The Doug Flutie Hail Mary: Greatest Boston College Sports Moment Ever?
by A.J Black on Nov 23, 2011 6:30 PM EST
in Boston College Football
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PrintToday is the 27th anniversary of Doug Flutie's Hail Mary Pass. Considered by many to be one of the most iconic plays in college sports history, Flutie put BC football on the map on November 23, 1984.
We all know the story by heart at this point. Undersized quarterback from Natick comes to Boston College, takes a struggling program and brings them into the national spotlight. Miami and Bernie Kosar were seconds away from knocking BC back into obscurity on national television, but Flutie and Gerard Phelan lifted the Eagles to an improbable win.
Even 27 years later I get chills watching the pass, but it raises an interesting question. Is Flutie's pass the greatest moment ever in BC sports history?
It all depends on what you factors you consider. For some alumni, they may point to one of Boston College hockey's national championships. Definitely great moments -- ones that solidified the Eagles as a national powerhouse and showcased NHL-ready talent. Probably helped recruiting tremendously as well.
But how many people actually watched it? College hockey games are shown on ESPNU and ESPN3 with only the championship shown on ESPN. For those of us that follow hockey those moments could be the biggest moment in BC sports, but college hockey doesn't raise the profile of the school. The year after Flutie's pass, applications to BC rose 16%. I can't imagine BC hockey ticket sales rose that much the year after a championship.
What about the Matt Ryan pass to Andre Callender against Virginia Tech? This play could be considered as one of the greatest BC sports moments, but the loss shortly after to Florida State dampened the impact of that play on the football programs success. Or maybe BC's upset over North Carolina in the NCAA tournament in 1994? Or an older play I just can't come up with?
But I argue the Flutie pass is the greatest moment for this Eagle up to this date. College football is the biggest sport at BC -- whether we want to admit it or not -- and it's what puts our college in the national spotlight. This play not only capped a spectacular final drive, but put the exclamation point on a historic season for the Eagles. Just six years removed from an 0-11 season, BC was packing Alumni Stadium, everyone in Boston was talking about the Eagles and the program was getting respect. Isn't that what all BC fans pray our program will return to?
Even if it wasn't the greatest moment in Boston College history, Flutie's pass to Phelan is a moment we can all be proud of. So even if the basketball and football team struggle, there is always history to smile upon.
And who knows? Maybe Chase Rettig or Josh Bordner might feel some of the Flutie magic on Friday and surprise us all.
Here we go...here's your ballgame, folks, as Flutie takes the snap. He drops straight back...has some time, now scrambles away from one hit...looks...uncorks a deep one to the endzone, Phelan is down there...OH HE GOT! HE GET IT? HE GOT IT! TOUCHDOWN!! TOUCHDOWN!! TOUCHDOWN!! TOUCHDOWN!! TOUCHDOWN BOSTON COLLEGE!! HE DID IT!! HE DID IT!! FLUTIE DID IT!! HE GOT PHELAN IN THE ENDZONE!! TOUCHDOWN!! OH MY GOODNESS...WHAT A PLAY!! FLUTIE TO GERARD PHELAN!! 48 YARDS!! NO TIME ON THE CLOCK, IT'S ALL OVER!!
-- Dan Davis calling the final play.
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Yes, greatest BC sports moment ever
And it’s not even close. People who know nothing about Boston College know about the Flutie play. When I tell people I went to BC, invariably their next sentence includes the word “Flutie.” That play is inextricably linked to our university forever.
by Expatriate in Tampa on Nov 23, 2011 6:57 PM EST via mobile reply actions
great moment
Brian and A.J. I don’t have enough characters for a fan post but if you could somehow make a blog posting about this. At four on CSN new England they are replaying Notre Dame BC 1993. Have some David Gordon for dessert this afternoon!
by HarryAgganis on Nov 24, 2011 1:53 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
But no one after class if 1998 was alive to see 1984 game (or old enough in 1984 to be a football fan)
So, the greatest is subjective.
My test: if you still remember where you were when it occurred and are still gleeful, than it is a greatest candidate. If you didn’t experience it, it does not qualify.
For me it is 1984. But I can see younger alums and students going for 1993 ND game or the 2007 VT game
by eagleosprey on Nov 24, 2011 12:19 AM EST up reply actions
I wasn’t old enough to remember 1984. Greatest for me would be 2001 hockey title.
Was in attendance for BC-VT 2007. Great victory, best BC victory I’ve ever seen. But overshadowed by Red Sox World Series and rematch in ACCCG cheapens W.
Editor, BC Interruption
And Lane goes silent . . .
Oh that was great!
Being there is so much more awesome. What is your memory when Matty Ice delivered?
Iwatched it on TV.
by eagleosprey on Nov 24, 2011 7:48 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
I remember it was a work day, so I didn’t go out. So I was in my bedroom watching the game (my roommate was a Rhody fan and hates BC), and I just remember Matty completing the pass and screaming and jumping up and down. I was delirious.
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I remember Jeff and I looked at each other and openly wondered why the hell we drove 8+ hours to Blacksburg in the pouring rain to watch BC get shutout for 56 minutes.
Editor, BC Interruption
Hell yeah. But honestly more shock than excitement.
Pretty awesome to hear 66k screaming Hokies go silent and walk out the stadium in the pouring rain.
Editor, BC Interruption
Hard to argue, but I'll try
I couldn’t agree more that from a national perspective what Doug Flutie and that team were able to do to elevate Boston College football, this one is a no brainer. The 1984 team won at Alabama after being down 31-14 one play into the 3rd quarter, reached #4 in the final national poll, won the program’s first bowl game in 44 years beating Houston in the Cotton Bowl (remember in that game, Bill Flynn wanted to go to Dallas to play Texas, but Houston wound up winning the Southwest Conference title) and produced the school’s only Heisman Trophy winner.
BUT, at that point, the Heisman Trophy and the Cotton Bowl birth were essentially done deals, there was very little at stake in the game itself so…the single biggest moment based on the impact to a college football season, was David Gordon’s game winning field goal on the final play of the game at #1 Notre Dame in 1993. It is still the standard by which all big game performances in BC history should be measured, based on what was at stake. It ruined ND’s chances to play for the national championship after winning the so called “Game of the Century” the week earlier against #1 Florida State and allowed BC a chance to play for a Sugar Bowl bid against #5 West Virginia a week later at Alumni. Unfortunately, David Green forgot the ball and what may have been the best BC team in the past 70 years, perhaps best ever, wound up in Fort Lauderdale for yet another mid tier bowl.
I hear what you’re saying, CoachJF, but I prefer my all-time greatest Boston College sports moments during great seasons.
The fact that we simply played the role of spoiler in 1993 cheapens this victory over the Miracle in Miami for me. Even though not much was on the line in that game, and Flutie probably had already won the Heisman, we still were only 2-8 against Miami all-time before that game … and famously went 0-15 against the U after that game.
Plus since 1993, we’ve had our fair share of pissing in the Irish’s Cheerios — 1999 (knocked ND out of bowl consideration) 2002 (ND ranked 4th), 2003, 2004 (ND ranked 24th), 2008 (only shutout in the series). Wins against Miami have been non-existent since 1984 (aside from Matt Ryan and 2007).
Editor, BC Interruption
The 2002 game — early November, Irish ranked 4th, broke out the green jerseys — is my generation’s 1993 BC-ND game.
The 2007 BC-VT game our 1984 BC-Miami …
Editor, BC Interruption
2001. Krys Kolanos
Krys Kolanos in OT, bowling over Karl Goehring for the GWG is my personal favorite. Flutie matters more since more people care about football (sadly) and it’s hard to argue that it wasn’t a seminal moment for the university as a whole.
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