Boston College 28-21 Rutgers (Sep 11, 2026) Final Score

Team pages: Rutgers · Boston College

Rutgers0-221

Boston College1-128Final

Fri, Sep 11 · Alumni Stadium (Chestnut Hill, MA), Chestnut Hill, Mass. · Crowd 40,611

Boston College beat Rutgers 28-21.

We had Rutgers favored. Boston College won.

Next: Rutgers lost to USC 42-35, Sat Sep 19

Next: Boston College beat Maine 22-16, Sat Sep 19

Top comment in the game thread

converting the 4th down and getting immediately picked off feels so on brand for this game

Q4 1:46 · r/CFB game thread · Fri, Sep 11

How it swung

The turning point: Surace 0-yd run, turnover on downs (Q1, 13:08). Boston College went from 62% to 80% to win. Fans right then: “Rutgers is going to get absolutely demolished in the B1G You can’t get 1 yard against… BC?” r/CFB game thread

Before kickoff, our ratings gave Boston College a 48% chance, and the closing betting line (Boston College was a 3-point favorite) put it at 60%.

Favored the whole way: Boston College never fell below 55%.

Rutgers never had better than a 44% chance.

78-yard TD pass

Boston College · Q4 7:06

FinalBoston College 28-21 RutgersBoston College wonMove across the chart, or tap a numbered swing, to see any play.

The two plays that swung it

1Q1 13:084th and 1Surace 0-yd run, turnover on downsBoston College 62% → 80% (+18)
2Q4 7:06McKenzie 78-yd TD pass to Pough, Boston College leads 28-14Boston College 83% → 99% (+16)

The two plays that swung it

1Q1 13:084th and 1Surace 0-yd run, turnover on downsRutgers 38% → 20% (−18)
2Q4 7:06McKenzie 78-yd TD pass to Pough, Boston College leads 28-14Rutgers 17% → 1% (−16)

What fans said, play by play

The line in bold above each quote is written by our model from the thread’s comments and the play-by-play.

Q1 13:52Fans mock Schiano's tush push call after Rutgers goes three-and-outRutgers is going to get absolutely demolished in the B1G You can’t get 1 yard against… BC?r/CFB game threadRutgers is truly ass, no way you're stacked by *Boston College's defense*r/CFB game thread
Q4 11:06Rutgers fans rip Schiano for going for it instead of kicking field goalsPlease kick itr/CFB game thread
Q4 1:46Surace throws an interception to Palano after converting fourth downSurace vs Lonergan is like testicular torsion vs testicular torsionr/CFB game threadQuoted at the top of the page.

Boston College’s chance to win after every play.

How to read this chart

Starts from the pregame line (Boston College -3), at 66% for Boston College (the play-by-play feed's kickoff number, moved to match the line; our model's and the betting line's own numbers are in “The betting line, and the fans”). Dots are the biggest swings; ticks under the chart are scores. Outlined diamonds mark rare plays. Under the scores, r/CFB comments per minute from fans with a Boston College or Rutgers flair (146 and 269); both sides share one scale, regulation only. A gold diamond marks a play fans were reacting to.

Watch the plays

The bar and the arrow show Boston College’s chance to win after each play; the logo is the team the play helped.

Every drive

Boston College scored on 5 of its 12 drives; Rutgers on 3 of its 11.

Boston College’s drives are teal, Rutgers’s amber. A line runs from where a drive started to where it ended; a filled dot means it scored.

From Rutgers’s side

Rutgers’s best moment: McKenzie intercepted by Walker at the Boston College 26 (Q3 2:27). It lifted Rutgers’s win chance by 13 points.

How Rutgers fans took it: “If only we took the points, who would’ve thought” r/CFB game thread

“That play was definitely worth a timeout..”

A fan of another team

How fans reacted

Steady

It came down to the finish, and so did the noise.

Jump to the loudest stretch

The jump was steady; the crowd was busy.

Box score

Boston College 28, Rutgers 21

Boston College covered −3 by 4. The total, 49, stayed under 53.5.

Team totals	Rutgers	Boston College
Total yards	384	402
Passing	18 of 27, 230 yds	18 of 29, 252 yds
Rushing	41 for 154 yds	32 for 150 yds
First downs	19	18
Third down	4 of 12	4 of 12
Fourth down	2 of 5	1 of 1
Turnovers	4	3
Penalties	5 for 40 yds	4 for 28 yds
Time of possession	34:32	25:28

Rutgers leaders

Passing AJ Surace 18 of 27, 230 yds, 3 TD, 4 INT
Rushing Antwan Raymond 27 for 134 yds; Clay Thevenin 7 for 36 yds
Receiving KJ Duff 8 for 137 yds, 2 TD; Jourdin Houston 5 for 40 yds

Boston College leaders

Passing Mason McKenzie 18 of 29, 252 yds, 1 TD, 2 INT
Rushing Mason McKenzie 13 for 94 yds, 1 TD; Evan Dickens 13 for 56 yds, 1 TD
Receiving Dawson Pough 4 for 106 yds, 1 TD; Landon Wright 2 for 60 yds

No rain through the game

72° at kickoff · no rain recorded

September game-day temperatures at Alumni Stadium (Chestnut Hill, MA)

Drag along the chart, or step through the game.

First quarter, 13:08 left7:45 p.m.

Rutgers 0, Boston College 0 · Boston College 80% to win

no rain · 72°

Surace 0-yd run, turnover on downs

Measured at Boston Logan International Airport, 8.2 miles away. Rain is NOAA's radar-and-gauge estimate at the stadium and wind is an airport reading; neither is measured on the field. Game times come from the play-by-play, good to a minute or two. Source: National Weather Service, through the Iowa Environmental Mesonet; rain radar from NOAA MRMS, through Iowa State University. Field direction from OpenStreetMap contributors.

Before kickoff

Recent games, the series and the betting line below are as they stood going in; the season profile is the season so far.

Recent games

Last three games · 2025 season

Rutgers · 5-7

Rated 68th in our preseason ratings, 75th now.

1-2 in its last three — but nothing on this résumé beats a top-40 team yet.

L 36-40 vs Penn StateTop 25 #12 of 667

lost by 4 as a 14.5-point underdog

L 9-42 @ Ohio StateTop 25 #1 of 667

lost by 33 as a 28.5-point underdog

W 35-20 vs Maryland #74 of 667

won by 15 as a 1.5-point favorite

L 13-35 @ IllinoisTop 25 #44 of 667

lost by 22 as a 12.5-point underdog

W 27-24 @ Purdue #92 of 667

won by 3 as a 2.5-point underdog

L 10-56 vs OregonTop 25 #2 of 667

lost by 46 as an 18.5-point underdog

L 19-38 @ WashingtonTop 25 #22 of 667

lost by 19 as a 9.5-point underdog

L 28-31 @ Minnesota #37 of 667

lost by 3 as a 3.5-point underdog

L 28-38 vs IowaTop 25 #40 of 667

lost by 10 as a 2.5-point underdog

W 60-10 vs Norfolk State #249 of 667

won by 50 as a 45.5-point favorite

W 45-17 vs Miami (OH) #73 of 667

won by 28 as a 15.5-point favorite

W 34-31 vs Ohio #77 of 667

won by 3 as a 15.5-point favorite

Last three games · 2025 season

Boston College · 2-10

Rated 130th in our preseason ratings, 131st now.

1-2 in its last three — but nothing on this résumé beats a top-40 team yet.

W 34-12 @ Syracuse #156 of 667

won by 22 as a 2.5-point favorite

L 34-36 vs Georgia TechTop 25 #42 of 667

lost by 2 as a 16.5-point underdog

L 13-45 vs SMUTop 25 #14 of 667

lost by 32 as a 10.5-point underdog

L 10-25 vs Notre DameTop 25 #3 of 667

lost by 15 as a 30.5-point underdog

L 24-38 @ LouisvilleTop 25 #30 of 667

lost by 14 as a 25.5-point underdog

L 23-38 vs UConn #62 of 667

lost by 15 as a 2.5-point underdog

L 10-41 vs ClemsonTop 25 #20 of 667

lost by 31 as a 13.5-point underdog

L 7-48 @ PittsburghTop 25 #53 of 667

lost by 41 as a 6.5-point underdog

L 24-28 vs California #59 of 667

lost by 4 as a 6.5-point favorite

L 20-30 @ Stanford #85 of 667

lost by 10 as a 13.5-point favorite

L 40-42 @ Michigan State #72 of 667

lost by 2 as a 3.5-point underdog

W 66-10 vs Fordham #226 of 667

won by 56 as a 34.5-point favorite

Week by week

Boston College

Wk 1Lat Cincinnati15-34

Rutgers

Wk 1Lvs Massachusetts21-37

Matchups

Biggest mismatch: Boston College’s explosive plays against Rutgers, 44 points

Each row ranks the two sides among all teams. The longer the line, the bigger the mismatch.

Boston College’s explosive plays against Rutgers’s defense
Boston College offense, 76th percentile · Rutgers defense, 32nd
Rutgers’s passing EPA against Boston College’s defense
Rutgers offense, 82nd percentile · Boston College defense, 41st

Season profile, all the rows

Season profile

RutgersBoston College

EPA/play, offense

EPA/play, defense

Success rate, offense

Success rate, defense

Explosive-play rate, offense

Explosive-play rate, defense

Rush EPA, offense

Rush EPA, defense

Pass EPA, offense

Pass EPA, defense

The series

Boston College leads the series 20-7-1

28 meetings since 1919 · Rutgers won the last meeting

2022Rutgers 22-21
2019Boston College 30-16
2004Boston College 21-10
2003Boston College 35-25
2002Boston College 44-14

Each line is Boston College’s chance to win through that meeting. Boston College is 1-1 in the meetings since 2018 that were still close in the fourth quarter. Older meetings have no play by play, so no line.

Line, fans and home field

The betting line, and the fans

Boston College fans are in a better mood than Rutgers fans (72nd vs 26th among FBS fanbases), even with Rutgers favored.

Boston College favored by 3 · Total 53.5

How games like this usually go

Boston College by 3, and it went to form

Half of games8 in 10 gamesThis game

The band is where a favorite’s chance ran in the 252 games since 2025 with a favorite of under 3.5 points.

The market

The spread moved 0.5 points toward Rutgers.

The total fell 1 point.

The books’ cut: 4.3%, the margin built into the odds

Home field

Boston College is worth +1.7 points (±3.5) more at home than on the road since 2018 — bottom third of FBS, 13th percentile.

46% at home, 36% on the road against FBS opponents (22-26 home, 16-29 away).

Our model gives every stadium the same flat 2.3-point home edge (why); the books use about 3. Against the closing line this stadium reads -0.0 at home vs. away over 100 games — inside the ±6.1 noise, so the flat number is the honest one here.

Night kickoff — historically worth about half a point more to the home side against the number, and not much more than that. The visitors travel about 212 miles to get here.

Boston College beats Rutgers 28-21