Rutgers football suffers embarrassing loss to UMass | Analysis

PISCATAWAY – If you drew up the worst-case scenario for how Rutgers football’s 2026 season would begin, it would look a lot like this.

Unproductive offense.

Outplayed defense.

And the opponent?

A UMass team that went 0-12 last season and was at the FCS level just two years ago.

Adding insult to injury is the fact UMass’ head coach is former Rutgers defensive coordinator Joe Harasymiak.

All of it added up to a thoroughly embarrassing 37-21 loss for the Scarlet Knights, one of the worst defeats in recent memory – and that’s saying something for a program that’s had a lot of lows over the last couple decades.

The final score doesn't indicate just how bad this game was for Rutgers.

The Minutemen had lost 23 straight games against FBS teams, going all the way back to Oct. 28, 2023 against Army.

And UMass’ last win against any opponent?

Oct. 26, 2024 against Wagner.

There’s no way to excuse this loss, which has already thrown this season off the rails after one game.

The Scarlet Knights have some of the top playmakers in the Big Ten in wide receiver KJ Duff and running back Antwan Raymond, and while Duff had a productive game, Raymond couldn’t get anything going (42 yards on 14 carries) behind an offensive line that failed to open up holes for him.

Quarterback Dylan Lonergan, who beat out AJ Surace in a battle for the starting job, finished 16-of-30 passing for 242 yards with two touchdowns, both to Duff.

He also threw three interceptions and lost a fumble. Surace relieved him in the game's final minutes.

Overall, though, Harasymiak and UMass defensive coordinator Jared Keyte, a former Rutgers defensive assistant who followed Harasymiak to Amherst, completely shut down the Scarlet Knights’ offense, which finished with 349 total yards (many of them long after UMass had taken control).

Chalk it up to a good game plan. Familiarity with Kirk Ciarrocca’s offense certainly helped.

It still shouldn’t happen.

The bigger concern is Rutgers’ defense, a unit that Schiano remade in the offseason after it was terrible last year.

He brought in defensive coordinator Travis Johansen and hit the portal hard, bringing in more than a dozen transfers to fill out the unit – many of whom are in starting roles.

Rutgers started strong, with Lonergan hitting Duff for a four-yard touchdown on the opening drive.

Then UMass answered with Pop Watson hitting Elijah Faulkner for a 21-yard touchdown pass and the Minutemen took over from there.

Give Watson credit for an excellent performance – he’s a Virginia Tech transfer who didn’t play much for the Hokies but showed out in his UMass debut.

The Scarlet Knights’ defense was out of position, it was slow, it failed to make corrections, it tackled poorly.

It gave up 397 total yards.

Simply put it look far too much like the terrible unit Rutgers had last season – a unit that never improved.

The task now for Schiano and his staff is clear: Find a way to salvage this.

Somehow.

Starting with its Sept. 11 game against Boston College – but is that even possible?

This UMass loss will be tough to come back from no matter what happens from here.

To earn a bowl bid, Rutgers needed to win all three nonconference games to give itself its best chance to do that.

That’s out the window.

This defeat, this ugly, embarrassing defeat, has permanently marred the season – and it’s just Week 1.

Any positive vibes are gone.

By the end of the game, the crowd – light to begin with – had completely emptied out.

Rutgers wasted a chance to earn a momentum-building win to start the season.

Instead of answers about what this Scarlet Knights team could be, there are only more questions.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Rutgers football suffers embarrassing loss to UMass | Analysis