Boston College gets its first home test of the season on Friday night, welcoming Rutgers to Alumni Stadium for a 7:30 p.m. matchup in Chestnut Hill, Mass. The Eagles are 0-1 and still looking for their first win, while Rutgers also arrives at 0-1.
The game will air on ESPN2, with Mike Monaco and Jordan Rodgers on the call and Dana Boyle reporting from the sideline. On radio, coverage begins 30 minutes before kickoff on WEEI 850 AM, with Jon Meterparel, Pete Cronan and Scott Mutryn handling the broadcast.
The night carries extra weight for Boston College. This is the 13th annual Red Bandanna Game, honoring Welles Crowther ’99, and it comes on the 25th anniversary of 9/11/01.
Boston College’s roster has a very different look after the transfer portal brought in 28 new players in January, with quarterback Mason McKenzie and running back Evan Dickens at the center of the overhaul. McKenzie arrived after a huge career at Saginaw Valley State, where he piled up nearly 6,000 total yards of offense in 25 games and won GLIAC Player of the Year honors in 2025. In his first start for the Eagles at Cincinnati on Sept. 5, he went 18-for-35 for 223 yards, a touchdown and an interception, while also leading the team with 78 rushing yards.
Dickens came from Liberty with a resume that turned heads. He rushed for 1,339 yards and 16 touchdowns in 2025, finishing among the nation’s top 10 in five major rushing categories, including fifth in rushing yards, fourth in rushing touchdowns and third in rushing yards per game. He scored his first Boston College touchdown at Cincinnati with a four-yard run in the third quarter.
McKenzie also connected with Johnathan Montague Jr. for the first passing touchdown of his BC career, a 23-yard strike in the fourth quarter. For Montague, it was his first touchdown since a 24-yard reverse against North Carolina in 2024. The North Carolina native missed all of 2025 because of injury.
There were other bright spots in the opener, too. Javarius Green caught six passes for 74 yards, both career highs for the North Carolina transfer.
Anthony Palano was everywhere on defense, finishing with 13 tackles, the seventh-most by any player in a single game this season and his third career game with at least 10 stops. KP Price added 10 tackles, marking his sixth career game with 10 or more as an Eagle.
Boston College also had a massive number of new faces on the field at Cincinnati, with 27 players making their debut in a BC uniform.
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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 Home Opener Carries Weight Far Beyond A Bounce-Back
Boston Colleges first home game of the season already had the feel of a reset after a Week 1 loss, but the matchup with Rutgers comes with a little more intrigue than a typical September tune-up. Both teams are trying to clean up the rough edges from their openers, and the Eagles will see a new face at quarterback on the other sideline after Rutgers turns to AJ Surace.
There is also a much larger weight attached to the day in Chestnut Hill. The game is Boston Colleges annual Red Bandana Game, a tribute to alum Welles Crowther, and it arrives on the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Against that backdrop, the opener at Alumni Stadium becomes about more than the standings, with Boston College looking to find traction while honoring one of the programs most enduring symbols. [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 🡒]