Boston College Athletics
Football Takes on Penn State in the Pinstripe Bowl
December 26, 2014 | Football
BC Game Notes | BC Depth Chart | PSU Game Notes
Chestnut Hill, Mass. - The Boston College football team will play Penn State in the 2014 New Era Pinstripe Bowl on Saturday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. in Yankee Stadium. The game will be televised on ESPN and broadcast on WEEI 93.7 FM, the BC IMG Radio Network and ESPN Radio.
The Eagles (7-5, 4-4 ACC) are playing in their second bowl game under second-year head coach Steve Addazio after missing postseason play for the previous three seasons. The game will be the Nittany Lions (6-6, 2-6 Big Ten), who have not been to a bowl game since the 2011 season.
The game marks the 24th meeting between Boston College and Penn State. The first game was played in 1949 and the squads have not met in the last 10 years, since2004. Penn State dominated the series, winning the first 19 of 20 games. The Eagles won the last three matchups in 1992, 2003 and 2004. Heisman Trophy winner Doug Flutie made his collegiate debut against Penn State in 1981. A year later, he passed for an astounding 520 yards. In 1983, the BC QB engineered the Eagles' first win against Penn State, a 27-17 victory in Foxboro Stadium that was televised nationally. In his career, Flutie played four games against Penn State, accumulating 1,482 passing yards, the most of any player against a single opponent in NCAA history. The two teams have never met on neutral territory.
Boston College will head to a bowl game for the 24th time in school history. BC is 13-10 (.565) in the postseason, which is the fourth-best winning percentage among all Atlantic Coast Conference teams. Florida State leads the way with a 25-14 (.615) record.
Although the Pinstripe Bowl will be Boston College's first football appearance in famed Yankee Stadium, the Eagles' have played five games at another well-known New York baseball venue: the Polo Grounds. BC played Fordham five times between 1927 and 1954 at the Polo Grounds, the former home of the New York Giants baseball team. The Eagles won three of those five contests against the Rams, including the final two games of the Jesuit-school series in 1953 and 1954.
In addition to the Polo Grounds, Boston College has played games in three other Major League baseball stadiums: Fenway Park and Braves Field (now Boston University's Nickerson Field) in Boston and they played three bowls (2003, 2009, 2010) at the San Francisco Giants' home stadium. The Eagles, who played game at Fenway starting with the 1914 season through 1956, will return to Boston's historic ball park next fall for a game against Notre Dame on Nov. 21.
Boston College and Penn State have more in common than cold weather and Northeast roots. Both teams defend the run and play good defense. The Nittany Lions lead the nation in pass defense, allowing just 84.8 yards/game. The Eagles are fourth in the country with 95.5 yards/game. The PSU defense as a whole ranks second in the country, allowing just 269.8 yards/game while BC's defense is 14th nationally, allowing 313.5 yards/game. Both the Eagles and the Lions have allowed just two 100-yard rushers this season. The Nittany Lions have racked up 30 sacks for a loss of 200 yards while the Eagles have recorded 31 sacks for a loss of 210 yards. It's a team effort for both squads as 16 different BC players have recorded at least half a sack and 13 have done so for PSU.
The difference between the two Northeast teams lies within the offense: BC runs the ball more than it throws, registering 146 rushing first downs to 69 passing first downs. The Nittany Lions have 79 rushing first downs to 120 passing first downs. The Eagles' rush attack is 14th in the nation (251.8 yards/game) while Penn State's is 117th (103.6 yards/game). BC averages 132.0 passing yards/game, with is 121st nationally, while Penn State's 221.9 passing yards/game is 72nd nationally.
