1942 Boston College Eagles football team

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]

1942 Boston College Eagles football
Lambert Trophy
Orange Bowl, L 21–37 vs. Alabama
Conference	Independent
Ranking
AP	No. 8
1942 record	8–2
Head coach	Denny Myers (2nd season)
Captains	Mike Holovak Fred Naumetz
Home stadium	Fenway Park

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
Carnegie Tech			–					3	–	3	–	0
Villanova			–					4	–	4	–	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
Rankings from AP Poll

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 second national championship in three years, and first ever AP title, 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

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance
October 3	West Virginia		Fenway Park Boston, MA	W 33–0	15,000
October 10	Clemson		Fenway Park Boston, MA (rivalry)	W 14–7	23,400
October 17	North Carolina Pre-Flight	No. 11	Fenway Park Boston, MA	W 7–6	25,107
October 25	Wake Forest	No. 10	Fenway Park Boston, MA	W 27–0	21,500
October 31	Georgetown	No. 7	Fenway Park Boston, MA	W 47–0	28,000
November 7	Temple	No. 5	Fenway Park Boston, MA	W 28–0	24,000
November 14	Fordham	No. 3	Fenway Park Boston, MA	W 56–6	36,300
November 21	vs. Boston University	No. 3	Fenway Park Boston, MA (Green Line Rivalry)	W 37–0	10,000
November 28	vs. Holy Cross	No. 1	Fenway Park Boston, MA (rivalry)	L 12–55	41,300
January 1, 1943	vs. No. 10 Alabama	No. 8	Burdine Stadium Miami, FL (Orange Bowl)	L 21–37	30,000
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Source:[5]

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. "1942 Boston College Eagles Schedule & Results". Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved May 12, 2017.