< PreviousText by Reid Oslin, Boston College, ’68 T he 2022 season will be the 124th year of intercollegiate football competitiaon for the Boston College Eagles. Here are a few of the milestones that have been reached along the way: 1891 — The Boston College student body was granted permission, but no money, by President Edward I. Devitt, S.J., to organize a football team. Joseph F. O’Donnell (1892), a Dorchester, Massachusetts, native with some previous am- ateur football experience, helped organize a team that played an informal schedule the following year. 1893 — Boston College began formal football com- petition. The team’s first game was a 4-0 victory over St. John’s Institute, an amateur power of the day (touchdowns were scored as four points by existing rules). BC played its first intercollegiate game on Oct. 25, a 6-0 loss to Tech ’97, an MIT class team. The first varsity game was a 10-6 victory over Boston University in the final contest of the year. Joseph C. Drum (’94) served as BC’s first football coach and the team’s captain was Bernie Wefers (’94), who briefly held the world record in the 200-meter dash and 220-yard dash. 1894 — The Boston College football team got its first compensated coach, William Nagle. The school adopted the team colors of maroon and gold. 1896 — Boston College and Jesuit rival Holy Cross met for the first time in a home-and-home series. Boston College won both games, by scores of 6-2 and 8-6. 1900 — College President W.G. Read Mullan, S.J., refused to allow a football team to play under the school’s name. Students formed an independent team named “Boston Combination” that competed locally. Fr. Mullan relented and allowed a varsity team to be fielded the following year. 1903-07 — In a reaction to the growing public outcry against the violence of college football, as well as for economic considerations, the sport was dropped at Boston College. Unit- ed States President Theodore Roosevelt summoned the leaders of college football to Washington and urged that the rules of the sport be tightened. The resulting rules committee evolved into the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). 1908 — Varsity football was restored at Boston College. The team practiced on the Massachusetts Avenue Grounds, the site of a former city dump. Team members mowed the grass and lined the field before practice sessions. 1913 — The college moved from its original location on James Street in Boston’s South End to a new campus in Chest- nut Hill. The football team’s locker room and equipment storage area were located in the basement of the “Recitation Building” (renamed Gasson Hall in 1952), but coach Hiker Joy’s team walked to the public park in Cleveland Circle for daily practice. 1915 — The original Alumni Stadium was dedicated on Oct. 30; however, the inaugural game was won by arch-rival Holy Cross by a 9-0 score before some 5,000 fans. A week later, Boston College won its first on-campus game, defeating Fordham, 3-0. The stadium was located on Middle Campus on the site of today’s Stokes Hall. 1918 — Because of required military training for students in preparation for World War I, the football team was forced to limit practice sessions to no more than one hour per day. 1919 — A returning war hero, Frank Cavanaugh, was hired as BC’s football coach. Known as “The Iron Major,” Ca- vanaugh had been badly wounded in the Battle of San Mihiel, but recovered to launch a coaching career that would eventu- ally lead him into the College Football Hall of Fame. In his first season at BC, he led his team to a startling 5-3 victory over heavily favored Yale — the biggest win in school history to that point. A 1943 movie, “The Iron Major” starring Pat O’Brien, chronicled Cavanaugh’s life story. Part of the film A HISTORY OF EAGLES FOOTBALL BC dedicated Boston College Stadium, the new home of the Eagles, in Chestnut Hill at the start of the 1932 season. BOSTON COLLEGE 38 @BCFOOTBALL | 2024 FOOTBALL PROGRAM BOSTONCOLLEGEwas shot at the former Liggett Estate (now O’Connell House) on BC’s Upper Campus. 1920 — The Boston College football team adopted the nickname “Eagles.” The season was capped by a stirring 14-0 victory over Holy Cross before 40,000 fans at Braves Field. The win gave the team a perfect 8-0 season and the school’s first “Eastern Championship.” 1921 — The team’s budding success drew national inter- est. The Eagles were invited to play Baylor in the dedication game of Dallas’ Cotton Bowl stadium. The BC team, which made the 2,400-mile trip by train to play its first inter-sec- tional contest, responded with a 23-7 win over the Bears. 1926 — The final year of the Cavanaugh era produced an- other unbeaten season (6-0-2). The team captain was Joe McK- enney, who would return to coach the Eagles from 1928-34. 1928 — McKenney’s first year as head coach was a per- fect 9-0 season and yielded another Eastern title. McKenney would later gain entrance into the College Football Hall of Fame as a highly respected college football official. 1936 — BC named Gilmour Dobie, another future Col- lege Hall of Fame member, as its head football coach. The Eagles’ schedule was upgraded to include such national rivals as Kansas State, Kentucky, North Carolina State, Indiana and Florida, and home games were shifted to Fenway Park and Braves Field. Dobie’s teams lost only six games in his three- year tenure. 1939 — On Feb. 7, Frank Leahy was named head foot- ball coach. “I have come here to succeed and to win football games,” he told alumni a few days later. He did both, as the Boston College football team won 20 of 22 games played in the ensuing two seasons. The Eagles lost only one regular-sea- son game in the 1939 campaign (7-0 to Florida) and became the first New England team in 20 years to earn a New Year’s Day bowl invitation. The Eagles met Clemson in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 1, but lost a close 6-3 decision to the Tigers. 1940 — An undefeated (11-0) season, capped by the Sugar Bowl championship and the claim of a national championship made this arguably the greatest season in Eagle football annals. On Nov. 16, BC handed Georgetown its first football loss in three years when “Chuckin” Charlie O’Rourke eluded a host of tack- lers and took a safety in his own end zone as the clock expired to give the Eagles a memorable 19-18 victory. Sportswriter Grant- land Rice described the contest as “the greatest game of football ever played.” 1941 — On Jan. 1, the Eagles would lay claim to the national championship with a 19-13 victory over Tennessee in the Sugar Bowl. Again, O’Rourke provided the heroics, scoring on a 24-yard touchdown run with three minutes re- maining in the game. Leahy had installed the game-winning play in the BC offense one day before the game. Leahy and five members of the Sugar Bowl championship team would eventually be enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame (HB O’Rourke, C Chet Gladchuk, E Gene Goodreault, FB Mike Holovak and G George Kerr). A crowd of 100,000 peo- ple welcomed the Sugar Bowl victors back to Boston’s South Station, but Leahy would leave Boston College for Notre Dame within a month of the game. 1941 — From a field of 80 candidates, Denny Myers was named Boston College’s new head football coach. 1942 — The Eagles were undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the land as they headed into the final game of the season against Holy Cross on Nov. 28. The Crusaders pulled off one of the biggest upsets in college football history that day, up- ending BC by a 55-12 score. Many BC players and fans were so bitterly disappointed that a planned “victory party” at Bos- ton’s Cocoanut Grove restaurant was canceled. The Cocoanut Grove was destroyed by fire that night, and 492 people lost their lives. 1943 — Again playing on New Year’s Day, Boston Col- lege lost to Alabama in the Orange Bowl, 37-21. One bright In 1937, Lou Montgomery ’41 became the first Black athlete in BC history. A dominant running back, Montgomery contributed to the Eagles’ 1940 championship season, but was forced to sit out the Sugar Bowl due to discriminating laws in America’s south. Led by “Chuckin” Charlie O’Rourke, head coach Frank Leahy’s Eagles went undefeated at 11-0 to win the 1940 National Championship. The Eagles finished the year with a 19-13 win over Tennessee at the 1941 Sugar Bowl. 39 @BCFOOTBALL | 2024 FOOTBALL PROGRAM BOSTONCOLLEGEpoint in the game for the Eagles was the play of Holovak, who scored all three BC touchdowns and averaged 15.8 yards every time he touched the football — an Orange Bowl record that stands to this day. 1943-45 — A large number of Boston College play- ers and coaches departed to serve their country in the United States armed forces during World War II. The teams fielded on campus found competition against ser- vice teams such as Melville PT and Squantum Naval Air Station. 1946 — Myers returned as head coach after the war and the Eagles undertook a national schedule that included LSU, Tennessee, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Michigan State and Penn State in following years. Two members of that September’s freshman class — linemen Art Donovan and Ernie Stautner — would one day be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The roster also included lineman Ed King, who, after a brief pro football career, would later be elected Governor of Mas- sachusetts. 1949 — On Nov. 26, Boston College scored its most lopsided victory, 76-0, over annual rival Holy Cross. BC full- back/kicker Ed Petela scored a record 34 points in the game — four touchdowns and 10 PATs. 1951 — Mike Holovak, who had played professional football with the Los Angeles Rams and Chicago Bears, re- turned to his alma mater as head coach. He later would be the head coach of the Boston Patriots and long-time general manager of the Houston Oilers. 1956 — After losing to Holy Cross, 7-0, on Dec. 1, Boston College was told that football games will no longer be played at Fenway Park. The school considered dropping the sport. 1957 — On Jan. 23, Boston College President Joseph R. N. Maxwell, S.J., announced the decision to build a new stadium on campus. Athletics director William J. Flynn and former head coach Joe McKenney led the successful $250,000 campaign to construct the new facility on the site of a filled-in reservoir on BC’s lower campus. On Sept. 26, Alumni Stadi- um opened with a game against Navy that had been arranged with the assistance of then-U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy. The visiting Midshipmen spoiled the day, however, with a 46-6 vic- tory before a standing-room-only crowd of 26,000-plus. The referee in the dedication game was the legendary Albie Booth. 1964 — The Eagles knocked off highly ranked Syracuse, 21-14, on Sept. 19 in the season opener as Larry Marzetti hit Bill Cronin with a 45-yard touchdown pass on a fourth- down play as time ran out. A freshman running back for the Orangemen that year was Tom Coughlin. 1968 — Joe Yukica took over as the Eagles’ head coach. He served notice of things to come with a stunning 49-15 win at Navy in his BC coaching debut. Among the defenders for the Midshipmen in that game was end Tom O’Brien. 1970 — Fred Willis became the first running back in BC gridiron history to surpass 1,000 yards rushing (1,007) in a 10-game season. 1971 — Alumni Stadium was expanded to 32,000 seats, an artificial surface was installed and lights were added for night play. 1974 — The Eagles, under Yukica and offensive back- field coach Jack Bicknell, were the hottest team in college football down the stretch, outscoring opponents by a 270-27 margin in the season’s final six games. FB Keith Barnette was the nation’s top scorer with 22 TDs on the season. However, the team’s 8-3 record did not attract any bowl invitations to Chestnut Hill. 1975 — The Eagles opened the season with an ABC-TV “Monday Night Football” appearance against Notre Dame at Schaefer Stadium in Foxboro. A record 61,000 fans filled the facility to watch the Irish take a 17-3 victory. 1976 — BC upended seventh-ranked Texas, 14-13, in a thrilling season opener at Alumni Stadium on Sept. 11. A key tackle by Kelly Elias on a Longhorn two-point conversion try with 4:38 remaining in the game proved the difference in this victory, the biggest for a BC team in years. 1978 — The Eagles suffered their worst season in history, David Gordon’s 41-yard field goal as time expired ignited a celebration from the visiting sideline as the Eagles came from behind to stun No. 1 Notre Dame, 41-39, and end the Irish’s chance at a national championship. Quarterback Doug Flutie led the Eagles to a Cotton Bowl victory over Houston to cap the Eagles’ 1984 season, which saw Flutie win the Heisman Trophy and BC pull off a last-second win at Miami on Flutie’s Hail Mary touchdown pass to Gerard Phelan. 40 @BCFOOTBALL | 2024 FOOTBALL PROGRAM BOSTONCOLLEGElosing all 11 games, including a 28-24 loss to Temple in a game played in Tokyo on Dec. 10. 1981 — Former BC assistant Bicknell was hired as head coach. He opened the season with a 13-12 home victory over Texas A&M on Sept. 19. Freshman Doug Flutie saw his first action — on one special teams play. Flutie would be named the team’s starting quarterback by Bicknell and QB coach Tom Coughlin prior to the Navy game on Oct. 17. 1982 — The Eagles opened the season with a smashing 38- 16 victory over Texas A&M in College Station. Two weeks later, BC tied defending national champion Clemson 17-17 at “Death Valley,” and once again Boston College football was drawing na- tional attention. After beating Holy Cross 35-10 in the final reg- ular season game, the Eagles were invited to the 1982 Tangerine Bowl in Orlando to play Auburn. Fans watching that game saw two future Heisman Trophy winners: BC’s Flutie and the Tigers’ Bo Jackson. Auburn won the Dec. 18 game, 33-26. 1983 — The Eagles finished the regular season with a 9-2 record, including the first win over Penn State (27-17 at Foxboro) and a last-minute 20-13 victory over Alabama on a rainy November night in Foxboro that was remembered as the game “that the lights went out.” Fortunately, power crews re- stored electricity just as officials were considering stopping the game and BC went on to score on its final possession to win. The Lambert Trophy champions were matched up against Notre Dame in the Liberty Bowl on Dec. 29 — a game that was played in frigid, icy conditions. Each team scored three touchdowns in that game, but BC missed all of its extra-point tries, while the Irish converted one of three to account for the heart-breaking 19-18 final score. 1984 — Perhaps one of the most storied seasons in Bos- ton College football history, an early highlight was the Eagles’ stunning 38-31 victory over Alabama in Birmingham before a national television audience on Sept. 8. The Eagles scored on their final possession of the game to beat the Crimson Tide — an omen of rallies to come. On Nov. 22, at the Orange Bowl, Flutie and Boston College football went into the sto- rybooks as No. 22 threw a 48-yard “Hail Mary” touchdown pass to WR Gerard Phelan on the game’s final play to give BC a memorable 47-45 victory over the Miami Hurricanes. A week later, Flutie completed one of his final college football goals by throwing a touchdown pass to his brother Darren, a freshman, in the final game of the regular season at Holy Cross on Dec. 1. He then flew to New York City where he was presented with the Heisman Trophy later that night. 1985 — Boston College scored its first postseason victory since the 1941 Sugar Bowl with an impressive 45-28 victory over Houston in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Day. The Eagles were ranked No. 4 in the final college football poll and won the Lambert Trophy as Eastern Champions for the sec- ond consecutive year. 1985 — Appearing in the Kickoff Classic, the Eagles lost to high-powered Brigham Young, 28-14, in the college foot- ball curtain-raiser, but NG Mike Ruth chased Cougar QBs all over the field en route to eventually winning the Outland Award as college football’s top lineman that season. 1986 — After thrashing Holy Cross by a 56-26 score in Worcester on Nov. 22, the Eagles were invited to play Georgia in Tampa’s Hall of Fame Bowl on Dec. 23. There, QB Shawn Halloran hit WR Kelvin Martin with a 5-yard scoring pass with just 32 sec- onds left in the game to give BC a 27-24 victory. Two months later, Holy Cross abruptly canceled the BC-HC rivalry that had begun in 1896. 1988 — A rebuilt Alumni Stadium with matching upper decks and state-of-the-art press facilities was dedicated in a nationally televised game against Southern Cal. On Nov. 19, Boston College and Army made sports history by playing the first American college football game in Europe. The Eagles topped the Cadets 38-24 in that contest, played at Dublin’s Lansdowne Road Stadium. 1991 — Coughlin was hired away from the Super Bowl Champion New York Giants as BC’s newest head football coach. BC played the first BIG EAST Football Conference game at Rutgers on August 31, the coach’s 45th birthday. Alumni Stadium was renovated and expanded to its current 44,500-person capacity for the 1994 season, which included an upset of No. 8 Notre Dame at home as well as a shutout of No. 14 Syracuse. 41 @BCFOOTBALL | 2024 FOOTBALL PROGRAM BOSTONCOLLEGE1992 — BC scored three consecutive shutout victories (vs. Northwestern, Navy and Michigan State) on the way to an 8-2-1 regular season and a berth in the Hall of Fame Bowl against Tennessee. The Vols won the Sugar Bowl “rematch” by a 38-23 score. 1993 — The Eagles bounced back from losses in the first two games of the year to reel off eight consecutive vic- tories and earn another postseason invitation. Highlighting this drive was a magnificent 41-39 victory at Notre Dame on Nov. 20, when David Gordon kicked a 41-yard field goal with no time remaining to shock the No. 1-ranked Irish. The Eagles’ final 8-3 showing earned them a slot in the Carquest Bowl in Fort Lauderdale, where they beat ACC representative Virginia, 31-13, on New Year’s Day. 1994 — Alumni Stadium was expanded to its current capacity of 44,500 and was completely refurbished. Unfortu- nately, as had happened on three previous occasions, the Ea- gles lost the dedication game, this time, 12-7, to Virginia Tech on Sept. 17. BC made up for the loss, however, by scoring an impressive 30-11 victory over Notre Dame in Chestnut Hill on Oct. 8 — the Eagles’ first win in their new lair. BC went on to cap the season with a Christmas Day appearance in the Aloha Bowl in Honolulu where the Eagle defense led the way to a 12-7 victory over Kansas State. 1995 — Boston College was again invited to participate in the Kickoff Classic at the Meadowlands, but fared no bet- ter than in their 1985 appearance and lost to Ohio State by a 38-6 count. All 12 of the Eagles’ games were on network television that year. 1996 — Tom O’Brien was named head coach at Boston College on Dec. 13. 1997 — O’Brien recorded his first victory as a head coach on Sept. 13, as BC beat West Virginia, 31-24. It was the first time the Eagles had defeated the Mountaineers in Chestnut Hill since 1976. 1998 — Mike Cloud rushed for a BIG EAST and then- BC single-season record 1,726 yards to become Boston College’s all-time leading rusher with 3,597 yards. He became a consen- sus first-team All-America selection and a finalist for the Doak Walker National Running Back of the Year Award. The Kansas City Chiefs selected him in the second round of the NFL Draft. 1999 — Boston College engineered the third-best turn- around in major college football by finishing the regular season with an 8-3 record and ranked 22nd nationally. BC received an invitation to play in the Insight.com Bowl, its first postseason appearance since 1994. 2000 — Boston College made its second straight trip to a bowl game as the Eagles defeated Arizona State by a 31-17 score in the Aloha Bowl. William Green became the third-straight Eagle back to rush for 1,000 yards or more in a season and offensive tackle Paul Zukauskas earned first-team All-America honors and was later picked in the seventh round of the NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns. 2001 — The Eagles posted an 8-4 record and earned back-to-back bowl game wins with an impressive 20-16 win over Georgia in the Music City Bowl. Green rushed for 1,559 yards and earned first-team All-America honors. Green (16th, Cleveland) and OT Marc Colombo (29th, Chicago) were se- lected in the first round of the NFL Draft. 2002 — BC’s 51-25 win over Toledo in the Motor City Bowl, an unprecedented third consecutive bowl victory, sent the 2002 senior class out with 32 victories in four years (32- 17), tied with the 1981-84 group for the most wins in a four year period in 60 years of Boston College football. One of the top highlights of the season occurred on Nov. 2, when the Eagles marched into Notre Dame Stadium and defeated the previously undefeated, fourth-ranked and green-clad Fighting Irish, 14-7, to end ND’s dreams of a national championship. 2003 — On Oct. 12, 2003, BC President William P. Le- ahy, S.J. and Director of Athletics Gene DeFilippo held a press conference to announce that Boston College accepted an offer to become the 12th member of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Eagles notched impressive victories over Notre Dame, No. 25 Penn State and No. 12 Virginia Tech en route to winning Mathias Kiwanuka and the Eagles wrapped up the team’s Big East era with a 9-3 regular season in 2004; winning a share of the conference’s regular season title. BC’s season was highlighted with a win over Notre Dame and bowl victory over eventual league-opponent North Carolina. The Eagles won their second of back-to-back ACC Atlantic Division titles in 2008 behind first-team All-ACC LB Mark Herzlich. Herzlich missed all of 2009 due to Ewing’s Sarcoma, but returned healthy in 2010 and won the ACC’s Brian Piccolo Award. 42 @BCFOOTBALL | 2024 FOOTBALL PROGRAM BOSTONCOLLEGEtheir 40th game in five seasons, tying an all-time school re- cord. On New Year’s Eve, the Eagles appeared in a school-re- cord fifth consecutive bowl game at the Diamond Walnut San Francisco Bowl. Their 35-21 victory over Colorado State made the Eagles the first team in BC football history to win seven or more games for five consecutive seasons and the only team in college football to have won a bowl game the past four years in a row. Senior running back Derrick Knight became BC’s all-time rushing leader, finishing his career with 3,725 yards. 2004 — The Eagles rolled to another 9-3 season, winning a share of the BIG EAST Conference championship and missing a Fiesta Bowl bid only by a loss to Syracuse on the final day of the 2004 campaign. Senior QB Paul Peterson engineered a thrilling 24-23 vic- tory at Notre Dame with a last-minute 30-yard touchdown pass to Tony Gonzalez setting up the stunning victory. Peterson was injured two weeks later in a win against Temple, but the Utah native returned to the lineup to lead the Eagles to a 37-24 victory over future ACC rival North Carolina in the Continental Tire Bowl in Charlotte. 2005 — After season-opening victories at Brigham Young and Army, Boston College played its first ACC game — a nationally-televised contest against Florida State on Sept. 21. ESPN’s “GameDay” crew was on hand to broadcast from campus prior to the much-anticipated ACC match-up. The Eagles lost to Bobby Bowden’s powerful Seminoles 28-17 in their league debut, but introduced themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the ACC with a 16-13 overtime victory at Clemson a week later. BC finished with another impressive 9-3 record and went on to play Boise State in the Humanitar- ian Bowl where they handed the host Broncos a rare defeat, 27-21, on their home blue turf. 2006 — Another successful year for BC football, as the team finished with a 10-3 record, including back-to- back double-overtime victories over Clemson (34-33) and Brigham Young (30-23). The big news of the year, however, came in December as Coach Tom O’Brien left Chestnut Hill to become head coach at ACC rival North Carolina State. Defensive coordinator Frank Spaziani took over leadership of the team for the Meineke Care Bowl against Navy in Char- lotte and recorded his first head coaching victory as linebacker Jolann Dunbar recovered a Midshipman fumble late in the game and QB Matt Ryan led the Eagles back into scoring range where kicker Steve Aponavicius booted a 37-yard field goal to give BC a narrow, 25-24, victory. 2007 — With new coach Jeff Jagodzinski — a former BC offensive line coach and NFL assistant — at the helm, the new- look Eagles rolled off eight straight victories to start the year — the best of them a stunning 14-10 win at Virginia Tech that featured two Matt Ryan touchdown passes in the game’s final 2:11 — the game-winner a 24-yard scoring strike to RB Andre Callender with just seconds to play. The victory propelled BC to the No. 2 slot in the national rankings and helped them finish the regular season with a 10-2 mark, earning a spot in the ACC Championship game in Jacksonville vs. Virginia Tech. The Ea- gles lost to the Hokies, 30-16, in the title game, but bounded back to trim Michigan State, 24-21, in Orlando’s Citrus Bowl, giving the team an 11-victory season, the most wins at Chestnut Hill since the legendary Sugar Bowl Champions of 1940. 2008 — As All-America QB Matt Ryan departed for the NFL (he was the first round draft choice of the Atlanta Fal- cons), the Eagles regrouped quickly to post another 9-3 regular season that included a 17-0 shutout of Notre Dame — the Eagles’ sixth consecutive win over the Irish. BC again won the ACC Atlantic Division crown and advanced to the league’s title game again where Virginia Tech won a second straight cham- pionship at BC’s expense. After losing to Vanderbilt, 16-14, in Nashville’s Music City Bowl, Jagodzinski looked into NFL job possibilities and departed Chestnut Hill. 2009 — A longtime BC defensive assistant, Frank Spa- ziani became the school’s 34th head football coach, inheriting a team that was picked to finish last in the ACC’s Atlantic Division. He led the team to an 8-5 record, earning a spot in San Francisco’s Emerald Bowl against Southern California. 2010 — The defensively powerful Eagles qualified for a school-record 12th consecutive postseason bowl game, re- Matt Ryan and the Eagles peaked at No. 2 in the polls in 2007 and claimed an ACC Atlantic Division championship. Ryan was drafted the following spring as the highest drafted player in BC history with the third pick to the Atlanta Falcons. 43 @BCFOOTBALL | 2024 FOOTBALL PROGRAM BOSTONCOLLEGEturning to San Francisco to meet Nevada in the re-named Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl. 2011 — For the first time in more than a decade, the Eagles slipped below .500 and missed out on postseason play. The sea- son spotlight belonged to two-time All-America LB Luke Kuec- hly who made a “clean sweep” of national defensive honors, in- cluding ACC Defensive Player of the Year, the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, the Butkus Award, the Rotary Lombardi Award and the Lott Impact Trophy after leading all collegiate football players in tackles (191) and solo tackles (102) during the 2011 campaign. Kuechly entered the NFL Draft after his junior season and was selected by the Carolina Panthers in the first round. 2012 — The Eagles slipped to a disappointing 2-10 season, the worst showing since the winless (0-11) season in 1978. At the end of the year, coach Frank Spaziani was re- placed by former Temple head coach Steve Addazio, who was named BC’s 35th head coach of football on Dec. 4. 2013 — The Addazio era began with a 24-14 victory over feisty Villanova in his BC coaching debut. The Eagles turned in a successful seven-win season and an invitation to play Pac-12 opponent Arizona in the Advocare v100 Bowl game in Shreveport, Louisiana on Dec. 31 — the Eagles’ first post-season appearance since 2010. Along the way, BC scored ACC victories over Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Maryland and North Carolina State. The 38-21 victory over the Wolf- pack on Nov. 16, made the Eagles bowl-eligible and set off an enthusiastic celebration in Alumni Stadium, hailing the program’s return to the ranks of college football’s upper eche- lon. Running back Andre Williams rushed for a school-record 2,177 yards and 18 touchdowns. Williams was accorded con- sensus All-America honors; won the Doak Walker Award as the nation’s top running back; and became BC’s first Heisman Trophy finalist since the Doug Flutie nearly 30 years earlier. 2014 — Addazio kept the Eagles on track with another winning season and another postseason bowl trip. BC went 7-6, highlighted by an electric, 37-31 upset over ninth-ranked Southern California in Alumni Stadium on Sept. 13. The Ea- gles topped the Trojans for the first BC victory versus a top-10 team in seven years and the first win for an unranked BC team against a top-10 team since 2002. BC became bowl eligible on Nov. 1 with a three-point victory at Virginia Tech and lat- er earned a berth to the New Era Pinstripe Bowl in Yankee Stadium against Penn State on Dec. 27. The defense ranked second in the nation, allowing just 94.5 yards per game and the offense finished the season 14th with 254.7 yards per game, setting a BC school record with 3,311 total yards. Quarterback Tyler Murphy made a lasting impression in his one season at The Heights, setting both the Boston College and Atlantic Coast Conference records for rushing yards by a QB with 1,184. 2015 — Although the team went 3-9 to miss out on a bowl game for the first time in three seasons, it was led by the nation’s best defense. The Eagles held defending national champion Florida State to only one offensive touchdown and kept the Eagles within a touchdown of winning five games. The Eagles ranked first in total defense and first downs de- fense and fourth in scoring defense. 2016 — The Eagles won seven games (7-6) and returned to a bowl game for the third time in four seasons. Boston Col- lege won its first bowl game since 2007 after a 36-30 victory over Maryland in the Quick Lane Bowl. The Eagles finished the season with three consecutive victories and featured the nation’s ninth-best defense. Junior Harold Landry earned All-America honors from the Associated Press and Walter Camp Football Foundation as he led the nation in sacks (16.5) and forced fumbles (seven). 2017 — The Eagles won seven games (7-6) and re- turned to a bowl game for the fourth time in five seasons. Boston College was just one of two bowl teams nationally to play 10 teams who qualified for a bowl in 2017. The Eagles featured ACC Rookie of the Year AJ Dillon, the na- tion’s second-leading rusher among freshmen and the coun- Eagles fans stormed the field at Alumni Stadium to celebrate BC’s upset over No. 9 USC in 2014. The game also marked the program’s first Red Bandanna game to honor 9/11 hero and BC alum Welles Crowther ’99. 44 @BCFOOTBALL | 2024 FOOTBALL PROGRAM BOSTONCOLLEGEtry’s No. 7 overall rusher with 1,589 yards and 14 touch- downs. Boston College had nine players earn All-ACC honors, tied for the most in school history. Three Eagles earned All-America accolades (Lukas Denis, Walter Camp Second Team; AJ Dillon, Freshman All-America; Ben Pe- trula, Freshman All-America). 2018 — The Eagles won seven games (7-5) and re- turned to a bowl game for the fifth time in six seasons. The Eagles made their first appearance in the College Football Playoff Top 25 rankings, returned to the national AP and coaches’ polls for the first time since 2008 and hosted College GameDay for the third time in school history. BC started the season 7-2 overall and spent four weeks in the national rankings, the most weeks ranked since the 2007 campaign. Four players captured All-America honors (Hamp Cheevers, Chris Lindstrom, Michael Walker and Zach Allen) while BC tied a modern-day record with four players selected in the 2019 NFL Draft (Chris Lindstrom, Zach Allen, Will Harris, Tommy Sweeney). Lindstrom be- came the 20th first-round pick in school history going 14th overall to the Atlanta Falcons. 2019 — Boston College finished the regular season 6-6 overall and AD Martin Jarmond announced a change in leadership following the win over Pitt in the regular season finale. Jarmond appointed Ohio State defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley as the program’s 36th head coach in history on Dec. 14, 2019. AJ Dillon and John Phillips earned All-ACC first-team honors following the season while Dillon finished fourth in ACC history in career rushing yards. He was a second-round pick of the Green Bay Packers in the 2020 NFL Draft and an AP All-American third-team selection. 2020 — First-year head coach Jeff Hafley finished with the most victories of any first-year head coach in college foot- ball in 2020 with a 6-5 record. More impressive than the marked improvement on both sides of the ball from Boston College in 2020 was how the program handled playing in the COVID-19 pandemic. BC’s team had just one positive COVID-19 result in over 9,000 administered tests since the team returned to campus last June. Tight end Hunter Long was named a Second Team All-American by multiple outlets as he led all tight ends nation- ally in receptions and finished the year second in receptions. 2021 — Boston College started year-two under Hafley a perfect 4-0 in non-conference play, capped by an overtime win over Missouri from the SEC at Alumni Stadium. The Eagles finished the year 6-6 and earned a bid to the Military Bowl in Annapolis, Md., which was ultimately cancelled. Offensive linemen Zion Johnson and Alec Lindstrom both earned All-American status, while Johnson was selected 17th overall in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Chargers. 2022 — Zay Flowers rewrote the BC record book for receivers as the program’s all-time leader in receptions, touch- downs and yards. He captured single-season marks in touch- downs and receptions on his way to earning All-America and being the first BC wide receiver to be selected in the first round of the NFL Draft by the Baltimore Ravens. He finished the season with 12 receiving touchdowns and 1,077 yards on 78 receptions, which tied the program record. Flowers’ career ended atop the record books at 200 receptions, 3,056 receiv- ing yards and 29 receiving touchdowns. 2023 — BC overcame a 1-3 start with its first five game win streak since 2010 to gain bowl eligibility. The Eagles upset future ACC opponent and No. 17/24 SMU in the Wasabi Fenway Bowl behind Offensive MVP Thomas Castellanos and Defensive MVP Kam Arnold. Castellanos became the first BC quarterback to record a 2,000-yard passing and 1,000-yard rushing season and just the fifth ACC quarterback to reach both milestones since 1996. 2024 — Bill O’Brien was hired on Feb. 9 as the 37th head coach in program history. AJ Dillon completed his three-year career at BC in 2019 as the program’s all-time leading rusher with 4,382 yards on the ground. 45 @BCFOOTBALL | 2024 FOOTBALL PROGRAM BOSTONCOLLEGE46 @BCFOOTBALL | 2024 FOOTBALL PROGRAM BOSTONCOLLEGE DISTINGUISHED AMERICAN AWARD 1985 William J. Flynn (Director of Athletics) 1996 J. Donald Monan, S.J. (President) HEISMAN MEMORIAL TROPHY 1984 Doug Flutie, QB MAXWELL AWARD 1984 Doug Flutie, QB OUTLAND TROPHY 1985 Mike Ruth, NT DAVEY O’BRIEN NATIONAL QUARTERBACK AWARD 1984 Doug Flutie, QB NCAA SILVER ANNIVERSARY AWARD 2010 Doug Flutie, QB JOHNNY UNITAS GOLDEN ARM AWARD 2007 Matt Ryan, QB MANNING AWARD 2007 Matt Ryan, QB LOTT IMPACT TROPHY 2010 Mark Herzlich (Honorary), LB 2011 Luke Kuechly, LB COLLEGE FOOTBALL RUDY AWARD 2010 Mark Herzlich, LB DISNEY SPIRIT AWARD 2009 Mark Herzlich, LB DICK BUTKUS AWARD 2011 Luke Kuechly, LB ROTARY LOMBARDI AWARD 2011 Luke Kuechly, LB BRONKO NAGURSKI AWARD 2011 Luke Kuechly, LB DOAK WALKER AWARD 2013 Andre Williams, RB National Award Recipients EAGLES ON THE NATIONAL STAGE LUKE KUECHLYANDRE WILLIAMS DOUG FLUTIEMATT RYAN Hall of Fame Honorees College Hall of Fame Year Player/Coach Inducted 1919-26 Frank Cavanaugh, Coach 1954 1936-38 Gil Dobie, Coach 1951 1939-40 Frank Leahy, Coach 1970 1940 Charlie O’Rourke 1972 1940 Chester S. Gladchuk Sr. 1975 1940 Gene Goodreault 1982 1940 George Kerr 1984 1942 Mike Holovak 1985 1981-84 Doug Flutie 2007 1982-85 Mike Ruth 2017 2009-11 Luke Kuechly 2023 Note: Joe McKenney, a 1928 graduate, was honored by the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame as an official in 1988. Scholar-Athlete Awards Year ..........................................Player/Coach 1977 .......................................Rich Scudellari 1984 ............................................Doug Flutie 1988 ...........................................Tom Waddle 1989 .....................................Mark Kamphaus 2010 ..................................Anthony CastonzoFROM PRESEASON PREDICTIONS TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME, GET CLOSER TO ACC ACTION ALL SEASON LONG Learn more at siriusxm.com/accfootball © 2024 Sirius XM Radio Inc. SiriusXM, Pandora and all related logos are trademarks of Sirius XM Radio Inc. and its respective subsidiaries. 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