Kiss a bowl game goodbye.
Rutgers walked into a matchup between two of the Power Four’s basement dwellers and came out with a 28-21 loss to Boston College that felt as costly as it was sloppy. The Scarlet Knights dropped to 0-2 for the first time since 2017, when Chris Ash was the head coach - the kind of company nobody wants to keep.
The night was packed with the sort of mistakes that sink teams before they ever get rolling. Rutgers had two players wearing No. 56 on the field at the same time.
Senior defensive end Malachi Davis jumped offside on a 4th & 4. The defense gave up a free 8-yard pass that helped set up a field goal.
The Knights also went just 1-for-4 on fourth down and 4-for-12 on third down, and some of that came down to play calls that never had a chance, like a slow-developing mesh read option on 4th & 1 that got blown up right away.
The final punch came on a 78-yard touchdown pass to a completely uncovered Dawson Pough, a play that stretched Boston College’s lead to 15 and effectively sealed it. Rutgers rushed two defenders, but Mason McKenzie escaped the pressure, kept the play alive and found Pough with nobody within 20 yards.
McKenzie was a problem all night, and Rutgers still hasn’t shown it has a real answer for mobile quarterbacks. The Boston College quarterback led the Eagles in rushing with 94 yards on 13 carries.
Rutgers is also one of 17 FBS teams without a sack this season. Time and again, McKenzie bought extra time with his legs and turned broken plays into completions, including the back-breaking strike to Pough.
The quarterback situation on Rutgers’ side only added to the mess. With senior Dylan Lonergan in street clothes on the sideline, redshirt sophomore AJ Surace got the start and turned in a line that looked a lot like the Boston College transfer’s name on paper, if not in practice.
Surace finished 18-for-27 for 230 yards, three touchdowns and four interceptions. He looked rattled in the pocket, stood flat-footed too often and couldn’t consistently escape pressure.
If Lonergan returns, there’s going to be another quarterback battle - just with a lot less optimism attached to it.
There was one bright spot on offense: KJ Duff finally put up the kind of numbers that jump off the page. The junior wideout finished with eight catches for 137 yards and two touchdowns.
But even that came with a catch. In the first half, Rutgers barely looked his way, targeting him only once while Boston College surged ahead 17-0.
For a player with Duff’s ceiling, that’s on the coaching staff.
The offensive line, at least, was better after some shuffling. Senior lineman Dantae Chin replaced sophomore Chris Vigna at starting right guard, and the group held up far better than it did in Week One, when it was overwhelmed for 60 minutes.
That improvement helped junior running back Antwan Raymond rebound with 134 rushing yards after managing just 42 last time out. Surace also had enough protection on several snaps to find his receivers.
Still, the line couldn’t deliver when Rutgers needed it most. The Knights were beaten in short-yardage situations, including a tush-push on 4th & 1 from Rutgers territory in the first quarter that led to Boston College’s first touchdown. And outside of Howard in Week Four, this looked like Rutgers’ best chance for a favorable battle up front.
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