Friday night in Chestnut Hill brings two teams looking for a reset, with Rutgers and Boston College both trying to shake off rough season openers.
Rutgers will hand the ball to AJ Surace for his first career start after Dylan Lonergan was injured late in a 37-21 loss to UMass in Week 1. Surace stepped in and completed 6 of 9 passes for 77 yards and a touchdown against the Minutemen, who answered Rutgers’ opening scoring drive and pulled away.
Even with the loss, the Scarlet Knights moved the ball through the air. Rutgers finished with 319 passing yards, and KJ Duff did the heavy lifting, catching all three touchdowns while piling up 196 receiving yards.
Still, coach Greg Schiano made it clear the performance fell well short.
"I'm not naive to the fact that we laid an egg. We were the national punchline," he said. "My feelings about the team or this staff haven't changed one bit, but we sure did have a clunker."
The quarterback situation adds another layer to the night. Lonergan was recruited by Boston College coach Bill O'Brien to Alabama and later followed him to the Eagles. Schiano said the possibility of Lonergan being available in an emergency role remains uncertain.
"We don't know if Dylan will be available in an emergency role. If you haven't practiced, it's awful hard to be ready," Schiano said.
"I know he's extremely disappointed, having played there last year. This is a homecoming of sorts, but ... things don't always go the way you anticipate or the way you want."
Boston College is also trying to recover after a disappointing opener, falling 34-15 at Cincinnati. The Eagles gave up 24 second-half points, including two touchdowns off turnovers.
"We have to eliminate bad football," said O'Brien, whose team was 2-10 last season. "Too many false starts, delay of game, turnovers, missed tackles, a missed field goal."
Mason McKenzie, a transfer from Saginaw Valley State, is coming off a strong Division I debut and will look to build on it. Against Cincinnati, he passed for 223 yards with one touchdown and one interception while also running for 78 yards on 20 carries.
"He's a very tough guy. I think we can all see that.
We have to do a better job of taking care of him," O'Brien said. "I think he's a hell of a player.
He definitely deserves to be at this level."
The matchup is the first between Rutgers and Boston College since 2022, and it comes on the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. It also serves as Boston College’s annual Red Bandana Game, honoring alum Welles Crowther, the "Man in the Red Bandana" who was credited with saving more than a dozen lives in the South Tower of the World Trade Center before it collapsed.
"That's what college football is all about -- these types of games are just awesome for college football," O'Brien said. "Then, obviously, (the 9/11 anniversary) brings a lot of emotion into the game. ... We have to balance that when the game starts."
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Rutgers QB Uncertainty Just Changed The Stakes For Boston College
Rutgers shaky opener against UMass already put the Scarlet Knights on edge, and now their quarterback situation has added another layer of uncertainty heading into Fridays meeting with Boston College. Dylan Lonergan left the game with an injury, and Rutgers has since turned to AJ Surace as the next man up, changing the feel of a matchup that had already taken on more urgency after the upset loss.
For Boston College, the quarterback switch only sharpens the scouting picture, even if it does not settle it. Surace is poised to make his first career start, while Lonergan has not practiced since the injury and his availability remains unclear. That leaves the Eagles preparing for a moving target, with the kind of late-week quarterback questions that can alter both the game plan and the tenor of the night. [Read more 🡒]
Boston College's New Look Offense Faces An Early Rutgers Test
Boston Colleges 2026 home opener is set for Friday night, Sept. 11, when Rutgers comes to Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff. The game will air on ESPN2 and WEEI 850 AM, giving the Eagles an early chance to show how much has changed on offense after a busy offseason and an uneven season opener against Cincinnati.
The most noticeable changes came through the transfer portal, where Boston College added 28 players in January to reshape the roster around a new look attack. The spotlight will naturally fall on the incoming quarterback room and the pieces brought in to help stabilize the run game, and against Rutgers, the Eagles should learn quickly whether that overhaul is ready for the pressure of a Friday night stage. [Read more 🡒]
Boston College Opener Takes An Ugly Turn Fans Will Be Debating
Boston Colleges 2026 season opener in Cincinnati did not exactly ease anyone into the fall. The Eagles were beaten 34-15 by the Bearcats in a game that quickly got away from them, as Cincinnati leaned on quarterback JC French and built control early while Boston College spent much of the afternoon chasing the game and cleaning up mental mistakes.
The football was not the only thing drawing attention, either. A viral post on X captured a fight in the stands between two fans, a messy sideline to a night that already had plenty of frustration attached to it. Boston College did manage a couple of late touchdowns to trim the margin, but the bigger conversation afterward was about how quickly the opener turned into a game Eagles fans will not forget for the right reasons. [Read more 🡒]