Long before basketball and lacrosse became the cornerstones of Hoya sports, football ruled the Georgetown roost. A 1941 Orange Bowl appearance capped an impressive 23-2-1 three-year stretch for the Hoyas, and marked the crowning achievement in the golden age of Georgetown football.

The 14-7 loss to Mississippi State on Jan. 1, 1941, was a tightly contested game that lived up to its billing as a matchup between two strong defensive powers. In the seventh edition of the historic Orange Bowl game, the resilient No. 13 Hoyas fell to the No. 9 Bulldogs in a game that hinged upon a few significant Georgetown mishaps.

The postseason loss was the second heartbreaker in three games for the Hoyas, who had lost a regular-season classic in November to Boston College, 19-18. The game was considered by famed sportswriter Grantland Rice to be one of the greatest ever played. In front of a sellout crowd of 41,700 at Fenway Park, the No. 11 Hoyas and No. 5 Eagles competed masterfully for the duration of the contest.

Georgetown jumped out to an early 10-0 lead, but BC responded. The Eagles’ first touchdown was a short-yardage plunge into the end zone. It roused controversy among spectators because of the previous play, one in which a Hoya defender was called for pass interference near his own end zone on Boston College’s fourth-down attempt.

A reporter covering the game also thought that the call was suspect: The legendary Washington Post sportswriter Shirley Povich wrote that, “BC was helped to the . touchdown by an official’s abysmal ruling of interference.

“The official covering the play downfield saw nothing illegal. The call was made by the referee standing at midfield,” he wrote.

Hoya fans were equally displeased with the call. Al Cotter (C ’41) argued in a column for THE HOYA following the game that, “If the same referee who called that pass interference play from 30 yards away in the semi-darkness, over the shoulders of men almost twice his size, would consent to see the films of the game and then say that he was right without his conscience bothering him, your correspondent will be glad to eat a copy of THE HOYA on F Street without mustard.”

Controversy aside, Georgetown still had a chance to win. The Hoyas’ offense failed to capitalize on scoring opportunities in the second half and managed only six points. The game’s finish was microcosmic of the excitement and anxiety that prevailed throughout.

With the score 19-16, a defensive stand by Georgetown left Boston College at fourth-down and long near its own end zone with very little time on the clock. BC’s star quarterback, “Chucklin'” Charley O’Rourke, remained resourceful. He ran backwards around his own end zone for an estimated 45 seconds before Hoya tacklers could bring him down for a safety.

While the safety cut BC’s advantage to only a single point at 19-18, it did the necessary damage by allowing valuable time to elapse from the game clock. Following the safety, BC used its free kick to pin the ball deep in Georgetown territory with time winding down. Georgetown’s offense had no opportunity to answer.

The loss was Georgetown’s first since 1937, and may have foreshadowed the futures of the two football programs. Boston College went on to win the Sugar Bowl over Tennessee to finish undefeated with a 10-0 record; BC’s coach, Frank Leahy, was rewarded with the highly coveted Notre Dame head coaching job after the perfect season.

Georgetown went on to beat George Washington in the regular-season finale and was given an invitation to the Orange Bowl, where the Hoyas would start the new year with a clash with ississippi State under the sunny skies of Miami.

In 80-degree weather and before a sellout crowd of 35,000, the first score of the Orange Bowl came in the first quarter, after a blocked punt by Mississippi State’s Hunter Corhern. Georgetown’s Jim Daniels (C ’41) dropped back into his end zone to punt when Corhern penetrated the Hoya line and deflected the ball. Mississippi State’s John Tripson recovered the ball in the end zone to tally the first score for the Bulldogs.

Another fortuitous bounce for State came when a Georgetown player was called for a pass interference penalty in his end zone – a penalty which left the Bulldogs in excellent field position. It also set up the sluggish Mississippi State offense for another easy touchdown, making the score 14-0.

Georgetown battled back defiantly, and future NFL running back Joe Castiglia (C ’41) scored a touchdown in the second half to help bring the Hoyas within one score at 14-7. Georgetown was unable to find the end zone again, however, and the Hoyas’ final drive left them on Mississippi State’s six-yard line.

The Bulldogs won despite amassing only 119 yards of total offense and a meager eight first downs. Georgetown recorded 221 yards of offense in the losing effort.

Thus, after going undefeated for 24 games from 1938 to 1940, Georgetown lost two out of three. Nevertheless, these two hard-fought contests – both near-wins – combined with the successes of that three-season span to bring national recognition to the Georgetown football program.

Ten of the players on the 1940 team went on to suit up for NFL teams. Among them were Castiglia and Al Blozis (C ’42), the 6-foot-6, 250-pound all-American tackle, for whom the football team’s most valuable player award is named.

The accomplishments of Blozis and his teammates could not prevent the future demise of the Georgetown football program. It was disbanded following the 1951 season because of low ticket revenue and scholarship costs. Georgetown did not rejoin the NCAA until 1970, and competed at the Division II and III levels until 1993, when it joined the I-AA Patriot League.

While Georgetown may not have continued its football tradition in the same ways that Mississippi State or Boston College have, Hoya fans can still look in the history books to the great World War II-era teams for consolation. Who knows how the Hilltop’s history might have changed had Georgetown won those two nail-biters at the end of the 1940 season?

In all, the accomplishments of these early Hoya football teams mark an impressive and remarkable run of success. And their one and only Orange Bowl appearance still stands out as one of the greatest achievements in the history of Georgetown sports.