1940 Boston College Eagles football team

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1940 Boston College Eagles football
National champion (self-claimed)
Eastern champion
Sugar Bowl champion
Sugar Bowl, W 19–13 vs. Tennessee
ConferenceIndependent
Ranking
APNo. 5
Record11–0
Head coach
Captain Henry Toczylowski
Home stadiumAlumni Field
Fenway Park
Seasons
←  1939
1941  →
1940 Eastern college football independents records
ConfOverall
TeamW L TW L T
No. 5 Boston College  – 11 –0 –0
Duquesne  – 7 –1 –0
No. 14 Penn  – 6 –1 –1
Penn State  – 6 –1 –1
No. 12 Fordham  – 7 –2 –0
No. 15 Cornell  – 6 –2 –0
La Salle  – 6 –2 –0
Princeton  – 5 –2 –1
Columbia  – 5 –2 –2
Brown  – 6 –3 –1
Bucknell  – 4 –2 –2
Boston University  – 5 –3 –0
Colgate  – 5 –3 –0
Hofstra  – 4 –3 –0
Harvard  – 3 –2 –3
Dartmouth  – 5 –4 –0
Temple  – 4 –4 –1
Tufts  – 4 –4 –0
Vermont  – 4 –4 –0
Villanova  – 4 –5 –0
Pittsburgh  – 3 –4 –1
Syracuse  – 3 –4 –1
Buffalo  – 3 –5 –0
Carnegie Tech  – 3 –5 –0
Manhattan  – 3 –6 –0
Providence  – 3 –6 –0
NYU  – 2 –7 –0
Yale  – 1 –7 –0
Army  – 1 –7 –1
CCNY  – 1 –5 –1
Massachusetts State  – 1 –8 –0
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1940 Boston College Eagles football team represented Boston College as an independent during the 1940 college football season. The team was led by head coach Frank Leahy in his second year, and played their home games at Fenway Park in Boston and Alumni Field in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. They won all ten games in the regular season, were the highest-scoring team in the country, and won the Lambert Trophy, awarded to 'Eastern champion'. With its victory on New Year's Day in the Sugar Bowl over the undefeated Tennessee, champion of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), the BC Eagles were widely acclaimed as national champions. [1] Minnesota and Stanford also have viable claims to the national championship.

From 1936 to 1964, the final AP Poll ranking college football teams was taken at the end of the regular season, before the postseason bowl games. The final 1940 rankings were published on December 2, and listed undefeated Minnesota (8–0) first with its thrilling home win by an extra point 7–6 over No. 3 Michigan (7–1). Stanford (10–0) was ranked second, Tennessee (10–0) fourth, and Boston College (10–0) was fifth. [2]

Neither Minnesota nor Michigan played in a postseason bowl game, and Stanford defeated No. 7 Nebraska (8–2) in the Rose Bowl. Tennessee outscored its regular season opponents 319–26, soundly beating such opponents as Alabama, Florida, LSU, Kentucky, Virginia, and Duke. [3] Despite where the AP rated teams at the end of the regular season, BC's post season win over Tennessee was widely deemed the best win of any team in the 1940 season. [4]

Schedule

DateOpponentRankSiteResultAttendanceSource
September 21 Centre
W 40–019,000 [5]
September 28at Tulane
W 27–742,000 [6]
October 12 Temple
W 33–2028,000 [7]
October 19 Idaho No. 8
  • Fenway Park
  • Boston, MA
W 60–08,000 [8] [9] [10]
October 26 Saint Anselm No. 10
  • Alumni Field
  • Chestnut Hill, MA
W 55–017,000 [11]
November 2 Manhattan No. 9
  • Alumni Field
  • Chestnut Hill, MA
W 25–012,000 [12]
November 9 Boston University No. 8
W 21–020,000 [13]
November 16No. 9 Georgetown No. 8
  • Fenway Park
  • Boston, MA
W 19–1843,000 [14]
November 23 Auburn No. 4
  • Fenway Park
  • Boston, MA
W 33–730,000 [15]
November 30 Holy Cross No. 4
W 7–038,000 [16]
January 1, 1941vs. No. 4 Tennessee No. 5
W 19–1373,181 [17]
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

[18]

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References

  1. ↑ See what the nation's leading sportswriters thought of the BC Sugar Bowl victory at “Sports Writers Comment on B.C. Win In Sugar Bowl”, Daily Boston Globe (1928-1960); Jan. 3, 1941; p. 9. For extensive contemporaneous documentation of the championship see http://bcnationalchamps1940.wordpress.com/
  2. ↑ Reid Oslin (November 10, 2015). Boston College Athletics – The 1940 Team of Destiny Retrieved July 21, 2016.
  3. ↑ Haywood Harris and Gus Manning (2004) “Six Seasons Remembered: The National Championship Years of Tennessee Football”, The University of Tennessee Press/ Knoxville pp. 24–45.
  4. ↑ "Sports Writers Comment on B. C. Win In Sugar Bowl". The Boston Globe . Boston, Massachusetts. January 3, 1941. p. 9. Retrieved June 8, 2021– via Newspapers.com Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg .
  5. ↑ King, Bill (September 22, 1940). "Boston College Crushes Centre". The Philadelphia Inquirer . Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Associated Press. p. 42. Retrieved June 8, 2021– via Newspapers.com Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg .
  6. ↑ "Boston stuns Tulane with 27–7 victory". The Clarion-Ledger. September 29, 1940. Retrieved April 10, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ Stan Baumgartner (October 13, 1940). "Boston College's Passes Beat Temple by 33 to 20". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 1S – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ "Boston College fears scoreless Idaho". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. October 19, 1940. p. 11.
  9. ↑ "Boston College tramples Idaho". Spokane Daily Chronicle. (Washington). Associated Press. October 19, 1940. p. 1.
  10. ↑ "Boston swamps Idaho team, 60-0". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. October 20, 1940. p. 1, sports.
  11. ↑ "Boston College Wins 55-0 Rout". The Philadelphia Inquirer. October 27, 1940. p. S1 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ "BC's Touchdown Parade Trims Jaspers, 25-0". New York Daily News. November 3, 1940. p. 94 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ "Boston College Defeats Boston U. By 21 To 0". The Sun. November 10, 1940. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ↑ Francis E. Stan (November 17, 1940). "B.C. Noses Out G.U., 19-18". The Sunday Star. p. Sports 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ↑ "Boston College Smashes Way To Win Over Auburn". The Montgomery Advertiser. November 24, 1940. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ↑ "Boston College Gets Four Lucky Breaks To Conquer Courageous Crusaders, 7-0". The Hartford Courant. December 1, 1940. p. IV-1 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ↑ "Indomitable spirit brings Eagles win". The Boston Globe. January 2, 1941. Retrieved August 8, 2021– via Newspapers.com.
  18. ↑ DeLassus, David. "Boston College Yearly Results: 1940–1944". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on February 18, 2013. Retrieved March 17, 2013.
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