Moment #3 of 2021: Homecoming overtime win for BC football

We’re counting down the top 11 BC sports moments of the year, continuing today with #5. To catch you up:

#11: MBB win over Notre Dame on Senior Day under interim coach Scott Spinelli
#10: Men’s hockey’s first game with fans since March 2020 is a sellout win
#9: MBB wins in Earl Grant’s ACC opener
#8: Phil Jurkovec’s surprise return sparks football to win over VT
#7: Lacrosse makes the Final Four
#6: Fans return to Alumni Stadium for BC football’s win over Colgate
#5: BC baseball completes an insane, historic comeback to beat Auburn
#4: Drew Helleson’s buzzer beater boosts BC men’s hockey to an overtime win over BU

And today, #3: BC football tops Missouri in OT in front of a sold-out, homecoming crowd.

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OK so, at the end of the year, BC and Missouri both finished 6-6. So that takes a little bit of the gloss off of it. But at the time, we didn’t know that’s how the season would end.

At the time, BC was undefeated. And at any time, it was just a great football game - with twists and turns, a great crowd, and a week with a little more hype and trash talk than would be normally expected between two teams with zero history against one another, thanks to the “Great State of Massachusetts” brouhaha. Plus, BC was able to get one over on an SEC team. It was a good day.

But what was most memorable was the crowd and the overall atmosphere. After far too many joyless Saturdays on the Heights - either due to fans not being allowed at all, or due to the general hopelessness by the end of the previous regime, there just wasn’t the kind of excitement in the crowd that makes a day truly special. This one had it:

Credit: BCEagles.com

It was also nice to see senior Dennis Grosel - who was a battler throughout his time at BC - have a signature moment in the form of dropping a perfect dime for what proved to be the game winning touchdown pass in OT.

I wrote at the time that it was one of my favorite games I’ve ever seen at Alumni Stadium, and I stand by that even with the season not necessarily turning out as either team hoped. May we have many more Saturdays like it in the years to come.