Rutgers’ ugly start keeps Greg Schiano squarely in the spotlight, and Friday night didn’t do anything to change that.
The Scarlet Knights went to Boston College for the annual Red Bandana game honoring September 11th hero Welles Crowther and came away with another loss in a season that already feels like it’s slipping away fast. Rutgers had chances, Boston College made plenty of mistakes of its own, and still the Scarlet Knights couldn’t cash in.
That’s the part that stings for Schiano. If Rutgers is going to calm the noise around his future, it has to start stacking wins and showing real progress.
Instead, the schedule keeps offering reminders of how steep the climb is. Big Ten play won’t hand Rutgers many soft spots, and Boston College looked like one of the more manageable opponents on the slate.
The quarterback situation only added to the mess. After Dylan Lonergan’s nightmare game against UMass, Rutgers moved to its second quarterback of the season, with AJ Surace getting the start because of injury. Surace had a wild night: he threw for 3 touchdowns, but he also tossed 4 interceptions, and the offense failed on downs twice as well.
Boston College was hardly spotless. The Eagles had a pair of interceptions and a fumble late in the fourth quarter. But Rutgers still found a way to lose, and that kind of result is hard to spin when the early-season damage is already this severe.
The first two games have left Rutgers staring at a brutal path forward. The Scarlet Knights are expected to beat Howard, and then they run into top 25 USC, Indiana, and Penn State, with the rest of the Big Ten waiting beyond that. At this point, it’s difficult to see a path to a winning season, and nearly impossible to picture this team getting to three victories.
Schiano’s record at Rutgers now sits at 99-110, including a 31-43 mark in his second stint leading the program. If Rutgers were to move on from him after the season, the buyout would be roughly $17,296,875, a number that would be tough for one of the lowest spenders in the Big Ten to absorb.
So Rutgers is left with a blunt question after another miserable result: stay where it is, or decide it wants more. The athletic department has long dealt with financial strain, but if fans start staying away, the cost of keeping Schiano could become even harder to ignore.
In Other News...
BC Finally Delivered On A Night That Meant Everything
Boston College walked into a night loaded with meaning and played like a team that understood the weight of it. On the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the Eagles beat Rutgers 28-21 in a game that also honored Welles Crowther, the former BC lacrosse player remembered for his heroism that day and later recognized with the Medal of Freedom.
Mason McKenzie gave BC the steady quarterback play it needed, throwing for 252 yards and two touchdowns, while the defense kept turning Rutgers quarterback AJ Surace into a target. Four interceptions told the story of a unit that rose to the occasion, and the result gave the Eagles a badly needed lift on a night when the symbolism mattered as much as the score. [Read more 🡒]
Boston College Finally Showed The Response Fans Needed To See
A much-needed breakthrough finally arrived for Boston College football, and it came in a game that had plenty of the tense, back-and-forth feel fans have been waiting to see this season. The Eagles delivered a steadier, sharper response against Rutgers, leaning on interceptions, timely touchdowns and a field goal to build a win that felt as important for confidence as it did for the record book. Mason McKenzie, Evan Dickens and Antwan Raymond all surfaced in the kind of key moments that can change the tone of a teams early season.
The bigger significance for the Eagles is less about any one splash play and more about how the game unfolded across four quarters, with Boston College answering when Rutgers tried to swing momentum back its way. For a team that has spent much of the season looking for something to hold onto, that kind of closing stretch mattered. There was still plenty left to clean up, and the win does not solve everything, but it gave BC the kind of response its supporters had been waiting to see. [Read more 🡒]
Boston College Fans Had A Scary Bodie Kahoun Moment Saturday Night
Boston College got an unnerving scene Saturday night when linebacker Bodie Kahoun went down in the game against Rutgers and had to be taken off the field in an ambulance. The injury came on a tackle near midfield, cutting short what had been an active night for Kahoun, who had already piled up six tackles before the stoppage.
The immediate concern was obviously bigger than the scoreboard, and the Eagles did get a first encouraging update afterward. Boston College said Kahoun has movement in all extremities and was transported to a local hospital for further evaluation, a sign that offered some relief after a frightening delay on the field. [Read more 🡒]