Rutgers’ second game of the 2026 season brings a lot more than a normal nonconference road trip. The Scarlet Knights head to Boston College for the Eagles’ annual Red Bandanna game, a matchup tied to BC alum and hero Welles Crowther and set for the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Rutgers has its own connection to that day, too: the school lost 37 alumni in the World Trade Center attacks and honored them in a previous 9/11 game, beating Syracuse 17-7 in 2021.
It also matters on the field. This will be Rutgers’ first road game of the year, and it stands out as the most interesting nonconference test on the schedule. The Knights have handled ACC opponents well in recent seasons, including a 22-21 comeback win the last time they went to Chestnut Hill to open the 2022 season.
There’s also a familiar face in the Rutgers locker room. Dylan Lonergan, who spent time at Boston College after transferring from Alabama, is now with the Scarlet Knights. Whether he gets a chance to face his old team is still unclear, since he and AJ Surace are locked in a quarterback battle that is expected to run through training camp.
Boston College, meanwhile, is trying to climb out of a rough 2025. The Eagles went 2-10 and looked like the weakest Power Four team in the country.
They opened with a 66-10 win over FCS Fordham, then immediately ran into trouble in a 42-40 loss to Michigan State in East Lansing. ACC play was ugly for most of the year, with Boston College not picking up a conference win until the finale against Syracuse.
Along the way, the Eagles were blown out by Pittsburgh and a struggling Clemson team, lost to UConn, and came close to a shocker against No. 22 Georgia Tech before finishing with a 34-12 win over Syracuse.
The roster has been reshaped in a big way, starting at quarterback. Lonergan’s old role is now expected to go to Saginaw Valley State transfer Mason McKenzie, a true dual-threat who measured at 6-foot-1 and piled up more than 2,000 passing yards, 17 passing touchdowns, 1,000 rushing yards, and ten rushing scores while winning GLIAC Conference Player of the Year honors. Arkansas transfer Grayson Wilson, a former four-star recruit at 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds, is behind him and could still push for snaps.
Boston College also remade its backfield. Leading rushers Turbo Richard and Jordan McDonald are gone, and the Eagles are turning to former Liberty standout Evan Dickens and former Maryland back Nolan Ray.
Dickens was the nation’s ninth-leading rusher, averaging 5.6 yards per carry and 121.7 yards per game while finishing with 229 carries, seven runs of more than 20 yards, and 16 touchdowns. Ray brings a different look: more size, more physicality, and some receiving ability out of the backfield, with 22 career catches that make him a useful third-down and red-zone option.
The receiving corps is also in transition. Boston College’s top wideouts from last season are gone, leaving UNC transfer Javarius Green, Jaedn Skeete, and Dawson Pough as the projected starters at X, Z, and slot. One name to watch behind them is Colgate transfer Reed Swanson, an NJ native who stands 6-foot-6 and stretched Patriot League defenses vertically.
Defensively, the Eagles were nearly as shaky as Rutgers, finishing 128th in total defense. There are some pieces to work with, though.
Safety KP Price returns after making 94 tackles and grabbing two interceptions, and the cornerback group is considered solid. The linebacker room has been upgraded with Bodie Kahoun from Notre Dame, Justin Medlock from SMU, and Anthony Palano from Washington State joining Boston College’s 4-2-5 defense, the same structure Rutgers uses.
Up front, Georgia transfer Kris Jones is expected to line up with either Harvard’s Alex DeGrieck or Buffalo’s Demetrius Ballard, while the new edge group is tasked with fixing a pass rush that managed only ten sacks in its final ten games. The run defense was a major problem last season, and Florida State transfer defensive tackle KJ Sampson, listed at 6-foot-3 and 305 pounds, is part of the effort to shore it up.
Boston College should be better than it was a year ago, and Bill O’Brien has shown he can flip a program quickly. Two years ago, the Eagles shocked Florida State in the opener after the Seminoles’ perfect season, took No.
19 Missouri to the wire, upset No. 21 Syracuse, and finished 7-6 with a close loss to Nebraska in the Pinstripe Bowl.
The schedule ahead is no joke. Boston College opens at Cincinnati, which went 7-6 last season after a 7-1 start that included a win over previously unbeaten Iowa State and a spot in the rankings.
After that comes the home opener and the Red Bandanna game, then FCS Maine before the ACC slate begins with James Franklin’s Virginia Tech team visiting Chestnut Hill. Later on, the Eagles will see SMU, Georgia Tech, and Pittsburgh, and they also have trips to Notre Dame and Miami near the end of the season.
Rutgers should enter this one as the road favorite, but Boston College is not a team to dismiss outright. Even so, the Scarlet Knights look positioned to keep rolling against nonconference and ACC competition and open the 2026 season with a second straight win over a Massachusetts-based opponent.
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