1984 Boston College Eagles football
Cotton Bowl Classic champion Eastern champion
Cotton Bowl Classic, W 45–28 vs. Houston
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 4
AP	No. 5
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 Sullivan Stadium
Seasons ← 1983 1985 →

1984 Major eastern college football independents records
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
West Virginia	4	–	2	–	0	8	–	4	–	0
Penn State	3	–	2	–	0	6	–	5	–	0
No. 5 Boston College $	3	–	2	–	0	10	–	2	–	0
Rutgers	3	–	2	–	0	7	–	3	–	0
Temple	2	–	2	–	0	6	–	5	–	0
Pittsburgh	1	–	3	–	0	3	–	7	–	1
Syracuse	1	–	4	–	0	6	–	5	–	0

$ – Lambert Trophy Winner Rankings from AP Poll

1984 NCAA Division I-A independents football records
v t e	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 Boston College as an independent during the 1984 NCAA Division I-A football season.

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 senior wide receiver 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.^[1]

Boston College finished the season with a 10–2 record and a No. 5 ranking in the final AP Poll. The Eagles defeated the Southwest Conference champion Houston Cougars 45–28 in the 1985 Cotton Bowl. The team also captured the Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy (emblematic of the 'Eastern championship' in Division I FBS).

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	^[2]
September 22	North Carolina	No. 10	Sullivan Stadium Foxborough, MA	ESPN	W 52–20	44,672	^[3]
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	^[4]
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	^[5]
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

Personnel

1984 Boston College Eagles football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
OL	`63`	Mark Bardwell	Sr
RB	`24`	Ken Bell	Jr
C	`66`	Jack Bicknell Jr.	Sr
RB	`32`	Jim Browne	Sr
TE	`85`	Pete Casparriello	So
WR	`44`	Shawn Dombrowski	So
WR	`26`	Darren Flutie	Fr
QB	`22`	Doug Flutie	Sr
TE		Scott Gieselman
QB	`7`	Shawn Halloran	So
OL	`79`	Mark MacDonald	Sr
WR	`82`	Kelvin Martin	So
WR	`20`	Gerard Phelan	Sr
OL	`54`	Shawn Regent	Sr
RB		Steve Strachan	Sr
RB	`23`	Troy Stradford	So
RB		Tyrone Taylor
OL		Steve Trapilo
WR	`3`	Chris Tripucka	Sr
OL		Darren Twombly
RB		Steve Williams

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
DE	`97`	John Bosa	So
LB	`57`	Ted Gaffney	Jr
DL	`95`	Chuck Gorecki	Jr
DT	`52`	Scott Harrington	Sr
LB	`81`	Andy Hemmer	Jr
LB		Pete Holey
DB		Neil Iton
DL		Rick Nickeson
DB		Dave Pereira
S	`49`	Carl Pellegata	Jr
LB	`53`	Bill Romanowski	Fr
DB		Todd Russell
DL	`68`	Mike Ruth	Jr
DL	`50`	David Thomas	Sr
DB	`17`	Tony Thurman	Sr
LB		Ed VonNessen

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class
P		Steve Peach
K	`2`	Kevin Snow	Sr

Head coach

Jack Bicknell

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible

Injured
Redshirt

Rankings

Further information: 1984 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
	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

^[6]

Game summaries

Western Carolina

At Alabama

North Carolina

Temple

At West Virginia

Rutgers

At Penn State

Army

Army Cadets (5–2–1) at #16 Boston College Eagles (5–2)

Period	1	2	3	4	Total
Army	7	7	10	7	31
Boston College	13	15	3	14	45

at Alumni Stadium, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts

Date: November 10, 1984
Game attendance: 32,000
TV announcers (KATZ): Curt Gowdy and Len Dawson
^[7]

External videos
Game highlights

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Army	Passing	Nate Sassaman	4/10, 38 Yds, INT
	Rushing	Nate Sassaman	25 Rush, 136 Yds, TD
	Receiving	Scott Spellmon	2 Rec, 26 Yds
Boston College	Passing	Doug Flutie	19/29, 311 Yds, 3 TD
	Rushing	Steve Strachan	15 Rush, 81 Yds, 2 TD
	Receiving	Kelvin Martin	7 Rec, 126 Yds, 2 TD

Scoring summary

Quarter	Time	Drive			Team	Scoring information	Score
Quarter	Time	Plays	Yards	TOP	Team	Scoring information	ARMY	BC
1					Army	Doug Black 1-yard touchdown run, Craig Stopa kick good	7	0
1					Boston College	Steve Strachan 1-yard touchdown run, Kevin Snow kick good	7	7
1					Boston College	Scott Gieselman 12-yard touchdown reception from Doug Flutie, Kevin Snow kick no good	7	13
2					Boston College	Kelvin Martin 34-yard touchdown reception from Doug Flutie, Kevin Snow kick good	7	20
2					Boston College	Punt returned 45 yards for touchdown by Kelvin Martin, 2-point pass good	7	28
2					Army	Rob Dickerson 5-yard touchdown reception from Jarvis Hollingsworth, Craig Stopa kick good	14	28
3					Boston College	25-yard field goal by Kevin Snow	14	31
3					Army	Nate Sassaman 8-yard touchdown run, Craig Stopa kick good	21	31
3					Army	40-yard field goal by Craig Stopa	24	31
4					Boston College	Steve Strachan 1-yard touchdown run, Kevin Snow kick good	24	38
4					Army	Jarvis Hollingsworth 10-yard touchdown run, Craig Stopa kick good	24	45
4					Boston College	Kelvin Martin 17-yard touchdown reception from Doug Flutie, Kevin Snow kick good	31	45
"TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football.							31	45

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

Main article: Hail Flutie

^[8] ^[9]

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

^[10] ^[11]

Awards and honors

Doug Flutie, QB, Heisman Trophy^[12]
Doug Flutie, QB, Walter Camp Award^[13]
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.^[14]

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL club
Gerard Phelan	Wide receiver	4	108	New England Patriots
Mark MacDonald	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

^ "Heisman Trophy". Heisman.com. Archived from the original on September 21, 2009.
^ "BC's 'greatest comeback' swamps Alabama, 38–31". The Boston Globe. September 9, 1984. Retrieved February 19, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "BC's Flutie passes Tar Heels dizzy". Tulsa World. September 23, 1984. Retrieved January 30, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "West Virginia edges BC, 21–20, on a late TD drive". The Philadelphia Inquirer. October 21, 1984. Retrieved January 29, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Thomsen, Ian (December 2, 1984). "Small Wonder, No Wonder; Eagles Wrap Up HC, 45-10". Boston Sunday Globe. Boston, Mass. p. 57 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Boston College 1984 AP Football Rankings". collegepollarchive.com. Retrieved November 17, 2018.
^ "College Football Scoreboard." Gainesville Sun. pg. 4F. 1984 Nov 11. Retrieved 2022-Dec-27.
^ "FLUTIE'S PASS ON LAST PLAY OVERCOMES MIAMI BY 47-45". The New York Times. November 24, 1984. Retrieved November 17, 2018.
^ "Flutie's Desperation Pass Beats Miami, 47-45". The Washington Post. November 24, 1984. Retrieved November 17, 2018.
^ "FLUTIE PASSES FOR 3 SCORES AS BOSTON COLLEGE WINS". The New York Times. January 2, 1985. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
^ "Flutie Short of Miracles but BC Wins, 45-28". The Washington Post. January 2, 1985. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
^ "Heisman Winners". Heisman. Archived from the original on September 16, 2009.
^ "Football". Archived from the original on January 7, 2008. Retrieved December 12, 2008.
^ "1985 NFL Draft Listing - Pro-Football-Reference.com". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Archived from the original on December 21, 2007.

v t e Boston College Eagles football
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