Instant analysis | Rutgers football falls to BC as concerns keep building

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Instead of easing concerns, Rutgers football has only raised more.

Instead of securing a victory to take a step toward correcting the early part of the season, the Scarlet Knights came out on the wrong end of a mistake-filled performance.

The questions about the direction of the program this season – and beyond – only continue to increase.

Greg Schiano’s team lost to Boston College 28-21 Friday night at Alumni Stadium, its second straight loss to open the season after its embarrassing defeat to UMass that opened the season.

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The Scarlet Knights closed the gap in the fourth quarter with a 60-yard touchdown catch by KJ Duff, and they had another chance to get into the end zone with two minutes left before AJ Surace, making his first career start, threw an interception that killed the drive.

That was one of four interceptions that Surace threw on a night where he too often looked like a quarterback making his first career start.

The defense, while showing some signs of improvement in the middle part of the game, is still nowhere near good enough.

With just more than seven minutes to go in the fourth quarter, Boston College quarterback Mason McKenzie hit a wide open – emphasis on “wide open” – Dawson Pough in the middle of the field for a 78-yard catch-and-run touchdown that made it a 13-point game.

Boston College finished with 402 total yards of offense.

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Surace finished 18-of-27 passing for 230 yards and three touchdowns − but also those four picks, including one on fourth-and-3 at the Eagles 21 in the fourth quarter that killed a potential prime opportunity to get into the end zone.

That was one of four fourth-down conversion attempts Rutgers went for – including one just two minutes into the game when it faced fourth-and-1 at its own 34. The Scarlet Knights attempted a tush push but were stopped short of the first down.

This game was filled with head-scratching moments.

At the end of the second quarter Boston College had second-and-10 at the Rutgers 36. The Scarlet Knights’ defensive backs dropped back to cover any deep throws – except McKenzie delivered a short eight-yard pass to Javarius Green to get to field goal range.

The Eagles kicked the 46-yard field goal for a 20-7 lead.

Rutgers still has way too much to figure out and it’s not getting easier anytime soon.

The Scarlet Knights couldn’t beat UMass, which went 0-12 last season. They couldn’t beat Boston College, which went 2-10 last season.

Too many mistakes. Too many blown coverages. Too many turnovers.

All of it has added up to a terrible 0-2 start.