The Boston College and Northwestern football teams have played each other three times in history. If one were to total the scores from those three games, Boston College would currently lead 70-67. But this statistic is quite misleading, as two of the three games were blowouts, with only one close game between the two schools. Here’s a look at the previous three occasions on which the Wildcats and Golden Eagles met on the gridiron.
Sept. 30, 1961 (Evanston, Ill.): Northwestern 45, Boston College 0: The 1961 season was Ara Parseghian’s sixth year as the head coach of the Northwestern football team. He had led the Wildcats to three consecutive winning seasons prior to 1961. In the first game of the 1961 season for the ‘Cats and the second game for the Eagles, Northwestern destroyed Boston College at Dyche Stadium in Evanston. However, the ‘Cats failed to take advantage of the momentum they gained in the first victory and finished 4-5 for the season, one of only two losing seasons during Parseghian’s eight year tenure in Evanston.
Sept. 12, 1992 (Chestnut Hill, Mass.): Boston College 49, Northwestern 0: The 1992 season was quite successful for Boston College, as the Eagles rolled to an 8-3-1 record, including victories over current Big Ten teams Northwestern, Michigan State and Penn State. The score against Northwestern was emphatic, and set the two teams on opposite paths for the season (though Northwestern was clearly already on the wrong path, as it had lost to Notre Dame 42-7 the previous weekend). The Wildcats finished the season 3-8 in Gary Barnett’s first year as head coach.
Sept. 18, 1993 (Evanston, Ill.): Northwestern 22, Boston College 21: Northwestern finished the 1993 season at 2-8, a game worse than the previous year, but they were able to exact some revenge on Boston College along the way. After an opening day loss to Notre Dame, the Wildcats hosted the Eagles and edged out a 22-21 victory at Dyche Stadium. The win turned out to be a big upset, as Boston College finished the season 9-3 while Northwestern earned its only other win of the year the very next week.