Holy Cross Crusaders (1987)

Remember in 2017, when Central Florida went undefeated but didn't receive an invite to a College Football Playoff game, and the Knights crassly proclaimed themselves "national champions" anyway? Well, in 1987, there was an FCS (I-AA) team that also went undefeated and uninvited to the postseason (for completely different reasons) — and still finished the season ranked No. 1 in the NCAA poll. 

And the student newspaper proclaimed them national champs:

The 1987 Holy Cross Crusaders were a magical story, kind of a smaller-scale version of what their rivals on Chestnut Hill did a few years earlier. Today, they are mostly remembered for two-way sensation Gordie Lockbaum, but they also featured a gutsy quarterback in Jeff Wiley and a winning head coach in Mark Duffner — who joined the Crusaders under the worst possible circumstances — who had success in Worcester into the 1990s.

The Team: Holy Cross steamrolled to an 11-0 record, 4-0 in the Colonial League (now the Patriot League, no relation to the Colonial Athletic Association), outscoring its foes 511-110. The Crusaders finished first in the NCAA poll but stayed home for the postseason, since the Colonials, cosplaying the Ivy League, had a no-playoff policy (long since lifted). Holy Cross opened the season with a 34-24 win over FBS Army; it closest win after that was by 33 points.

The Crusaders' record from 1986-91, in order, was 10-1, 11-0, 9-2, 10-1, 9-1-1 and 11-0. Had they been allowed to play in the postseason, they might have had a Marshall/North Dakota State-level national title run.

Gordie Lockbaum was a true throwback 
to football's leatherhead days.

QB Jeff Wiley received his fair share of attention, too.

The Players: Lockbaum, the running back/receiver/defensive back/special teams ace, finished third in the Heisman Trophy balloting a year after finishing fifth. He ran for 403 yards and 13 touchdowns, he caught 78 passes for 1,152 yards and nine more TDs, and added 19 tackles and two sacks on defense. He captured the nation's imagination — maybe not at a Flutie-level, but he still received attention from the morning news shows, Sports Illustrated and the like. (For you younger readers, Sports Illustrated was once a highly praised and influential part of the sports media, not, well, whatever it is these days.)

Lockbaum joined The Cross in 1984 as a defensive back, but in '86, Duffner put him at running back due to a lack of depth at the position. He responded with more than 800 yards apiece rushing and receiving and 22 total touchdowns — and 38 tackles on defense.

But Lockbaum was hardly alone. QB Wiley threw for 3,677 yards and 34 touchdowns; he is still third on the team's all-time list in passing yards and fourth in TDs. RB Tom Kelleher ran for 11 TDs and DB Dave Murphy pulled down nine interceptions. 

Mark Duffner (shown in 1986) did Rick Carter proud.

The Coach: As noted above, Duffner took over Holy Cross under horrible circumstances, after his predecessor Rick Carter — who recruited Lockbaum, most of his teammates and even the school's sports information director to Worcester — took his own life after the '86 season. Duffner craved out his own reputation, going 60-5-1 over six seasons at Holy Cross, putting him with Knute Rockne in the more-seasons-than-losses club. In 1992 Duffner left to coach Maryland, and while he didn't work out with the Terrapins (20-35 over five seasons), he has been an NFL assistant coach since 1997.

The Uniforms: The big change Duffner made upon taking coach was the return of silver pants, which the Crusaders have worn on-and-off since the beginning of time. The purple jerseys had minimal white and silver trim, and the helmets had numbers on the sides (another trait The Cross has used on-and-off). Overall, a pretty solid ensemble.

Silver trim returned to the Crusaders' uniform in 1986.

The Fallout: Lockbaum was in a couple NFL training camps, but was cut and became an insurance executive. As noted above, Holy Cross remained unstoppable for the rest of Duffner's tenure, and didn't have another sustained run of success until ... Hey, have you see who's won the last three Patriot League titles?

Yankee Conference (1972)

It's time to journey back 50 years to the Yankee Conference of 1972, a season in which the  league's six teams finished with a descending won-loss record, from 5-0 down to 0-5. This also was the last season of the YC in the original six-team alignment it had used since 1947; Boston University joined in 1973 and Vermont dropped out after the '74 campaign. (Compare that to today's successor, the CAA, where it's news if the league actually has the same teams in consecutive seasons!)

I miss the smaller, tidier Yankee Conference and often fantasize the America East Conference schools with football programs (Maine, UNH, Albany, Bryant) can form an America East football league with Rhode Island, UMass and UConn, reuniting five of the original YC members. (And let's face it: the latter two schools have no business playing in FBS, no matter how many times some Redditor defends UConn by saying, "BuT tHe FaCiLiTiEs ...") 

WARNING: I may be repeating a few things from previous posts. 

I've profiled a few other YC seasons: 1947, 1969, 1974, 1982, 1996.

I took this photo from this fundraising page. Hope they don't mind!

Massachusetts, which I profiled in this post, was in the midst of a golden age, capturing its seventh title (sixth outright) in 10 years. This was the first season in which the school used the "Minutemen" nickname. (After discarding "Aggies," "Statesmen" and "Redmen" over the previous 40 years, UMass finally found a moniker that stuck.) Eight players —  QB Peil Pennington, WR Steve Schubert, T Thomas Mullen, G Clarence Brooks, FB Richard Cummings, DE Ed McAleney and CB Robert Parrott — were named all-Yankee Conference. The team outscored its foes 369-155 and crushed California-Davis in the Boardwalk Bowl, 35-14, after original foe Delaware chickened out (cluck, cluck, Hens!).

UMass' uniforms didn't change from the previous season, keeping the "UM" on the helmets the Minutemen had used since '70. After a one-year helmet change in '73, UMass went to the kick-arse Minuteman helmet in '74.

Connecticut finished second despite a losing record overall (one of the negatives of playing in a small league). The Huskies' only loss was a 49-16 thumping at UMass, which should tell you how much better the Minutemen were than the rest of the league. Their top player, kick returner/running back Eric Torklelson, later played seven seasons for the Green Bay Packers. End Rob Robustelli was the son of Pro Football Hall of Fame Andy Robustelli, of the late, great Arnold Terriers.

The uniforms were unique in that the Huskies wore names on the back, becoming the first YC team to do so. I always liked the clever logo: A football-shaped "C" with stitches inside.

By going 3-2 in YC play, the 1972 Vermont team was the last in program history to have a winning record in league play before the school pulled the plug two years later. The Catamounts featured a strong-armed quarterback in Earl Olson, a Rutland native, who ... well, let's let his UVM Hall of Fame bio tell the rest: "In 1972 he set Yankee Conference records for yards passing (1,033 in conference games) and passes completed (84) to earn all-league honors. He ranked third in the NCAA in passing yards per game and 10th in total offense. Olson, just 5-foot-11, was twice named the team MVP (1970 and 1972)." 

UVM wore a rather plain uniform, with a simple green "V" on a yellow helmet. (This would look pretty good on a helmet.) A year later, that all changed.

The coaching career of future College Football Hall of Fame coach Bill Bowes got off to a humdrum start at New Hampshire, where the Wildcats went 4-5 overall, 2-3 YC for the first of two straight seasons. (That changed greatly in 1975 and '76.) Running back Ed Whalen (no, not the Stampede Wrestling and Calgary Flames announcer) set a school record with 201 rushing yards against Springfield; his season total of 831 yards including four straight 100-yard games.

The Wildcats' uniforms were in a transition phase; at home, they still wore the older long-sleeve jerseys with the wildcat patch on the sides, but switched to a more streamlined design with shorter sleeves on the road. By 1974 both jerseys were in sync, identical to what the Cats wore in '75.

Maine went through a rough spell in the 1970s, and '72 was no exception. From what I've been able to gather, the Black Bears were the only YC team to not offer scholarships, a decision that produced a mixed reaction on campus — the pro-sports faction wanted scholarships so Maine could field more competitive teams, while the anti-sports crowd didn't want to give any free rides to the jocks. Anyway, Maine managed to win three games despite going the "pure" route.

The Black Bears changed their road uniforms in mid-season, dumping the bears-on-shoulders jerseys and red-trimmed socks for versions that's better matched what they wore at home.

Alas, I couldn't find a team photo for Rhode Island,
so this group shot will have to do.

Rhode Island, which presumably did offer scholarships, got less bang for its buck than Maine, failing to win a game in YC play. After roaring out to a 3-0 start, the Rams lost their final seven games. The 1973 Renaissance yearbook noted how young the Rams were (only eight seniors) and insisted "there seems to be hope for the future." (Rhody did leapfrog to second in the YC in '73).

The Rhody uniforms changed very little from what the Rams had worn since 1967, save for some minor changes in trim and use of sleeve numbers. A set of light blue pants debuted in 1973.

Northeastern Huskies (What If?)

The second installment of our "What If?" series continues with Northeastern, which has been "undefeated" since it dropped the program after the 2009 season. As I've wisecracked before, the school probably dumped football only when it realized it still had a football team. I'm not sure in anyone on Huntington Avenue misses football (like many New England schools, hockey dominates the conversation), but for anyone who does, here's what the Huskies' uniforms might have looked like had they stuck around. 

2011: Reebok continues to make the Huskies' unis — they were one of the last teams to use Reebok at the time of the program's cancellation —  and they give Northeastern a template similar to the CFL's Montreal Alouettes (Reebok also made the CFL unis around this time).

2014: Nike takes over and makes some adjustments. The Huskies switch to the Nike Pro Combat template, but the jerseys retain some elements of the 2011 look. The "N" on the helmets is replaced by a paw, and the "retro" Husky (used on the hockey sweaters during this period) appears on the sleeves. Nike also introduces a unique dark gray-and-black alternate uniform, because Nike. A breast cancer awareness uniform features pink helmet trim and socks.

2017: The uniform becomes more streamlined and the jersey fonts are altered. A new black uniform with minimal red elements is added, with an oversized retro Husky on the helmet.

2019: The Huskies celebrate college football's 150th anniversary with a retro helmet and jersey honoring the 1963 Eastern Bowl team, which lost to East Carolina in Allentown, Pa.

2021: Under Armour, which makes Northeastern's hockey uniforms, takes over for football and gives the Huskies a uniform based on their hockey sweaters. The new Husky head logo blends into the black helmet. A rather bizarre all-white alternate uniform is added, with gray numbers, outlined in black, on an icy-white jersey.  

Stonehill Skyhawks (1970, 2013)

Stonehill, you say? Stonehill? Isn't it that goofy stone formation in England? Or an even goofier song by Spinal Tap? 

OK, enough with the silly wordplay; Stonehill College is a school in Easton, Mass., about halfway between Boston and Cape Cod. It's also the home of New England's newest Division I program, as the Skyhawks (known as the Chieftains until 2005) moved from the D-II Northeast-10 to the D-I Northeast Conference during the summer. And you know what that means — another football team to chronicle on this site, which I believe raises the total to 22. 

Stonehill first fielded a club football team in 1970. While the school's varsity teams wore purples and were called the Chieftains, this rogue outfit, which raised money by doing everything from holding raffles to washing airplanes, wore light blue and brown uniforms, bought secondhand from a defunct Long Island team, and dubbed themselves the Knights (the coach's name was David Knight). The team's lone win was against another club team, St. Michael's (Vt.), which had a varsity team on-and-off until the early 1950s.

I don't have any color images, so what you see above is a best guess based on the photo in the above link. The numbers vaguely resemble Clarendon font; Dartmouth's road jerseys used something similar in the early 1960s. The use of light blue, which contrast well with both dark and white jerseys, probably saved the team from holding a baker sale to buy a second set of shirts.

In 1988 the team graduated to varsity status and began playing in NCAA Division III that fall, moving up to D-II in 1997. The team has won three conference championships, most recently in 2013, when the Skyhawks shared the NE-10 regular season title with American International — only to lose to AIC in the league championship game. (Stonehill also lost to AIC in the regular season.)

The 2013 unis bear more than a passing resemblance to those of Holy Cross; that they both get their gear from Adidas probably is a factor.

Unfortunately, Stonehill has yet to put any old yearbooks online, so it may take a while for old uniforms to appear on this site. Although upon further review, I see some old media guides are online. ... 

Boston University (What If?)

One of my favorite uniform sites is Steven Grant Design, which features a treasure trove of ice hockey concepts, plus blank templates for those who wish to make and submit their own jersey designs. (Someday, I should unleash my Hockey East concepts!) Grant recently did a series of "What If" concepts for defect NHL teams like the Minnesota North Stars had they stayed put, while capturing the NHL's (often hilarious) fashion trends over the last 30 years. What does this have to do with football? Well I naturally began thinking about applying Grant's concept to defunct college football programs, which leads to this post.

What follows is a fictional timeline of what Boston University's uniforms might have looked like had the school decided to spare the program in 1997. You can check out the final-year unis here. I hope to eventually add Vermont and Northeastern. 

2000: The Terriers do some minor changes, making the sleeve logo match the official one (the '97 version had a more homemade look) and adding a tiny "BOSTON" wordmark. Russell replaces Wilson as the uniform supplier.

2005: Nike replaces Wilson, but few changes are made other than the "BU" replacing the uniform number on the helmets. (If you so a search for BU basketball and hockey, you'll see BU's uniforms across the board are pretty conservative.) The Terriers also sport a 1950s throwback uniform in honor of legendary football and baseball star Harry Agganis, who died 50 years earlier.

(I just realized I've never done the Agganis-era uniform for this site. I'll have to change that eventually.)

2008: The piping craze overtakes college football by this point, and BU is no exception, although the Terriers try to keep it classy. (Penn had a similar pattern around this time.) By this time, the red pants are gone, and the CAA patch replaces that of its predecessor, the Atlantic 10.

2014: Piping becomes as passe as it was trendy just a few years earlier, and BU ditches the weird stripes in favor of contrasting sleeve panels, a la New Hampshire. The Terriers also join the trend of placing a logo on one side of the helmet and a uniform number on the other. And speaking of trends, BU unveils a special breast cancer awareness uniform, along with a pink-tinged helmet.

Also note the addition of the Patriot League logo; the real-life Terriers joined the PL in 2013, and it's a safe bet they would have joined in football, too.

2015: Nothing changes except for the addition on an all-black alternate. The reaction from fans and alumni is swift and severe, and the unis are worn for only game before they are discarded and sold off at a spring cleaning sale a few years later.

2019: By this time, Under Armour is making the Terriers' uniforms, as it does for their other sports in real life. The contrasting panels are replaced by shoulder stripes, which makes the unis resemble Cornell's from about a decade earlier. An alternate helmet has a slightly oversized Terrier head. and a 1969 throwback uniform honors the 150th anniversary of college football and the 50th anniversary of BU's Pasadena Bowl team.

2021: Most of the designs, including the popular throwback, are still around, but a new alternate uniform replicates the BU hockey design, right down to the pants and socks. Which goes to show that even if football had stayed on Commonwealth Avenue, hockey likely would remain the top dog.