Boston College got the kind of performance it needed Friday night, and Mason McKenzie supplied the spark.
McKenzie accounted for two touchdowns through the air and another on the ground as the Eagles outlasted Rutgers 28-21 in the annual Red Bandanna Game. He finished 18 of 29 for 252 yards with two interceptions, but the biggest numbers came in the moments that swung the game Boston College’s way.
The decisive blow arrived with 7:06 remaining, when McKenzie rolled to his right and found Dawson Pough wide open for a touchdown that pushed the lead to 28-14. McKenzie said the play felt simple once he saw how much space Pough had.
“When you get to that, it's like: ‘Don’t miss. Don't miss,”' McKenzie said, smiling.
“There was nobody around him. I was able to hit him and that was a big play in the game.”
Boston College’s defense then did the rest, turning Rutgers away repeatedly when it mattered most. Anthony Palano’s second interception of the night came with just under two minutes left at the Eagles’ 35, sealing the win after Rutgers had closed the gap again.
The Scarlet Knights, now 0-2, got a strong first start from AJ Surace, who completed 18 of 27 passes for 230 yards with three touchdowns and four interceptions. But Rutgers kept coming up empty in BC territory, failing on fourth down three times deep in Eagles territory. One of those stops came late in the third quarter after an interception, when Rutgers was denied on fourth-and-1 at the BC 11.
“They played tough,” O'Brien said of the defense. “I was very proud of them.”
Boston College built a 20-7 halftime lead, then watched Rutgers chip away. Surace connected with KJ Duff on a 4-yard touchdown pass to make it a one-score game, and Duff’s second score - a 60-yard catch - cut the margin to 28-21 midway through the fourth.
McKenzie had already given the Eagles a fast start with a 10-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter to make it 14-0.
The game was also marked by a frightening moment in the second quarter, when BC linebacker Bodie Kahoun was taken off the field by ambulance after leading with his head on a tackle. The school said he had movement in all his extremities and was taken to a local hospital for further evaluation.
“We brought him to the hospital, obviously, we feel like he had feeling in his extremities, but we'll wait to see,” BC coach Bill O'Brien said. “Very tough.
He's just an awesome guy. You can see what that meant to the team.”
For Boston College, the win came after a rough opening loss to Cincinnati. For Rutgers, it followed an ugly defeat to UMass that coach Greg Schiano said made the school a “punchline,” though the Scarlet Knights at least showed more fight in Boston.
The Red Bandanna Game honors former Boston College lacrosse player Welles Crowther, who died while rescuing more than a dozen people in the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Crowther, a BC graduate, was known for carrying a red bandanna.
“It was the 25th anniversary of a terrible day,” O'Brien said. “A very important person in the BC community, Welles Crowther. This game is just such an important game to Boston College.”
Rutgers will host No. 14 USC in Big Ten play next Saturday.
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