Dylan Lonergan threw three interceptions, lost a fumble and took four sacks in his Rutgers debut. UMass followed Rutgers’ opening touchdown by scoring on five of its first six possessions, including 30 consecutive points before the Scarlet Knights answered. Rutgers lost 37-21 at home.
That sequence matters more than the shock alone. UMass arrived after an 0-12 season as a 29.5-point underdog with the FBS’s longest active losing streak at 16 games. A game Rutgers expected to bank instead exposed problems that cannot travel well, such as careless possessions, little rushing help, shaky protection and a defense unable to interrupt drives.
Friday brings an unusually personal response opportunity. Lonergan started nine games for Boston College in 2025, completing 190 of 284 passes for 2,025 yards and 12 touchdowns. Now he returns as Rutgers’ starter for a 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff on ESPN2. The Fan Watch model gives the Scarlet Knights a 41% chance to win, making Rutgers an underdog with a realistic path to an immediate rebound.
Give Lonergan an ordinary game
The homecoming naturally puts Lonergan at the center of the broadcast, but Rutgers should spend the night trying to make him less central to every possession. The best version of this offense does not ask its quarterback to create explosive plays while absorbing pressure and repeatedly repairing bad situations.
UMass intercepted Lonergan three times. Jahmad Harmon made two of those plays and Isaiah Reed made the other. Romando Johnson produced the fourth giveaway by strip-sacking Lonergan and recovering the fumble. Those possessions turned his first start into a ball-security problem before Boston College’s familiarity with him even entered the conversation.
There was enough production to preserve some optimism. Lonergan completed 16 of 29 passes for 242 yards and two touchdowns. AJ Surace played only the final possession, going 6-of-9 for 77 yards and a touchdown, so one late drive does not establish a quarterback change. Week 2 remains Lonergan’s response game.
Watch the routine decisions. Watch whether he accepts a short completion, throws the ball away against pressure and reaches the next snap without giving Boston College a bonus possession. Rutgers does not need a revenge-game performance from its former Eagle. It needs competent possession-to-possession football from its current starter.
Raymond has to take weight off the quarterback
KJ Duff gave Rutgers a genuine offensive reason to stay interested, catching nine passes for 196 yards and all three Scarlet Knights’ touchdowns. Antwan Raymond supplied the troubling half of the split with 42 yards on 14 carries and eight receiving yards.
The full rushing total was worse. Rutgers finished with 27 net yards, while UMass recorded five sacks for 24 yards. Duff’s production showed that Rutgers can still threaten a defense vertically, but an offense built around that one outlet leaves Lonergan carrying too much risk.
Raymond does not need a spectacular statistical night for the offense to look healthier. Rutgers needs him and the line to create dependable early-down gains, keep the playbook open and prevent obvious passing situations. A credible running game would also make Duff’s explosiveness more dangerous because Boston College could not devote every answer to the quarterback-receiver connection.
Johansen’s defense needs to end drives itself
The offense’s four giveaways deserve the first correction, but they do not explain away the defensive debut. In Travis Johansen’s first game coordinating Rutgers, his unit allowed 397 yards, including 200 rushing, conceded four scores in four UMass red-zone trips and produced neither a sack nor a takeaway.
UMass’s five scoring possessions in its first six trips with the ball showed that this was sustained control, not one turnover or busted play distorting the night. Against Boston College, watch whether Rutgers wins an early down, forces a long-yardage snap and then actually gets off the field. One sack, takeaway or red-zone stand would not complete a rebuild, but those are the actions that were entirely absent in Week 1.
Johansen came to Rutgers with 14 years of coordinator experience and six top-10 defenses. That history made him a credible choice to repair the unit; it does not make the repair automatic. Friday should show whether his players can produce the disruption his first game lacked.
Keep the night in perspective
Boston College will stage its 13th Red Bandanna Game on the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. The annual game honors former Eagles lacrosse player Welles Crowther, who died after saving as many as 12 people in the World Trade Center’s South Tower. That setting deserves to be understood on its own terms, apart from Lonergan’s return or Rutgers’ need for a rebound.
Rutgers’ full Week 2 rooting card and the methodology page put the 41% forecast in season-long context, while Friday will show whether the Scarlet Knights can correct the failures that made the UMass loss so damaging.
The win would matter, especially after Rutgers surrendered what should have been the favorable first step in its season. But the most revealing version of Friday is simple. Lonergan protects the football, Raymond and the line restore a functional rushing threat, and Johansen’s defense ends possessions without waiting for Boston College to make the mistake. If Rutgers can do those ordinary things in Lonergan’s extraordinary setting, the trip can begin to look like a response rather than another rescue operation.