Several years ago, BC Athletics issued a calendar featuring the covers of football game programs through the years. I had several made into posters. One recently fell off the shelf and when I picked it up, I noticed the date. 

September 11, 1976. Fifty years ago today.

The game was BC-Texas. Yes, that Texas. And the game represented what the radio announcer said in the video below was “the biggest upset in New England college football history.” The headline in The Boston Globe the next morning, above the photo at the top of this post, was “It’s true — BC staggers Longhorns, 14-13.”

(It’s unfortunate, of course, that the anniversary of this game is the same date as that of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001. Celebrating memories related to a football game on that date 25 years earlier has no relevance to the reverence due memories of the 9/11 attacks.) 

The Eagles played Texas three times in the early ’70s. The Longhorns won 42-9 in 1974 at Alumni Stadium and entered the 1976 season ranked in the top 10. They were Hall-of-Fame coach Darrell Royal’s last team and finished the year only 5-5-1 (they still had ties then), but with basically the same personnel they were 11-1 in 1977, including a 44-0 rout in their home opener against BC.

The 1976 game was low-scoring and focused on the run. The Eagles had 34 offensive plays for a total of 208 yards, Texas 33 plays for 112 yards. Texas had four first downs, BC nine. The Eagles gained 197 yards rushing and quarterback Ken Smith was one-for-four passing for 11 yards, with one pass intercepted. The Longhorns gained 66 yards rushing and the Texas QB was two-for-six passing for 46 yards, no interceptions. 

I attended the game and I remember it being exciting because BC’s second play of the game made it so. Running back Neil Green ran to the right side and burst through the Texas defense for a 74-yard touchdown. The Eagles had a chance! 

The rest of the game featured a mix of great defense, mistakes, penalties, and surprises that kept the end result unsettled until time ran out . . . and then there was still one more play!

Two first-period fumbles by the Eagles gave Texas possession in BC territory. Stiff defense led to two field goal attempts by the Longhorns–a 50-yarder was short and a 28-yard try was botched by a fumbled snap by the holder.

In the second period, Texas drove to inside the BC 10, but a hard hit on the Texas QB led to his fumble and a Eagle recovery on their four-yard line. Cue the 96-yard drive. Ten plays and six minutes later, quarterback Ken Smith was at the bottom of the pile in the photo at the top of the post and BC went ahead 14-0.

An interception of a Smith pass put the Longhorns at midfield in the second period and a subsequent 35-yard touchdown pass put the score at 14-7. 

By halftime, both teams had lost their star running backs. BC’s Green had injured his knee and Texas’s future Heisman Trophy-winner Earl Campbell left the game with a hamstring pull after being held to 23 yards in the half.

After a scoreless third period, Texas went on a 72-yard drive, with Jimmy Johnson, Campbell’s replacement at fullback, carrying on six successive plays for three consecutive first downs. On the BC 17, Texas faked to Johnson, but handing the ball to Johnny (Ham) Jones who went into the endzone to make the score 14-13. 

Texas went for the win instead of kicking the point-after for a tie. In a repeat of the play on which Texas had just scored, Jones took the ball to the right. DB Kelly Elias made one of the most iconic plays in BC history, stopping Jones just short. BC 14, Texas 13.

After the game, Elias said he had recognized the play and “I knew the ball carrier was coming my way. I just acted accordingly and moved in to make the play. I stuck him pretty good on the two.” 

And then the game turned what many fans might have thought was bizarre. BC forced a Texas fumble at its 30 with two minutes to go. The Longhorns held BC short of a first down, however, and got the ball back on their 22 with a minute left.

Texas threw a long pass which was caught on the BC 20, within easy field goal range. The Longhorns, however, were called for 12 men on the field and the play was called back. With time running out, Texas threw an incomplete pass, but BC was called for roughing the passer.

A game cannot end with a penalty against the defense, so Texas was able to try a 53-yard field goal. Texas’s punter and kicker was three-time all-American Russell Erxleben, who had already missed three field goals in the game. He made it a quartet, missing barely.

Texas coach Royal said later, “I am really happy for BC. They played inspired football. We made too many mistakes, but I don’t want to use those as alibis.”

The crowd that stormed the field at game’s end was really happy too.

Here’s the video (24:41). This appears to be a film of the game with audio from the radio broadcast. Each play is replayed, which can be confusing.

Javarius Green signals TD on this pass in the second quarter of yesterday’s 34-15 loss to Cincinnati. The TV analysts agreed, but the referee said “incomplete.” Maybe not decisive, but certainly an important opportunity lost.

Boston College’s win streak ended Saturday in its 34-15 loss to the Cincinnati Bearcats.

That “streak” was one game long. BC ended its 2025 season with a 34-12 win over Syracuse, which had been preceded by 10 consecutive losses. The loss yesterday was much like most of the losses last year — a combination of a weak offensive line, questionable play calling, and bad luck. The Eagles ran more offensive plays than the Bearcats and gained more yards, including 138 more yards passing. Their principal deficit came in the most important category: points.

The 2026 Eagles are quite different from the previous group, which had led to some hope that their fortunes would be brighter. Coach Bill O’Brien had brought in 26 transfers as well as 25 freshmen, essentially replacing half the team. Foremost among the new players was Mason MacKensie, quarterback last season at Saginaw Valley State College, a Division 2 school. Mackenzie had been player of the year in his conference.

There were also significant changes in the BC coaching staff, including a new defensive coordinator. And O’Brien announced he, not an offensive coordinator, would be calling offensive plays.

The new personnel and coaches may make these Eagles click as a team. It just has not happened yet.

A series of plays in the second quarter yesterday, if not decisive in determining the outcome, were very significant in influencing that outcome.

With the Bearcats ahead 3-0 on a field goal on their opening drive, the Eagles appeared to stop Cincinnati on their own 39-yard line. With 10:37 remaining in the second quarter, on 4th-down-and-5, the Bearcats faked the punt and threw an eight-yard pass to the punter for a first down. They quickly moved into BC territory and six plays later scored on a six-yard touchdown pass to push the lead to 10-0.

After an exchange of punts, BC got the ball again on their 27-yard line with 3:36 to play in the first half. They then began a 13-play drive. At times facing yardages of 1st-and-15, 2nd-and-17, 3rd-and 15, MacKenzie completed three passes and ran twice to bring BC to the Cincinnati 36-yard line. A BC penalty and incomplete passes resulted in a 3rd-and-15 at the 32.

After going back to pass on the next play, MacKenzie ran instead to his left and ran for 15 yards, out of bounds at the Cincinnati 17-yard line, and a first down. After an incomplete pass into the endzone, Mackenzie threw a pass to tight end Danny Edgehill, which is the photo at the top of this post.

Edgehill caught the pass and, just prior to crossing the goal line, had the ball knocked out of his hands. The ball fell into the end zone, where Edgehill fell on it. Well, was it a touchdown? BC players raised their arms waiting for a decision. The referee signaled “incomplete pass.”

Looking at replays, the TV announcers said they thought it had been complete and a subsequent fumble had been recovered by BC for a touchdown. The telecast then interviewed Fox rules analyst Dean Blandino.

“This should be a catch, fumble, recovery in the end zone for a touchdown,” Blandino said.

According to the review official, it was not. The referee announced that the call on the field stood and it was third down for BC. The response from the TV announcer? “I absolutely, completely disagree.”

After another unsuccessful pass attempt into the end zone, the reliable BC placekicker Luca Lombardo, who made 16 field goals out of 17 attempts last season, came in for a 35-yard field goal. He missed. Multiple opportunities for points missed.

The Eagles ran 34 plays for 138 yards in the first half, with the Bearcats gaining 139 yards on 27 plays. BC had the ball for three minutes more than Cincinnati. But zero points for BC and 10 for Cincinnati.

In another unfortunate repetition of last year’s performances, the opponent  opened the second half with two drives for touchdowns bracketing a six-play Eagles drive that ended in a fumble and ballooning to a 24-0 lead.

BC’s first touchdown came with two minutes remaining in the third quarter. Running back Evan Dickens ended a seven-play, 75-yard drive with a four-yard touchdown run. Mackenzie added the two-point conversion to make the score 24-8.

The fourth quarter saw Cincinnati add a field goal and, following the interception of a Mackenzie pass on the BC 38-yard line, their final touchdown. With less than two minutes remaining in the game, the Eagles moved 82 yards in three plays, including a MacKenzie pass for 32 yards, to score the game’s final points on a 23-yard MacKenzie touchdown pass to wide receiver Johnathan Montague Jr. 

For the full game, the Eagles ran 73 plays for 388 yards total offense, compared to 61 plays for 339 yards for the Bearcats. BC gained 24 first downs, to 17 for Cincinnati. Eagles lost a fumble and had one pass intercepted, Bearcats none of either. Cincinnati was able to score 14 points off turnovers, BC zero. Each team had seven penalties.

Yet again a somewhat unusual BC statistic repeated itself, as QB MacKenzie was the team’s leading rusher, gaining a net 78 yards on 20 carries. Dickens added another 47 yards on 11 carries.

Passing, MacKenzie was 18-of-35 for 223 yards for one touchdown and with one interception. He was sacked four times, compared to one BC sack of the Bearcats’ QB. Nine Eagles caught a pass, led by Javarius Green with six receptions for 74, followed by Brady Clough with four catches for 31 yards.

Here are game highlights (18:59).

Following the game, O’Brien took responsibility for what he said were coaching errors. Various shortcomings, he said, “are all things that we work hard at. It didn’t translate to the field, so that’s on me. That’s not good coaching, and we have to figure out how to coach it better because we see it done right in practice.”

In an interview with The Boston Globe that appeared Saturday morning, O’Brien expressed unhappiness with the current state of college football roster building. When he announced his first recruiting class in December 2024, the paper said, O’Brien had a different vision.

“In an ideal world, the Eagles would approach recruiting the way the Houston Texans and New England Patriots did when he was in the NFL. He saw high school recruiting as the draft, the transfer portal as free agency, and BC as a program rooted in recruiting and development.

“’We’re not going to be swapping 30 guys out and bringing 30 guys in,’ O’Brien said that December. ‘That’s not who we are. We’re going to develop the guys we have in our program, build a culture with those guys, and then try to [fill] where we have some needs.

“’We’ll see if it works. We have a strong belief in it and we’re going to make it work.’”

Short week for the Eagles, as they open at home Friday against Rutgers, who lost convincingly to UMass 37-21 last Thursday, the Minutemen ending a 48-year losing streak to Power Conference teams. The game is the annual Red Bandana game, honoring on the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon the memory of Welles Crowther ’99, who lost his life while assisting others in the World Trade Center to safety.

Gamewatch will be Friday, September 11 at 4:30 pm at The Corner Drafthouse, 495 Laurel St., San Diego.