1984 Boston College Eagles football team

1984 Boston College Eagles football
Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy Cotton Bowl Classic champion
Cotton Bowl Classic, W 45–28 vs. Houston
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 4
AP	No. 5
1984 record	10–2
Head coach	Jack Bicknell (4th season)
Defensive coordinator	Seymour "Red" Kelin (4th season)
Captains	Mark MacDonald David Thomas Scott Harrington
Home stadium	Alumni Stadium (capacity: 32,000)
Seasons ← 1983 1985 →

1984 NCAA Division I-A independents football records
v t	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 5 Boston College		–		–				10	–	2	–	0
No. 11 South Carolina		–		–				10	–	2	–	0
Army		–		–				8	–	3	–	1
Rutgers		–		–				7	–	3	–	0
No. 17 Florida State		–		–				7	–	3	–	2
Virginia Tech		–		–				8	–	4	–	0
West Virginia		–		–				8	–	4	–	0
No. 18 Miami (FL)		–		–				8	–	5	–	0
Notre Dame		–		–				7	–	5	–	0
Southwestern Louisiana		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
Penn State		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
Syracuse		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
Temple		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
Memphis State		–		–				5	–	5	–	1
Navy		–		–				4	–	6	–	1
Southern Miss		–		–				4	–	7	–	0
Pittsburgh		–		–				3	–	7	–	1
Tulane		–		–				3	–	8	–	0
Cincinnati		–		–				2	–	9	–	0
East Carolina		–		–				2	–	9	–	0
Louisville		–		–				2	–	9	–	0
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1984 Boston College Eagles football team represented the Boston College in the 1984 NCAA Division I-A football season.

The Eagles finished the season with a 10–2 record.^[1] Doug Flutie gained national attention in 1984 when he quarterbacked the Eagles to victory in a high-scoring, back-and-forth game against the Miami Hurricanes (led by QB Bernie Kosar). The game was nationally televised on CBS the day after Thanksgiving and thus had a huge audience. Miami staged a dramatic drive to take the lead, 45–41, in the closing minute of the game. Boston College then took possession at its own 22-yard line with 28 seconds to go. After two passes moved the ball another 30 yards, only 6 seconds remained. On the last play of the game, Flutie scrambled away from the defense and threw a Hail Mary pass that was caught in the end zone by Gerard Phelan, giving BC a 47–45 win. Although many people think that play clinched the Heisman Trophy for Flutie, the voting was already complete before that game.^[2]

Flutie left school as the NCAA's all-time passing yardage leader with 10,579 yards and was a consensus All-American as a senior. He earned Player of the Year awards from UPI, Kodak, The Sporting News, and the Maxwell Football Club.

Schedule[]

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 1	Western Carolina	No. 19	Alumni Stadium Chestnut Hill, MA		W 44–24	32,000
September 8	at No. 9 Alabama	No. 18	Legion Field Birmingham, AL	ABC	W 38–31	67,821
September 22	North Carolina	No. 10	Sullivan Stadium Foxborough, MA	ESPN	W 52–20	44,672
October 13	Temple	No. 4	Alumni Stadium Chestnut Hill, MA		W 24–10	32,000
October 20	at No. 20 West Virginia	No. 4	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV	ABC	L 20–21	60,286
October 27	Rutgers	No. 11	Alumni Stadium Chestnut Hill, MA		W 35–23	32,000
November 3	at Penn State	No. 9	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA	ABC	L 30–37	85,690
November 10	Army	No. 16	Alumni Stadium Chestnut Hill, MA	KATZ	W 45–31	32,000
November 17	Syracuse	No. 13	Sullivan Stadium Foxborough, MA (rivalry)	KATZ	W 24–16	60,890
November 23	at No. 12 Miami (FL)	No. 10	Miami Orange Bowl Miami, FL	CBS	W 47–45	30,325
December 1	at Holy Cross	No. 8	Fitton Field Worcester, MA (rivalry)		W 45–10	25,000	[3]
January 1, 1985	vs. Houston	No. 8	Cotton Bowl Dallas, TX (Cotton Bowl Classic)	CBS	W 45–28	67,381
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Roster[]

1984 Boston College Eagles football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class QB 22 Doug Flutie Sr WR 20 Gerard Phelan Sr WR 3 Sr	Defense Pos. # Name Class LB 81 Jr DE 97 John Bosa So DT 52 Scott Harrington Sr FS 49 Jr DB 17 Tony Thurman Sr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach Jack Bicknell Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Rankings[]

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Final
AP	19	18	10	10	5	4	4	4	11	9	16	13	10	8	8	5
Coaches	20	16	9	7	7	5	4	5	10	7	16	13	10	8	8	4

^[4]

Game summaries[]

Western Carolina[]

at Alabama[]

North Carolina[]

Temple[]

at West Virginia[]

Rutgers[]

at Penn State[]

Army[]

Syracuse[]

at Miami (FL)[]

Boston College at Miami (FL)

1 2 3 4 Total • No. 10 Eagles 14 14 3 16 47 No. 12 Hurricanes 7 14 10 14 45 Date: November 23 Location: Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida Game attendance: 30,325 TV announcers (CBS): Brent Musburger, Ara Parseghian, and Pat Haden

^{[5] [6]}

Holy Cross[]

vs. Houston (Cotton Bowl)[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 8 Eagles	17	14	0	14	45
Cougars	7	7	14	0	28

^{[7] [8]}

Awards and honors[]

• Doug Flutie, QB, Heisman Trophy^[9]
• Doug Flutie, QB, Walter Camp Award^[10]
• Doug Flutie, QB, Maxwell Award
• Doug Flutie, QB, Davey O'Brien Award

1984 team players in the NFL[]

The following players were claimed in the 1985 NFL Draft.^[11]

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL club
Gerard Phelan	Wide Receiver	4	108	New England Patriots
	Guard	5	115	Minnesota Vikings
Doug Flutie	Quarterback	11	285	Los Angeles Rams
Steve Strachan	Running Back	11	303	Los Angeles Raiders

Bill Romanowski was also a member of the team and was drafted in 1988.

References[]