Even explaining this rivalry is a challenge. Half my readers remember it, lived it and know more about it than I do. The other half are still scratching their head at the thought of a heated relationship with Holy Cross. But once upon a time, this was the college football game in New England. Both programs had periods of success. For years games were played at Fenway. Both schools were filled with Catholics from the Boston area. There was a feeling that you knew everyone sitting in the stands, regardless of what team they were rooting for.
The connection was more than just sports and proximity. Both schools are Jesuit and priests often moved back and forth between the institutions. For a long time both schools also prized athletics. But Holy Cross' size and constantly shifting position on sports changed the rivalry and the school.
Being smaller than BC was always a bit limiting, yet Holy Cross had (and still has a large athletic department). But when the first DIA and DIAA split came, Holy Cross went small and BC stayed large. The additional scholarships and larger stage only made the rivalry more lopsided. As Holy Cross moved to no scholarships, it wasn't even a rivalry anymore. The series ended as it was no longer competitive or fair (with HC having no scholarships). And as the sports connection faded, so did the tightness of the other connections. As both schools became more national and had student bodies from beyond Massachusetts, the familiarity and overlap dwindled too.
While I know some individual Holy Cross fans who rehash the "would've, should've, could've" aspects of their sports decisions, I don't know how all their alumni feel. It is clear that their leadership values a future in sports and hence the return to scholarships and the return to playing BC. They are a long way away from being competitive, but I do wish them success. I would love for them to become a FCS power and an semi-regular part of our schedule. The nostalgia and association would help both schools and perhaps grow to something new and exciting. Holy Cross was a critical part of BC history. It would be nice to have it as part of our future.
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I agree. I graduated in 1991 and Holy Cross means nothing to me in any sport. Until (if ever) another New England school goes Power 5, we just need to rotate them all, UMass, UConn, Maine, UNH, Holy Cross, URI, etc... with just one game per year and for some years we are short on scheduling, maybe add two. Its just not exciting. And if we are playing non power 5, lets at least play someone in a good recruiting area that is not New England to create exposure even if a home game. (Think Cincinnati, Houston, Rice, USF, UCF, etc...) Although not perfect, Purdue, Kansas and Missouri is a start in the right direction with additional Power 5 and hopefully down the road, Stanford, Ohio State and Michigan State remain.
On Saturday BC was up on UMass (obviously not a great program, but in the FBS) 48-7 at the half. FCS Holy Cross was 4-7 last year and just lost to Colgate. This game has the potential to devolve into a Howard-level debacle. Rivalry (and applesauce eating ways) notwithstanding, no one wants to see that. I do my best to watch every BC football game that I can, but I'm glad that I won't be able to watch this one.
I graduated in 2000 and Holy Cross is meaningless to me. In fact, no school in New England means anything, including that crap school in Connecticut that claimed we were the reason they built a football stadium in the first place.
I see some logic to playing local schools, but we get little to nothing out of it. Shoot, the game against UMass and their huge local alumni base, didnt even get televised locally. We already get the best kids ... and when we dont, its not because they chose another local school.
We were playing HC in football up to 1986. The games were on WCVB up to that point. People were attentive to the rivalry then. So 55 is an accurate age. Not 70 professor.
I would like to see HC and UMass stay on the schedule. There is room too keep them and rotate in ND and keep competitive type out of conference games against schools like Temple and Purdue. No reason to completely over extend yourself out of conference.
On November 28, 2942, the Holy Cross game mattered a lot. BC was a consensus national champion in 1940. In 1942, they were 8-0 and primed for another national title. They were waiting on a bid from the Sugar Bowl to meet Alabama. The game was at Fenway and HC pulled the big upset and did it in style 55-12. The HC defense kept trapping the BC interior line on scouting tips from the Chicago Bears. HC ran them into the ground.----This was then tied into the Cocoanut Grove disaster where 492 people lost their lives including the BC equipment manager and his wife. BC cancelled out. It is worth remembering from the perspective that football is "only a game".
Mod squishes the idiot known as Khead yet again. HC hasn’t been relevant since Khead’s mother was “servicing” Frank Leahy on the BC sidelines in the 40s.
TGS, Like I told you last week. Get off your mother and go get a job. Or are you back because the local library is letting you use the internet again.
I beat you. You beat nobody.
More male sex organ talk from TGS. TGS cannot help it.
Mod, you have your head in the clouds. Read what I wrote. It says nothing about competitive. Your math is messed up just like your response which has nothing to do with what I wrote.
Check out some of the games this week
VT vs Bill & Mary
Miami vs Savannah State
FSU vs Samford
Cuse vs Wagner
WF vs Towson
You can’t fill all 12 games with hard games. Alabama plays the Citadel Nov 17th. These are two perfect games for BC to start the season and local teams is better then playing out of region. They can pay less of a guarantee. BC’s other two non conference games make perfect sense, non power 5 regional opponent in Temple and similar power 5 in Purdue. Would love to get Army/Navy back on schedule but to replace Temple not these first two
Anyone complaining about the schedule STOP
I don't mind beating up on teams, I'd just rather not beat up on Holy Cross. If BU still had a team I'd be all for beating them 150-0.
I have no problem playing an FCS as long as other Power 5's continue to do so-- and they are as Shabby points out. But let's remember this game in November when people are whining about what a difficult schedule we play.
A rivalry takes two sides, and while my experience as a BC fan mirrors those of most everyone here (I was at BC in the mid-90's and HC had little to no meaning to me), pretty much all the Cross alums I've met-- even ones that graduated in this century-- dislike BC on a level that you'd associate with a rival. Someone earlier was claiming HC sold 8000 tickets for this game. Mismatch aside, it's a decent game with some history and regional interest.
If we are going to play an FCS, I'm glad we are going to play HC, and I'd add Georgetown, Villanova and Fordham to that mix as well and just rotate them. I have no use for games against Wagner and Elon.
KHead - you actually stated to keep Holy Cross on the schedule. What are you smoking ? You must think the Cross has intentions of building a competitive D-1 program. I think not !!! Furthermore, are you attending the upcoming HC game . How about 50 to zip at halftime!!! Nuff said .
Agree with mod - this is a bad game on every level - just like Howard or Wagner. Achieves absolutely nothing and does not get us ready for tougher opponents. Would have much preferred a UConn, Rutgers, any MAC team, etc. to this. HC is a small college in a modest (albeit honorable) conference with mostly freshmen players. They are a notch above a very good high school program. They are not even at the same level they were when we last played them. They solely play Ivy League schools, Bucknell, Colgate, Lafayette, Fordham, Georgetown, UNH and Lehigh. We should take out the two deep after the midpoint of Q2 and hope nobody gets killed.
I know what I said. It is good for Boston College to maintain some times to the past and maintain/ renew a relationship with another Jesuit school. It doesn't preclude us from scheduling other out of conference games given we have 3-4 spots open for that each year. If the history of the University and it's religious foundation are lost on you fine. I will take a W and restart a relationship with HC.
I am looking forward to our first real game of the year next Thursday. We will have a national TV audience. Let’s hope that game is BC’s coming out party.
And let’s pay back WF for last year’s game.
It's okay to be reminded of my age - what the heck, it's better than the alternative as they say.
When I was a student (and Lenny S. will back me up - both class of 1968) our rivalry was still good and pretty strong. We beat the Cross 3 out of 4 during our years, and 3 of the games were highly competitive.
The one game we lost (November 26, 1966 - 32 to 26) was one of the most exciting college football games I have ever been to.
I was a junior, and of course we were all facing service after graduation with Vietnam having really heated up. The HC QB was Jack Lentz, who was a guy who could take off and run all day.
They went up 19 to 0, we came back 20 to 19 and on it went. A late bad call in my opinion (a BC FG waived off that would have made it 29 to 25, instead left the score 26 to 25) Everyone in the stadium thought HC was going for the winning FG, but they fooled everyone and completed a late TD pass. It would have been different knowing they had to score a TD to win.
I was stunned and unhappy - but I also realized that one of the HC quarterbacks who had left school early to serve in the Marines - Mike Cunnion - was Killed in Action along with 12 other Marines when his helicopter was hit by Viet Cong fire and crashed in Quange Tri province.
It was tough to hate your rival when one of their players gave his life for his country (He was Class of 1967) a few short months before the game.
I have fond memories of our old rivalry, but I also recognize that HC will probably never again be able to give us ant semblance of a game. It's too bad, in a way - but that's the reality. Those games were fun to see the Jesuits drinking and singing with family members and friends from both sides.
My Jesuit Uncle taught at HC and that's where he is buried. I will salute the Cross and never hate them - but abuse them in any sport we can. :-)
My brother graduated there in 66 - and served in the Navy. I graduated BC in 68 and served in the Army.
Go BC - beat HC.
My parents, neither of whom were alums, believed the two finest schools in the world were Holy Cross and Boston College. My brother went to the Cross (even after getting into Yale and Harvard) and I went to BC (after getting into nothing better than BC). I grew up attending football games at both schools starting in the 60's. My most indelible memory of Holy Cross football was seeing Larry Csonka of Syracuse carry about four Crusaders on his back 15 yards into the end zone. I am very fond of the Cross - it's a different experience than BC - and it's a very solid school. The last basketball game between the Cross and BC that I attended was in the Donahue era and we lost (embarrassingly so since many of the BC students kept chanting "safety school" throughout the game at the Cross crowd). They can compete against us in nearly everything - but football is not one of them. At one time - the Cross played everyone (with very limited success) and wisely decided to go in a different direction in view of their size/funding disparities. I understand from some Cross alums that the Cross now believes they have to heighten their athletics investment after witnessing the growth impacts to such schools as Villanova and Gonzaga. I think that's great and doable for basketball, hockey, etc. - but not football.
I believe that HC remains the opponent against which BC has played the most games, and it wasn't even close. Syracuse was 2nd, and it would have taken another few decades to catch up. That was when the Syracuse game went on hiatus because of the ACC move.
I guess my perspective is different than many, but I prefer games like this, where there is some history and rooting interest, than getting blown out by the "bigs," which BC fancies itself to be, but has rather conspicuously failed to have been for the last decade plus.
The Holy Cross versus Boston College game is historic. I learned about it in medical school. In 1943 Boston College was favored to win. This was just a few years after the Frank Leahy era. Expected to win, BC got crushed by 40 points. The planned celebration at the Coconut Grove nightclub in Boston was canceled. The infamous fire there that night would have been much worse if Boston College fans have been involved. That fire is historic and tragic because 500 people were burned to death (worst mass fire in history) and treatment of the burn victims resulted in the revolutionization of burn care in the United States, it resulted in the widespread use of penicillin as an anabiotic in the United States, and it resulted in mass changes safety and the establish of the modern fire code. Here’s the link if you’re on familiar with this history.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/cocoanut-grove-boston-nightclub-fire-safety-codes-burn-care/
As for this year‘s game, however it’s going to be a beat down with no historical relevance at all.
Nola Eagle
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