The hope of a new season often brings a sense of optimism for even the worst college football teams. Those hopes were quickly dashed for Scarlet Knight fans during the team’s season opening 37-21 loss to UMass. After surrendering a touchdown on the first drive of the game, the Minutemen defense quickly locked down the Rutgers offense, only surrendering another score after their offense built a 23 point lead. The Knights’ defense struggled mightly to contain the UMass offense, especially on the ground,
where they let up 200 yards of offense.
The first drive of the game went as Rutgers fans thought the whole game would, with the team driving 75 yards down the field in 12 plays and going up 7-0. It was all downhill from there, with the Minutemen rattling off six scores, three touchdowns, and three field goals before the Knights scored again.
The concerns about the Knights’ defense reared their ugly heads immediately, as Rutgers surrendered 197 passing yards, three passing touchdowns and 40 rushing yards to the Minutemen’s William Watson, who saw his first major dose of playing time in two years after transferring from Virginia Tech. UMass running backs Curtis Kimmons IV and Elijah Faulkner gave the Knights fits all game. Kimmons ran for 78 yards on 11 carries, scoring one touchdown, while Faulkner added 62 yards on 19 carries and two catches for 23 yards, both of which were touchdowns.
The offense, which was supposed to be Rutgers’ strength this season, failed to get any sort of momentum going for most of the game. The Knights’ starting quarterback, Boston College transfer Dylan Lonergan completed 16 of his 29 passes for 242 yards and two touchdowns, but also threw three interceptions. Running back Antwan Raymond averaged just three yards per carry in this matchup as he ran for 42 yards on 14 attempts. The offensive line showed signs of struggle, failing to open up holes for Raymond to run through while struggling to keep Lonergan upright. In total, they surrendered five total sacks and seven tackles for loss.
The two bright spots for the Knights in this game were backup quarterback AJ Surace and wide receiver KJ Duff. Surace looked serviceable during his playing time in this game. He threw a total of nine passes and completed six for 77 yards and one touchdown. Duff added another great personal performance to his resume, recording nine catches for 196 yards and three touchdowns.
This was about as disastrous of a season opener as the Knights could have. They will need to turn it around quickly and drastically or else it will be another long season. They will look to do that next week as they head up to Chestnut Hill to face Boston College on Friday, Sept. 11 at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN2.
