1951 Boston University Terriers football team

The 1951 Boston University Terriers football team was an American football team that represented Boston University as an independent during the 1951 college football season. In its fifth season under head coach Aldo Donelli, the team compiled a 6–4 record and outscored their opponents by a total of 299 to 157.[1] Although they finished with four losses (including their final game of the season against an average 5–4 Syracuse team), defeated only one ranked opponent (No. 16 Pacific, which finished 6–5), and defeated no opponents that finished with a winning percentage above .600 besides 7–3 William & Mary, the Terriers still managed to secure a spot on the final AP poll, just shy of the top 15. This was largely due to two first place votes that were granted to the team, becoming only the 2nd team to receive first place votes in the final poll with a winning percentage of .600 or worse (the first being 5–4–1 Holy Cross in 1942).

1951 Boston University Terriers football
Conference	Independent
Ranking
AP	No. 16
1951 record	6–4
Head coach	Aldo Donelli (5th season)
Home stadium	Old Nickerson Field

1951 Eastern college football independents records
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Bucknell			–					9	–	0	–	0
No. 6 Princeton			–					9	–	0	–	0
Northeastern			–					6	–	0	–	1
No. 19 Holy Cross			–					8	–	2	–	0
Carnegie Tech			–					6	–	2	–	0
Hofstra			–					6	–	2	–	1
Cornell			–					6	–	3	–	0
No. 16 Boston University			–					6	–	4	–	0
Temple			–					6	–	4	–	0
Columbia			–					5	–	3	–	0
Villanova			–					5	–	3	–	0
Fordham			–					5	–	4	–	0
Franklin & Marshall			–					5	–	4	–	0
Penn			–					5	–	4	–	0
Penn State			–					5	–	4	–	0
Syracuse			–					5	–	4	–	0
Buffalo			–					4	–	4	–	0
Colgate			–					4	–	5	–	0
Dartmouth			–					4	–	5	–	0
Drexel			–					3	–	4	–	0
Harvard			–					3	–	5	–	1
Boston College			–					3	–	6	–	0
Yale			–					2	–	5	–	2
Pittsburgh			–					3	–	7	–	0
Army			–					2	–	7	–	0
Brown			–					2	–	7	–	0
NYU			–					1	–	7	–	0
Tufts			–					0	–	7	–	2
Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result
September 22	at William & Mary	Cary Field Williamsburg, VA	L 25–34
September 29	at Penn State	New Beaver Field State College, PA	L 34–40
October 6	at Louisville	Parkway Field Louisville, KY	W 39–7
October 13	Camp Lejeune	Old Nickerson Field Weston, MA	W 16–0
October 19	No. 16 Pacific (CA)	Fenway Park Boston, MA	W 27–12
October 27	at Temple	Temple Stadium Philadelphia, PA	L 13–20
November 3	NYU	Old Nickerson Field Weston, MA	W 52–6
November 10	Oregon	Old Nickerson Field Weston, MA	W 32–6
November 17	Wichita State	Old Nickerson Field Weston, MA	W 39–6
November 24	Syracuse	Old Nickerson Field Weston, MA	L 19–26
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

References

1. "1951 Boston University Terriers Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved July 9, 2020.