1942 Boston College Eagles football team

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1942 Boston College Eagles football
Orange Bowl, L 21–37 vs. Alabama
ConferenceIndependent
Ranking
APNo. 8
1942 record8–2
Head coach
Captains
Home stadiumFenway Park
Seasons
← 1941
1943 →
1942 Eastern college football independents records
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Williams     7 1 0
No. 19 Penn State     6 1 1
No. 8 Boston College     8 2 0
Buffalo     6 2 0
Bucknell     6 2 1
Colgate     6 2 1
Army     6 3 0
Syracuse     6 3 0
Duquesne     6 3 1
Yale     5 3 0
Fordham     5 3 1
Penn     5 3 1
No. T–19 Holy Cross     5 4 1
Dartmouth     5 4 0
Brown     4 4 0
Villanova     4 4 0
Vermont     4 3 0
Carnegie Tech     3 3 0
Boston University     4 5 0
Cornell     3 5 1
Princeton     3 5 1
Temple     2 5 3
Columbia     3 6 0
Pittsburgh     3 6 0
Tufts     2 5 1
Franklin & Marshall     1 4 2
Massachusetts State     2 5 0
Harvard     2 6 1
Drexel     2 6 0
Manhattan     2 6 0
CCNY     1 7 1
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1942 Boston College Eagles football team represented Boston College in the 1942 college football season. The Eagles were led by second-year head coach Denny Myers, and played all of their regular season games at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts.[1]

Boston College won its first 8 games of the season, climbing to #1 in the AP Poll. All the Eagles needed to do to secure its first ever AP national championship, was to beat rival Holy Cross (4–4–1) in the final game of the regular season. The result, however, was a stunning rout loss, 12–55. The Eagles team canceled their planned post-game celebration at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston, which inadvertently saved the team from perishing along with 492 others in the Cocoanut Grove fire that occurred that night.[2]

Team co-captain and fullback Mike Holovak was the undisputed star of the team, earning consensus All-America honors and finishing fourth in Heisman Trophy voting.[3] He finished his career as Boston College's all-time leading rusher, with 2,011 yards and 23 touchdowns.[4] Holovak returned to coach the Eagles from 1951 to 1959.

The Eagles received an invitation to play in the Orange Bowl on New Years Day, where they lost to Alabama, 21–37.

Schedule[]

DateOpponentRankSiteResultAttendanceSource
October 3West Virginia
W 33–015,000
October 10Clemson
W 14–723,400
October 17North Carolina Pre-FlightNo. 11
  • Fenway Park
  • Boston, MA
W 7–625,107
October 24Wake ForestNo. 10
  • Fenway Park
  • Boston, MA
W 27–020,000[5][6]
October 31GeorgetownNo. 7
  • Fenway Park
  • Boston, MA
W 47–028,000
November 7TempleNo. 5
  • Fenway Park
  • Boston, MA
W 28–024,000
November 14FordhamNo. 3
  • Fenway Park
  • Boston, MA
W 56–636,300
November 21vs. Boston UniversityNo. 3
W 37–010,000
November 28vs. Holy CrossNo. 1
L 12–5541,300
January 1, 1943vs. No. 10 AlabamaNo. 8L 21–3730,000
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

[7]

References[]

  1. ^ 2009-10 Boston College Record Book. Section: Season-by-Season Results.
  2. ^ Anderson, Dave (November 22, 1992). "Sports of The Times; The Upset, the Party, the Fire". The New York Times. Retrieved May 12, 2017.
  3. ^ "1942 Heisman Trophy Voting". Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
  4. ^ "2016 Boston College football media guide" (PDF). p. 156.
  5. ^ O'Leary, Steve (October 25, 1942). "Deacons Blanked By Boston Array". The News & Observer. Raleigh, North Carolina. Associated Press. p. 11. Retrieved May 12, 2021 – via Newspapers.com open access.
  6. ^ O'Leary, Steve (October 25, 1942). "Baptists Beaten In Boston Battle". The News & Observer. Raleigh, North Carolina. Associated Press. p. 12. Retrieved May 12, 2021 – via Newspapers.com open access.
  7. ^ "1942 Boston College Eagles Schedule & Results". Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved May 12, 2017.
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