Friday night’s matchup between Boston College and Rutgers in Chestnut Hill, Mass., is an opportunity for both teams to bounce back from disappointing season-opening losses.
Rutgers (0-1) has tapped quarterback AJ Surace to make his first career start after Dylan Lonergan — who Boston College coach Bill O’Brien recruited to Alabama and then brought to the Eagles — was injured late in a 37-21 loss to UMass in Week 1.
“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,” Scarlet Knights coach Greg 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.”
Surace went 6-for-9 for 77 yards and a touchdown against the Minutemen, who responded to Rutgers’ game-opening scoring drive and cruised to the victory.
Despite the loss, Rutgers threw for 319 yards, with KJ Duff catching all three of the team’s touchdowns and totaling 196 yards.
All in all, though, Schiano knows that his team needs to turn around its performance.
“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.”
Boston College (0-1) opened with a 34-15 defeat at Cincinnati. The Eagles surrendered 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.”
Saginaw Valley State transfer Mason McKenzie looks to build off a solid Division I debut. He threw for 223 yards, one touchdown and one interception while rushing for 78 yards on 20 carries against Cincinnati.
“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.”
Rutgers and Boston College’s first meeting since 2022 falls on the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks and marks the Eagles’ annual Red Bandana Game in honor of 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.”
