together by the Fenway Sports Group. Jayme Parker will do double duty at BC games this season, serving as sideline reporter for the radio broadcasts and reporting for NESN's ''Sports Desk."

For Meterparel, the toughest part of the job may be in being taken seriously after almost six years as the whipping boy on WEEI's morning ''Dennis & Callahan Show."

''It's nice to be able to re-create yourself," he said. ''Play-by-play is something I've always wanted to do, and listeners will meet a different version of Jon Meterparel.

''When I listen to a broadcast, I enjoy hearing two guys who are having a good time. I think listeners will find that with Pete and me. If we're informative and entertaining, we'll be doing our jobs," he said.

That shouldn't be hard alongside Cronan, who claims he's been the launching pad for many careers in his two decades on the job. Meterparel will be his 10th partner.

''Dan Davis [the 'Miracle in Miami' game] and Joe Castiglione were one-game guys," said Cronan, who started with Eric Reid (now voice of the Miami Heat) and continued with Gil Santos, Dale Arnold, Dick Lutsk, Sean McDonough, Sean Grande, and John Rooke. ''All good guys, and I learned from all of them and take credit for their success."

Meterparel did his first coach's show with BC's Tom O'Brien last night at 6 on WEEI radio (850-AM). He'll also do a 15-minute weekly segment with BC athletic director Gene DeFilippo that will air Thursdays at 5:45 a.m. and in the 6 p.m. hour. DeFilippo also will be a regular monthly guest on the WEEI morning show.

BC's TV schedule always contains a bunch of TBAs, reflecting the flexibility ABC and ESPN have with their national schedule.

The good part, as DeFilippo says, ''is it gives you the opportunity to play your way into national games, and we'll have more TV exposure than at any time in the school's history."

The downside is that fans don't always know what time home games will be.

BC's home opener against Army Sept. 10 is a 12:30 p.m. telecast on ESPN Classic, but the following week's game (Sept. 17) against Florida State is listed as either ABC at 3:30 p.m. or ESPN at 7:30 p.m. ESPN likely will pick the winner of Monday's Miami-Florida State game to play on ESPN that night.

All the rest of the team's games are listed as TBA for both kickoff time and TV listings with the exception of a 7:30 p.m. game Thursday, Oct. 27, at Virginia Tech on ESPN. DeFilippo offers his annual lesson in the pecking (and picking) order for selecting games to broadcast: ABC, ESPN, and Jefferson-Pilot, which syndicates ACC games.

Channel 38 in Boston and UPN in both Springfield and Providence will have an 11-week package of ACC games at noon on Saturdays, preceded by ''ACC Football Today" at 11:30 a.m. BC should be the pick any week when it's not a national telecast.

And the ratings and attendance figures will tell a lot about whether this is a true sports town.

Pigskin menu

Boston isn't necessarily a hospitable place for ''displaced" fans of major college teams hoping to follow their alma mater. They soon learn that's not always possible without resorting to satellite TV, either at a sports bar or at home. We follow the sport's national games in such small ratings numbers that Comcast doesn't offer ESPN's college football ''Game Plan" that carries out-of-market games, a service that is available on DirecTV.

Some landmarks on this season's college football TV map:

NBC has an exclusive deal with Notre Dame so all ND games will be on Channel 7, right? Wrong. That only applies to the Irish's six home games. ABC and ESPN have grabbed the five road games, starting with tomorrow night's prime-time telecast at 8 from Pittsburgh (Channel 5). Tom Hammond and Pat Haden return to do the Irish home games.

ABC and ESPN have the bulk of the games. The ESPN empire is broadcasting 32 games (in 27 TV windows) over five days, starting last night and running through Labor Day. For the season, ABC and the ESPN stations will televise more than 300 games. One of interest this weekend: No. 1 USC at Hawaii tomorrow (ESPN2, 7 p.m.).