Boston College Athletics
BC-PSU: A College Football Tradition
December 24, 2014 | Football
By ReiD Oslin
Fans from Chestnut Hill to State College - as well as those in college football ports-of-call across the nation - are gleefully anticipating an unexpected holiday treat this year: the renewal of the Boston College-Penn State rivalry to be played in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium on Saturday.
Will this year's game be another aerial shootout like the epic 1982 BC-Penn State gunfight, when opposing quarterbacks Doug Flutie and Todd Blackledge combined for 763 passing yards?
Or will it be a defensive tractor-pull, like the 7-3 showdown in 1989 when the Nittany Lions scored the game's only touchdown with less than a minute to play?
Whichever way this year's game unfolds, chances are strong that Boston College and Penn State will provide another enjoyable football classic, as the two former "Eastern Independents" - and one-time annual foes - meet at one of America's greatest sports venues.
Here's a look at some of the top moments in the long BC-Penn State football rivalry:
1949
The first meeting between of the two Eastern independents occurred in 1949, when a crowd of just 18,041 fans at the "New Beaver Field" in State College watched Penn State score a 32-14 victory. It was the first - and final - season - for PSU head coach Joe Bedenk.
1950
The first game played in Boston between the two teams drew a sparse crowd. Only 8,503 people attended the game (won by Penn State, 20-13) that was played at Braves Field. This would be the only time that the Nittany Lions and Eagles played in a Major League baseball stadium until this weekend's Pinstripe Bowl contest in Yankee Stadium.
1965
This will be the final coaching season for Penn State Hall of Famer Rip Engle. His team pitches a shutout against the Eagles in Chestnut Hill, 17-0.
1966
A young Brown University graduate, Joe Paterno, is promoted from assistant to head coach at Penn State. The Nittany Lions escape with a hard-fought 30-21 decision over BC. Two-time All-America tight end Ted Kwalick helped the PSU cause by catching a pair of touchdown passes from QB Tom Sherman. Sherman also kicked three extra points and connected on a two-point conversion play to his other tight end - Frank Spaziani.
1968
Boston College hires a Penn State graduate, Joe Yukica, a 35-year-old protégé of former PSU icon Engle to rebuild the BC program and bring it to the top level of Eastern football competition. Yukica, a former Penn State tight end, eventually got the Eagles to the upper echelon, but suffered a 29-0 loss to his No. 4-ranked alma mater in Chestnut Hill on October 8.
1981
Down 38-0 in the fourth quarter at Beaver Stadium, BC head coach Jack Bicknell and offensive coordinator Tom Coughlin decide to put a freshman on the field in his varsity debut at quarterback. Doug Flutie responds by passing for 135 yards and a touchdown in the losing cause. The diminutive passer would go on to start every game in the remainder of his collegiate career.
1982
Flutie passed for 520 yards before a packed house at Alumni Stadium and a national audience on ABC. The Eagles can't stop the Nittany Lions' ground game, with All-America running back Curt Warner piling up 163 yards and three scores on the ground, while PSU passer Todd Blackledge hit for 243 yards and three more touchdowns.
1983
At long last, Boston College scored its first victory over the Nittany Lions, 27-17, in another nationally-televised game, this one played at Sullivan Stadium in Foxboro. Flutie finished with 380 passing yards and a pair of TDs. BC wide receiver Brian Brennan hauled in 12 of those passes for 173 yards. Late in the game, with BC holding a 24-17 lead and Penn State threatening to rally, BC needed to complete a long third-down pass to keep control of the football. Flutie threw to another of his wide receivers - one who had originally been turned down by Penn State when he was a high school senior - who made a diving catch at the sideline to keep the Eagle drive alive. The receiver's name was Gerard Phelan. The victory went a long way in boosting the Eagles to the Lambert Trophy championship at season's end, emblematic of the East's top independent team.
1984
For the third consecutive year, the BC-Penn State game was selected for national television broadcast by ABC. The Nittany Lions scored a thrilling 37-30 victory over BC, perhaps costing the Eagles (who would finish the year at 10-2) a shot at the National Championship. Flutie once again turned in a phenomenal passing performance, collecting 447 yards and a touchdown in the back-and-forth game that was not settled until D.J. Dozier ran 39 yards for a Penn State touchdown late in the final quarter. In four games against Penn State, Flutie had passed for an incredible 1,482 yards - the most ever by a quarterback against a single opponent in college football history. Flutie would go on to win the 1984 Heisman Trophy.
1988
The series was resumed after a three-year hiatus with Penn State scoring a tight 23-20 victory in Beaver Stadium. A PSU defensive back broke in to block a BC punt with just 1:46 left on the clock and Ray Tarasi booted home a 37-yard field goal with just 58 ticks left on the clock for the winning margin. The late Nittany Lion kick negated a fine passing performance by BC's Mark Kamphaus (20-of-29, 257 yards, 2 TDs), and wide receivers Tom Waddle and Marcus Cherry, who teamed up for 12 catches, 198 yards and two scores.
1989
Another special teams error cost the Eagles a hard-fought victory. A poor punt gave the Nittany Lions the ball at the BC 35 with just over a minute left in the game, and QB Tony Sacca scored the game's lone touchdown on a daring one-yard run on fourth down with just 44 seconds left on the clock.
1991
The Eagles officially became members of the Big East Conference and Tom Coughlin took over as the Eagles' head coach. Like so many BC coaches before him, Coughlin was stymied in his first game against Penn State, and the Eagles fell, 28-21. BC quarterback Glenn Foley suffered five interceptions in the game - and the Nittany Lions turned four of them into scores.
1992
The Eagles returned to Beaver Stadium for a second consecutive year, and Coughlin had plenty of tricks up his sleeve for the host Nittany Lions. The BC offense came out in a triple tight end set, and Foley - who had been so battered by the PSU defense a year earlier - fired three touchdown passes in the first half to stake the Eagles to a 28-10 lead. Penn State rallied late in the game, but BC running back Chuckie Dukes, who finished with 140 rushing yards, made a key third-down-and-5 conversion, carrying the defensive pile far enough to move the chains and snuff out Penn State's hopes.
2003
The series was resumed with Penn State now a 10-year member of the Big Ten Conference. Coach Tom O'Brien's rejuvenated Eagles set the tone early in this game, taking a 24-0 first half lead, and then holding on to score a 27-14 victory. The game was shown to a national television audience on ABC and a crowd of 106,445 filled every nook of Beaver Stadium. It remains the largest crowd ever to witness a Boston College football game. Individual kudos for the win belongs to BC running back Derrick Knight, who rushed for 156 yards.
2004
O'Brien accomplished a goal in this game that no other Boston College coach can claim: beating the powerful Nittany Lions in back-to-back games. In the Eagles' home opener, senior quarterback Paul Peterson (23-for-31, 199 yards, 3 TDs) and freshman RB Andre Callendar (114 yards) provided all of the offensive that was needed, while the BC defense was led by linebackers Ricky Brown (8 tackles, 1 fumble recovery) and JoLonn Dunbar (7 tackles). It was the 50th career victory for O'Brien, who would become BC's winningest football coach with a 75-45 record at the Heights.
2014
Boston College is now a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference; Penn State plays in the Big Ten. This will be the first time the teams have met in postseason play, but if the past is prologue, it should be another terrific college football game.
College football fans everywhere can't wait.
