1971 Holy Cross Crusaders football team

1971 Holy Cross Crusaders football
ConferenceIndependent
Record4–6
Head coach
Captains
  • William Adams
  • Daniel Harper
  • William Stachowski
Home stadiumFitton Field
1971 NCAA University Division independents football records
Conf.Overall
TeamW L TW L T
No. 5 Penn State    11 1 0
Boston College    9 2 0
No. 17 Houston    9 3 0
No. 13 Notre Dame    8 2 0
Utah State    8 3 0
Florida State    8 4 0
Cincinnati    7 4 0
West Virginia    7 4 0
Temple    6 2 1
Air Force    6 4 0
Army    6 4 0
Colgate    6 4 0
Villanova    6 4 1
South Carolina    6 5 0
Southern Miss    6 5 0
Georgia Tech    6 6 0
Northern Illinois    5 5 1
Syracuse    5 5 1
Dayton    5 6 0
Holy Cross    4 6 0
Miami (FL)    4 7 0
Rutgers    4 7 0
Virginia Tech    4 7 0
Navy    3 8 0
Pittsburgh    3 8 0
Tulane    3 8 0
Marshall    2 8 0
Xavier    1 9 0
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1971 Holy Cross Crusaders football team was an American football team that represented the College of the Holy Cross during the 1971 NCAA University Division football season. Ed Doherty took over for his first year as head coach. The team compiled a record of 4–6.

Holy Cross competed as an independent despite having announced in May 1971 that the Crusaders, along with the Boston University Terriers, would join the Yankee Conference. Because their previous scheduling commitments would not allow them to play the full Yankee round-robin in 1971 and 1972, HC and BU continued to compete as football independents and were not eligible for the Yankee Conference championship. Holy Cross did play non-conference games against two longstanding Yankee teams in 1971, losing to both Connecticut and Massachusetts.

All home games were played at Fitton Field on the Holy Cross campus in Worcester, Massachusetts.