Boston College–Syracuse football rivalry

The Boston College–Syracuse football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Boston College Eagles and Syracuse Orange.

Boston College–Syracuse football rivalry

Boston College Eagles Syracuse Orange
First meeting	October 18, 1924 Syracuse, 10–0
Latest meeting	November 3, 2023 Boston College, 17–10
Next meeting	2024
Statistics
Meetings total	57
All-time series	Syracuse leads, 34–23^[1]
Largest victory	Boston College, 37–0 (1972)
Longest win streak	Syracuse, 6 (1987–1992)
Current win streak	Boston College, 1 (2023–present)

[Interactive fullscreen map + nearby articles]

Locations of Boston College and Syracuse

History

The two schools first met on October 18, 1924. The Eagles and Orange played annually from 1971 to 2004. To date, Boston College and Syracuse have played each other 56 times. Aside from Holy Cross, no team has played Boston College more than Syracuse. Syracuse leads the series 34–23.

Boston College and Syracuse were founding members of the Big East Conference, first as a basketball conference in 1979, then a football conference in 1991.

To start the 2005 season, Boston College left the Big East to become the 12th member of the ACC. The future of the rivalry was in doubt. The Eagles and Orange signed a deal to play a non-conference game through 2021. The Eagles won the 2010 meeting 16–7. In September 2011, the ACC announced that they had accepted bids from Syracuse and Pitt to become the 13th and 14th members of the ACC.^[2] It was later determined that Syracuse and Pitt would join the ACC in July 2013.

Game results

Boston College victories

Syracuse victories

No. Date Location Winning team Losing team 1 October 18, 1924 Syracuse, NY Syracuse 10 Boston College 0 2 October 28, 1944 Boston, MA Boston College 19 Syracuse 12 3 September 27, 1958 Syracuse, NY Syracuse 24 Boston College 14 4 November 25, 1961 Chestnut Hill, MA Syracuse 28 Boston College 13 5 October 13, 1962 Syracuse, NY Syracuse 12 Boston College 0 6 September 21, 1963 Syracuse, NY Syracuse 32 Boston College 21 7 September 19, 1964 Chestnut Hill, MA Boston College 21 #9 Syracuse 14 8 November 20, 1965 Syracuse, NY Syracuse 21 Boston College 13 9 October 15, 1966 Chestnut Hill, MA Syracuse 30 Boston College 0 10 November 18, 1967 Chestnut Hill, MA Syracuse 32 Boston College 20 11 November 29, 1969 Syracuse, NY Boston College 35 Syracuse 10 12 November 6, 1971 Syracuse, NY Boston College 10 Syracuse 3 13 November 4, 1972 Chestnut Hill, MA Boston College 37 Syracuse 0 14 November 17, 1973 Syracuse, NY Syracuse 24 Boston College 13 15 November 16, 1974 Chestnut Hill, MA Boston College 35 Syracuse 0 16 October 25, 1975 Syracuse, NY Syracuse 22 Boston College 14 17 November 13, 1976 Chestnut Hill, MA Boston College 28 Syracuse 14 18 November 12, 1977 Syracuse, NY Syracuse 20 Boston College 3 19 November 18, 1978 Chesnut Hill, MA Syracuse 37 Boston College 23 20 November 17, 1979 Ithaca, NY Boston College 27 Syracuse 10 21 November 15, 1980 Chestnut Hill, MA Boston College 27 Syracuse 16 22 November 14, 1981 Syracuse, NY Syracuse 27 Boston College 17 23 November 13, 1982 Chestnut Hill, MA Boston College 20 Syracuse 13 24 November 12, 1983 Syracuse, NY Syracuse 21 #13 Boston College 10 25 November 17, 1984 Foxboro, MA #13 Boston College 24 Syracuse 16 26 November 16, 1985 Syracuse, NY Syracuse 41 Boston College 21 27 November 15, 1986 Chestnut Hill, MA Boston College 27 Syracuse 9 28 November 14, 1987 Syracuse, NY #6 Syracuse 45 Boston College 17 29 November 12, 1988 Chestnut Hill, MA #15 Syracuse 45 Boston College 20 No. Date Location Winning team Losing team 30 November 4, 1989 Syracuse, NY Syracuse 23 Boston College 11 31 November 3, 1990 Chestnut Hill, MA Syracuse 35 Boston College 6 32 November 16, 1991 Syracuse, NY #17 Syracuse 38 Boston College 16 33 November 14, 1992 Chestnut Hill, MA #10 Syracuse 27 #17 Boston College 10 34 October 2, 1993 Syracuse, NY Boston College 33 #13 Syracuse 29 35 November 12, 1994 Chestnut Hill, MA #25 Boston College 31 #14 Syracuse 0 36 November 18, 1995 Syracuse, NY #23 Syracuse 58 Boston College 29 37 October 26, 1996 Chestnut Hill, MA Syracuse 45 Boston College 17 38 November 8, 1997 Syracuse, NY #22 Syracuse 20 Boston College 13 39 October 17, 1998 Chestnut Hill, MA #23 Syracuse 42 Boston College 25 40 October 30, 1999 Syracuse, NY Boston College 24 Syracuse 23 41 October 14, 2000 Chestnut Hill, MA Boston College 20 Syracuse 13 42 November 24, 2001 Syracuse, NY #22 Syracuse 39 #25 Boston College 28 43 November 16, 2002 Chestnut Hill, MA Boston College 41 Syracuse 20 44 October 18, 2003 Syracuse, NY Syracuse 39 Boston College 14 45 November 27, 2004 Chestnut Hill, MA Syracuse 43 #17 Boston College 17 46 November 27, 2010 Syracuse, NY Boston College 16 Syracuse 7 47 November 30, 2013 Syracuse, NY Syracuse 34 Boston College 31 48 November 29, 2014 Chestnut Hill, MA Boston College 28 Syracuse 7 49 November 28, 2015 Syracuse, NY Syracuse 20 Boston College 17 50 October 22, 2016 Chestnut Hill, MA Syracuse 28 Boston College 20 51 November 25, 2017 Syracuse, NY Boston College 42 Syracuse 14 52 November 24, 2018 Chestnut Hill, MA #20 Syracuse 42 #25 Boston College 21 53 November 2, 2019 Syracuse, NY Boston College 58 Syracuse 27 54 November 7, 2020 Syracuse, NY Boston College 16 Syracuse 13 55 October 30, 2021 Syracuse, NY Syracuse 21 Boston College 6 56 November 26, 2022 Chestnut Hill, MA Syracuse 32 Boston College 23 57 November 3, 2023 Syracuse, NY Boston College 17 Syracuse 10 Series: Syracuse leads 34–23^[1]

Memorable games

In 2004, Boston College was in first place in the Big East and needed a win against then 5–5 Syracuse in the regular season finale to clinch their first BCS bowl berth. With Syracuse's two RB's out with injuries, DB Diamond Ferri filled in as RB. Ferri rushed for 141 yards and 2 TDs. Ferri also had a 44-yard interception return for a TD. Syracuse went on to pull off the shocking blowout upset, winning 43–17.^[3] This game was also the first career start by Boston College QB Matt Ryan; he was filling in for the injured Paul Peterson. This was BC's final game as a member of the Big East; they began playing in the ACC in 2005.

In 2013, Syracuse was playing in their first year as a member of the ACC. Syracuse was 5–6 heading into the final game of the season against Boston College, needing to win to become bowl-eligible. Boston College was up 31–27 with 2:08 left when Syracuse drove down the field and scored the game-winning touchdown with 6 seconds left.^[4]

The 2018 season was a historic year for both Boston College and Syracuse with the former earning a ranking in the AP poll for the first time since 2008, and the latter the first AP ranking since 2001. About three quarters way through the season, it looked like this could be the year that the Boston College-Syracuse matchup featured two ranked teams. BC was ranked as high as #17 in week 10 but a loss to #2 ranked Clemson dropped them 3 spots in the rankings, and then an upset defeat at the hands of a reeling Florida State team the following week pushed them out of the top 25 entirely. Likewise, in week 11, Syracuse was pummeled 36-3 by #3 Notre Dame and lost their starting quarterback, dropping them down from a peak at #12 to #20.

See also

• List of NCAA college football rivalry games

References

1. "Winsipedia - Boston College Eagles vs. Syracuse Orange football series history". Winsipedia.
2. Dinich, Heather (September 19, 2011). "ACC adding Big East's Syracuse, Pitt". ESPN. Retrieved September 12, 2019.
3. "BC deprived of farewell outright Big East title". ESPN. Associated Press. November 27, 2004. Retrieved September 12, 2019.
4. . ESPN. Associated Press. November 30, 2013. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved September 12, 2019.