The 1896 Boston College football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team that represented

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

as an independent during the

1896 college football season The 1896 college football season had no clear-cut champion, with the ''Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book'' listing Lafayette and Princeton as having been selected national champions. Lafayette finished with an 11–0–1 record whil ...

. Led by Frank Carney in his first and only season as head coach, Boston College compiled a record of 5–3. This was the first year of the

Boston College–Holy Cross football rivalry The Boston College–Holy Cross football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Boston College Eagles and Holy Cross Crusaders. Though the rivalry has been largely dormant since the 1980s, it was once contested annua ...

and produced one of its most controversial games. BC and HC both claim to have won their November 14 matchup at the

South End Grounds South End Grounds refers to any one of three baseball parks on one site in Boston, Massachusetts. They were home to the franchise that eventually became known as the Boston Braves, first in the National Association and later in the National Le ...

, after each one refused to follow referees', instructions following a disputed play with three minutes remaining in the game. Holy Cross was leading 6–4 when Boston College scored what its players, and a raucous home crowd, asserted was the go-ahead touchdown; Holy Cross maintained the runner had been tackled for a loss. Officials initially ruled in favor of Holy Cross, and Boston College's players refused to take the field, leading the officials to declare a 6–4 Holy Cross win. Under pressure from the Boston crowd, however, they reversed their decision and asked Holy Cross, which had now left the field itself, to resume play. Holy Cross players refused. The game restarted with only Boston College players, who promptly scored a touchdown (then worth 4 points) to end the game with an 8–6 victory. Decades later, the two colleges continued to disagree on who had won the game.

Schedule

References

Boston College Eagles football seasons

Boston College football The Boston College Eagles football team represents Boston College in the sport of American football. The Eagles compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a member of ...

19th century in Boston {{Massachusetts-sport-team-stub