MORGANTOWN, W.VA. (Oct. 20, 1984) – West Virginia University athletic director Fred Schaus had money on his mind.

	West Virginia linebacker Freddie Smalls pressures Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie. (WVU Sports Communications)

He was watching a hoard of students pile on to the south end zone goal post following WVU’s surprising 21-20 upset victory over No. 4-ranked Boston College.

After several unsuccessful attempts to pull it down, the metal structure finally gave way and crashed to the ground. The fallen pieces were divided among its conquerors.

“There goes another $4,800,” he thought to himself. The student procession worked its way down the hill toward Sunnyside, where the university made the preemptive arrangement of setting up a band and containing the celebration to that part of the city in case WVU pulled off the big victory.

Other celebrations following wins against Oklahoma and Pitt had proved troublesome.

When Morgantown police chief John Cease woke up Sunday morning, the reports were all positive. All the streetlights were accounted for. There were no smoldering couches. All the cruisers went through the night without a scratch. He was happy.

So were 60,285 other first-hand witnesses to one of the most memorable victories in Mountaineer football history. The Boston College team of 1984 wasn’t in the class of Oklahoma, Nebraska or USC, but it had a marquee player in Heisman Trophy winner Doug Flutie and owned triumphs over Alabama and North Carolina leading into the game against the 19th-rated Mountaineers. Boston College went on to win 10 games that year, including victories over national champion Miami and Houston in the Cotton Bowl.

The BC team revolved around its pint-sized 5-9 ½ quarterback, who only got an opportunity to shine when four players above him on the depth chart couldn’t play to Coach Jack Bicknell’s satisfaction. Flutie was one of the last players Bicknell recruited in 1981.

“We weren’t really counting on him. Frankly, we weren’t very sure he would play at all,” recalled Bicknell.

Following a bad loss at West Virginia during his freshman season, the Eagles went to Penn State without its top two quarterbacks. The other two were having a miserable time, so Bicknell threw up his hands and told Flutie to go into the game.

It was like plugging a vacuum cleaner into the wall. The quarterback magically brought the Eagles to life and directed the team right down the field for a touchdown – the only one BC scored against Penn State – and Bicknell knew he found his quarterback.

By the West Virginia game in 1984, Flutie had passed for 8,320 yards and 53 touchdowns. In 1982 he threw for 520 yards against Penn State, and directed the Eagles to a 27-17 win over the Lions in 1983. Flutie also led BC to wins over Texas A&M and Clemson.

However, the one team Flutie could not beat was West Virginia.

In 1982, WVU outlasted the Eagles, 20-13 in Morgantown. A year later, West Virginia jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead and won that game, 27-17.

Despite the loss, the Eagles still managed to wrestle the Lambert Trophy away from the Mountaineers.

Today the Lambert Trophy is just an afterthought following the creation of the Big East Football Conference, but in the mid-1980s it was the only way of determining an eastern football champion. Even though fickle sportswriters picked the winner, it was better than nothing to coaches who enjoyed showing high school prospects the shiny piece of furniture in the football office trophy case.

The Eagles finished 1983 with a 9-3 record after a loss to Notre Dame in the Liberty Bowl, while the Mountaineers managed an identical 9-3 mark with a victory against Kentucky in the Hall of Fame Bowl.

“We played in a better bowl game,” was Flutie’s response to those who felt the Lambert should have gone to West Virginia.

The quarterback further irritated Mountaineer supporters when he called all the talk from the West Virginia camp “bush, very bush.

“They’re talking up a storm, and they haven’t beaten anybody yet,” he explained. “We’re the ones who should be talking. But you don’t see us running off at the mouth.” Flutie had a point.

Following West Virginia’s win over pesky Syracuse, linebacker Freddie “Boom Boom” Smalls said: “(The Boston College game) will decide the Lambert Trophy. Syracuse put us on the road to it. Boston College is going to help us stroll.”

Despite Smalls’ bold proclamation, West Virginia was nursing an offense consistently being out-gained by its opponents. At the controls was senior Kevin White. By no means in the same class as Flutie, White was a heady college quarterback who leaned on a punishing running game and an aggressive defense to get WVU to 5-1.

Even though West Virginia’s defense was good, its offense would have to play better than it had all season to beat BC.

“If the Mountaineers had a quarterback like they had last year (Jeff Hostetler) and a blue-chip running back, I don't see how anyone could stop them,” Boston College scout Brian O’Connor told Charleston Daily Mail writer Bill Smith before the game.

White wasn’t the most heralded prep prospect in the country playing at Casa Grande High School in Casa Grande, Ariz. His team had a losing record his senior season and he barely stood six-feet tall. Sound familiar?

“We had one offensive guard in high school that stood just 5-5,” White laughed. “I was horrible – we were all horrible. We were so bad that my girlfriend, who was head cheerleader, used to stand on the sidelines and chant: ‘2-4-6-8, score before we graduate.’”

White had a persistent high school coach with Pennsylvania roots, and he convinced WVU assistant Bill Kirelawich to offer the quarterback a scholarship. He got the last one and spent three years watching Oliver Luck and Jeff Hostetler build WVU into a Top 20 football program.

By 1984 with really no other alternatives, White became Coach Don Nehlen’s man. Nehlen began the year with Tony Reda as the starter but soon turned to White in desperation.

In his first six games White wasn’t spectacular, completing 54 percent of his passes for 681 yards and four touchdowns.

But the column on the stat sheet that got Nehlen’s attention was interceptions. White threw just one in 102 pass attempts.

He may not have been winning games for West Virginia, but he wasn’t losing them either. That was something the defensive-minded Nehlen could tolerate from his quarterback.

ABC assigned its top announcing crew for the game – Keith Jackson and Frank Broyles.

“I’ve got a gut feeling about West Virginia,” Jackson told West Virginia sportswriters by telephone from his home in Los Angeles.

To the Beantown scribes, Jackson’s gut was telling him differently.

“Doug Flutie is as good as anybody I’ve seen,” remarked ABC’s best salesman.

So it was two nationally ranked teams with bad blood brewing between them, a packed Mountaineer Field, and a network television audience that provided the backdrop for this eastern football classic.

After trading two field goals, Boston College took control of the game in the second quarter. Fullback Steve Strachan scored on a 24-yard run for one TD, and Flutie broke containment and found Kelvin Martin 42 yards downfield in the end zone for another one near the end of the half to give the Eagles a 20-6 halftime lead.

Despite the 14-point deficit, Nehlen didn’t have any dramatic changes for his sputtering offense. However, his defensive board of strategy decided to gamble like never before and send everyone after Flutie, knowing full well if he escapes the blitzes, the stadium will need two scoreboards.

The surprising result was a confused and bruised Flutie and a complete shutdown of the Boston College attack. West Virginia wasn’t piling on the points either, but a third-quarter field goal by Paul Woodside did trim the deficit to 11.

Nehlen had balked at a fourth-down attempt for a touchdown from the BC four.

“I just felt if we didn’t come away with some points we might lose that edge,” he reasoned. “It was very important at the time.”

Seven minutes later the West Virginia offense finally came to life.

White, who finished the game hitting 17-of-30 passes for 227 yards, fired an arching pass down the near sideline to Willie Drewery. The receiver maneuvered behind a BC defender to make a spectacular 52-yard catch to place the football at the Eagle four. Following a change of quarter, fullback Ron Wolfley plowed into the end zone on the first play of the fourth period to close the gap to 20-15.

West Virginia went for the two-point conversion, but White’s pass to running back John Gay was broken up by BC defensive back Todd Russell. That left West Virginia trailing by five.

A pair of sacks by Matt Smith and Smalls ignited the West Virginia crowd and gave the team momentum for the game-winning drive.

Short passes from White moved the football into Eagle territory, and Gay took the Mountaineers to the BC five after a 20-yard burst up the middle. Gay then carried around left end, shook off an Eagle tackler and reached the end zone with 4:52 left. WVU’s two-point attempt was again unsuccessful. West Virginia 21, Boston College 20. Boston College still had plenty of time to get into field goal range. For Flutie a minute was a long time. Four minutes? That’s an eternity.

The slick signalcaller completed three passes that moved the football into Mountaineer territory. But Smalls made the play of the game by sacking Flutie for an 11-yard loss at the West Virginia 49.

Two incomplete passes down the middle ended Boston College’s chance for victory.

West Virginia played BC’s last drive with just one starter (Stacy Smith) left in the secondary. Freshman Andrew Jones, sophomore Larry Holley and senior Rich Rodriguez were filling in for injured Anthony Daniels, Mike Scott and Travis Curtis.

“Denny (defensive coordinator Dennis Brown) signaled in the defenses and I just watched from my knees,” Nehlen joked.

Flutie’s last-gasp toss to tight end Scott Gieselman fell incomplete as Rodriguez covered the middle and Jones was following underneath.

West Virginia regained possession, ran out the clock and then joined in the celebration as thousands of fans raced toward one of Schaus’ goal posts.

It was one bill he gladly paid.

Scoring Summary

BC – Snow 41 FG
WV – Woodside 20 FG
WV – Woodside 33 FG
BC – Snow 45 FG
BC – Strachan 24 rush (Snow kick)
BC – Martin 42 pass from Flutie (Snow kick)
WV – Woodside 23 FG
WV – Wolfley 1 rush (conversion failed)
WV – Gay 5 rush (conversion failed)

Statistical Summary

Rushing: BC – Strachan 6-37, Stradford 6-8, Phelan 2-7, Flutie 5-minus 23, Total 19-19; WV – Gay 17-71, Randolph 16-64, Wolfley 14-39, White 5-minus 17, Gray 1-2, Mullen 1-0, Total 54-159.

Passing: BC – Flutie 21-42-0-299-1; WV – White 17-30-1-227-0.

Receiving: BC – Stradford 7-99, Phelan 7-84, Martin 3-71, Gieselman 3-57, Strachan 1-8, Total 21-299; WV – Mullen 5-65, Drewery 4-72, Bennett 3-40, Fisher 2-29, Gray 2-9, Brown 1-12, Total 17-227.