T.Y. Harding scored on a 49-yard reception in the opening minute, added an 82-yard punt-return touchdown soon after and Massachusetts defeated Sacred Heart 37-10 on Saturday, the first back-to-back wins for the Minutemen since 2023.
UMass (2-0) snapped a 16-game losing streak with a 37-21 win over Rutgers of the Big Ten in its opener and followed up with the easy victory over the FCS Pioneers (0-2). The last time the Minutemen won consecutive games came in the 2023 season with wins over Army and Merrimack.
William Watson III hit Harding on the deep ball down the middle for the game's first points then Harding raced for his second TD just over three minutes later.
Watson was 9-of-10 passing for 152 yards and added 40 yards and a touchdown on the ground.
Jahmad Harmon turned his third interception of the season into a 34-yard touchdown and a 37-0 lead early in the second half. Harmon had two picks in the win over Rutgers. Reece Adkins added rushing TD.

#harmon #back

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — There is no coming back from this for Rutgers — and maybe its head coach.
The Scarlet Knights still have 10 more games on their schedule this fall, but the 2026 season effectively came to an end after they suffered a devastating 28-21 loss to Boston College on Friday night.
Any flicker of hope remaining following a season-opening 37-21 loss to UMass — the worst loss in modern program history — were dashed at Alumni Stadium, where Rutgers showed more life than its pathetic showing against the Minutemen, but not enough to secure a win it desperately needed — and easily could have gotten.
The Scarlet Knights (0-2) were blitzed from the beginning by the Eagles (1-1), who jumped out to a 17-0 lead through the opening 17 minutes and led the rest of the way.
Rutgers was not ready to play — it was forced to call a timeout on the third play of the game when it sent two players on the field with the same jersey number (#56) — and while it came agonizingly close to stealing a game that was there for the taking, it could not stop shooting itself in the foot.

#rutgers #scarlet

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.
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 but AJ Surace, making his first career start, threw an interception that killed the drive.

#season #instead #knights #hill

The Virginia Cavaliers did not mess around on Friday night, taking care of Norfolk State, 59-3. As expected, the 'Hoos overmatched the Spartans for 60 minutes, allowing all sorts of reserves to get live reps in the second half.
Three different UVA quarterbacks threw touchdown passes. Beau Pribula, who played the first two quarters, was once again ultra efficient, throwing for 162 yards on 12-of-14 passing with three touchdowns. Of note, Pribula did not have a single designed rushing attempt; offensive coordinator Des Kitchings chose to keep him upright and allow him to sling the rock from the pocket instead.
Backups Eli Holstein and Cole Geer ultimately had limited passing attempts, but both had one impressive throw to build on. Holstein opened the second half with a beautiful goal line fade to Ty'Lyric Coleman in the back corner of the end zone, while Geer found high school teammate Williem Thurber on a tight window up the seam for 28 yards in the fourth.
At the skill positions, wide receiver Jacquon Gibson got himself on the board with two touchdown catches from Pribula, after failing to reach the end zone a single time with UMass in 2025. Meanwhile, sophomore Xay Davis showcased his burst out of the backfield, totaling 107 ticks on 13 attempts.
On the defensive end, Kam Robinson made his way back to the field (in a limited capacity), a welcomed sight for the Cavalier faithful. The first-team secondary looked particularly strong, with Brandyn Hillman hauling in his second and third interceptions of the season, and Jacobie Henderson displaying some playmaking ability of his own. Sophomore linebacker Justin Rowe added a pick six in the final minutes for good measure.

#three

Over the past few days, several national college football publications and websites have released power ranking lists for all 138 FBS college football teams following Week 0 and Week 1 of the 2026 college football season. None of these sites have been particularly kind to Rutgers following their season-opening 37-21 loss to UMass, with almost all of them dropping the Scarlet Knights by double-digit rankings. The most brutal of these sites was The Athletic, which dropped Rutgers 57 spots from 79 to 136.
First off, the ******* le of the article is "Re-ranking 138 college football teams after Week 1: LSU starts on top, Rutgers hits a new low"- not a fun start by any means. The rest of the parts of the article that mention Rutgers aren't much better.
"The most shocking win was, of course, UMass' 37-21 victory at Rutgers, ending a 16-game losing streak and 23-game Football Bowl Subdivision losing streak. For that, the Minutemen rise to No. 100. It's the first time since early in the 2025 season that UMass is not ranked last, and it's the first time in 10 years of these rankings that UMass is inside the top 100. The Minutemen's previous high was No. 102 late in the 2018 season. Congrats to UMass," said Athletic writer Chris Vannini in the article.
"Rutgers falls all the way to No. 136 for that blowout loss to UMass, which wasn't as close as the 16-point final margin would indicate. This is the new lowest position for a Power 4 team in 10 years of these rankings," said Athletic writer Chris Vannini in the article.
While Rutgers' performance against UMass is inexcusable and has put the Knights in the same ranking bracket as teams like Bowling Green, Northern Illinois, Utah State and Charlotte in the eyes of the Athletic. While Rutgers' loss to UMass is an incredibly tough pill to swallow, being rated in the bottom three teams in the country still seems a little low. Even a terrible Big Ten team should be able to stay out of there.

#Athletic

Last week was about as good of a start to the season as we could have asked for.
About the only things that are sticking with me is trusting Rutgers as a 30-point favorite over UMass last Thursday, along with seeing Ohio State cover late. Had the Buckeyes not scored that final touchdown, I would have been on the mark when it comes to my Buckeye score prediction.
Now to hope this week brings us similar success.
At least now we have a little bit to go on after seeing each team at least once. While I'm not going to say things are going to get easier going forward, at least it wouldn't be quite as much of a guessing game as it usually is in the first week.
Arizona State v. No. 10 Texas A&M (-14.5) – Saturday 9/12 12:00 p.m. ET – ABC

#week #things #umass #thursday

Michigan's AP Top 25 stay lasted exactly one week.
The Wolverines opened the season at No. 16 in both the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll. In the polls released Tuesday, Michigan is out of the AP Top 25 entirely, sitting among the others receiving votes with 69 points, and has slid to No. 24 in the Coaches Poll.
The reason is not complicated. Saturday night, Sept. 5, Michigan escaped the Big House by the narrowest of margins against Western Michigan, 13-12, on a 47-yard Hail Mary with one second left. The Wolverines were 27.5-point favorites.
Bryce Underwood struggled mightily as Michigan's quarterback. Outside of an efficient opening drive and the second Hail Mary heave, hauled in by J.J. Buchanan after the first one was ruled dead with a second left on the clock, the second-year quarterback did not look the part against a team he was supposed to overwhelm. Underwood finished 12-of-22 for 170 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Michigan turned the ball over three times, took nine penalties for 80 yards and held the ball for under 20 minutes.
Michigan is 1-0, and so is every other Big Ten team but two. Wisconsin was slaughtered by Notre Dame, now No. 3, 41-13. Rutgers imploded as a 29.5-point favorite, losing to UMass, 37-21. Every other team in the conference came out of Week 1 a winner.

#poll #second #wolverines

Week 1 of the college football season is officially under wraps. And as always, the action that played out on Saturday will have a major impact on who is playing in the future on Sunday, as several prominent 2027 NFL Draft prospects saw their draft value rise or fall depending on their performances. Let's take a look at which notable prospects performed the best this past weekend.
Jadan Baugh is already high on many people's radar as he enters the coming year after a season that saw him accumulate 1,170 yards. And he looked like he didn't miss a beat in Florida's win over Florida Atlantic in Week 1 – he managed 160 yards and three touchdowns on just 14 carries, good for an 11.4-yard-per-carry average. He also earned a whopping 130 of those yards after contact and forced nine missed tackles.
Rutgers may have suffered one of the most embarrassing losses of the week to UMass, but Duff established himself as a premier wide receiver in the upcoming draft. He hauled in nine receptions for 196 yards and three touchdowns, averaging over 21 yards per catch on 17 targets with zero drops.
Mensah helped lead the Hurricanes to a dominant victory in Week 1, and he did so in an efficient fashion. He went 27-for-30 passing for 400 yards and five touchdowns, completing 90 percent of his passes. He was the highest-graded passer of the week according to Pro Football Focus (PFF).
This article originally appeared on Touchdown Wire: Which 2027 NFL Draft prospects performed the best in Week 1?

#week #season

The late John Chaney used to say that he was the Black Knight. He wasn't talking about Batman, though. He was talking about the late Bob Knight and his explosive temper.
And there was some truth to that, because while Chaney was generally genial in everyday life, he too had a volcanic temper. And the general public never saw a more impressive demonstration of said temper than on February 13, 1994.
UMass had nipped Temple, 56-55, and Chaney had already made his comments to the media. Afterwards, though, believing that UMass coach John Calipari had badgered the officiating crew inappropriately, Chaney came back to the press room to confront his A-10 colleague, and briefly lost his mind.
He walked in from the back of the room and started yelling at Calipari about his supposed interaction with the officials, and when Calipari reasonably said "you weren't there and you don't know what happened," Chaney really exploded.
He told Calipari to "shut up!" and charged the podium. Others got in his way and restrained him, but Chaney yelled "I'll kill you! When I see you, I'm going to kick your ***** !"

#temper #john #knight #back

PISCATAWAY – Quarterback was a major question mark throughout spring practice and training camp for Rutgers football as Dylan Lonergan battled AJ Surace for the starting job before ultimately winning it.
Now after just one game, it's a question mark once again.
Lonergan had an uneven performance in the Scarlet Knights' stunning 37-21 season-opening loss to UMass on Thursday, Sept. 3, but beyond that an injury he suffered in the fourth quarter has thrown more uncertainty onto his status for Rutgers' Friday game at Boston College – Lonergan's former team.
Lonergan finished 16-of-29 passing for 242 yards with two touchdowns against the Minutemen, but he also threw three interceptions and fumbled the ball away.
Rutgers' offensive line didn't make it easy on him either, too often getting pushed around by UMass' defensive front (the Minutemen finished with five sacks).

#lonergan #minutemen #game #finished

It's hard to believe Rutgers football is already facing a "must-win" game in Week 2, but that's exactly the situation for the Scarlet Knights.
After losing to UMass in a stunning and embarrassing loss to open the season, Greg Schiano's team needs to rebound by pulling out a victory against Boston College in their Week 2 game Friday, Sept. 11 at Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, Mass.
A win would allow the Scarlet Knights to take at least one step toward righting the season after becoming the topic of a national conversation for all the wrong reasons.
A loss?
Well, a loss would send the season into more of a spiral, creating even more questions and uncertainty about the future of the program.

#loss #season #greg

Week 0 and Week 1 gave us plenty of drama! UMass gave us one of the biggest upsets in modern day College Football when they knocked off Rutgers, while Michigan needed a diabolical miracle to beat Western Michigan at the buzzer on a Hail Mary. Oregon also a close call at home to Boise State, so the Big Ten was off to a rough start, but they have a chance to make a statement in Week 2. Texas hosts Ohio State in Week 2 as the headline
Well, here are my Top 25 rankings entering Week 2 of the 2026 season, along with quick overviews and predictions for each team. Every Sunday moving forward you can find my Top 25 here on NBC! Make sure to join the chat on social and chime in with your rankings or where I went wrong! Let's get to it.
1. Ohio State Buckeyes
2026 Record: 1-0 (0-0)
Last Game: 56-3 win vs Ball State
Next Game: At #5 Texas — Saturday at 7:30 PM ET
Three different Buckeyes threw for five touchdowns against Ball State and three different rushers had a touchdown as well. Ohio State even scored in the final two minutes against Ball State in a 56-3 win. The Buckeyes were shaking off all the rust and getting all their guys confidence up ahead of the top five showdown with Texas. Ohio State won last year's meeting versus Texas in Columbus, 14-7. We'll see what happens this year! I say Ohio State 21, Texas 20. Jeremiah Smith snaps his two-game touchdown drought against Texas and the Longhorns move to 0-6 against Ohio State and Georgia since 2024.
2. Georgia Bulldogs
2026 Record: 1-0 (0-0)
Last Game: 63-3 win vs Tennessee State
Next Game: Vs Western Kentucky — Saturday at 12:45 PM ET

#state #texas

It took until Sunday night, but the Big Ten's Week 1 is officially in the books. All 18 teams have now played at least one game (USC played two before most ever played one), and we're starting to get an idea of how good (or bad) teams might be. Though next week should tell us even more -- a lot more.
There was a big upset, with Rutgers going down to UMass on Thursday to kick things off, and a near upset with Michigan football surviving what was thought to be an overmatched Western Michigan team. Some teams, like Oregon, got off to a slow start, while others were exactly as expected, like Michigan State.
With that in mind, here are our Week 1 power rankings for the Big Ten.
Preseason ranking: 17
Week 1 result: UMass 37, Rutgers 21

#teams

Rutgers football is listed as 3.5-point underdogs in next week's matchup vs Boston College, according to FanDuel, after suffering an embarrassing 37-21 loss to UMass last week. The line initially opened with the Eagles as 6.5-point favorites, but quickly moved to where it is now after Boston College suffered a 34-15 blowout loss to Cincinnati.
In their loss against the Minutemen, Rutgers' defense surrendered 197 passing yards, three passing touchdowns, and 40 rushing yards to the Minutemen's William Watson, who saw his first major amount of playing time in two years after transferring from Virginia Tech. They also surrendered 200 rushing yards and one touchdown. On the flip side, 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.
In their loss against Cincinnati, Boston College starting quarterback Mason McKenzie completed 18 of 35 passes for 223 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He finished the game with an overall quarterback rating of 108.7. The Eagles' leading rusher against the Bearcats was Evan ******* ens, who carried the ball 11 times for 47 yards and one touchdown, while their leading receiver, Johnathan Montague, caught two out of three passes for 55 yards and one touchdown.
While racking up more first downs than their opponent, Boston College turned the ball over on downs three times and added an interception and a fumble lost, giving their opponent extra possessions. The Eagles' offensive line also surrendered 4 sacks, while the entire team committed 7 total penalties.
Much like Rutgers' two meaningless scores at the end of their game against the Minutemen, the Eagles also scored a last-second touchdown to make the ending score look better than the game actually was.

#three #rutgers #loss

Everyone is excited for the start of the 2026 college football season until their team loses. While the UCLA Bruins are hoping to avoid that fate this weekend versus Cal. UCLA saw a conference rival begin the season in humiliating fashion.
Rutgers kicked off on Thursday versus UMass and the Minutemen pulled off a 37-21 road win at SHI Stadium. Rutgers came into the season looking like a Big Ten Conference bottom-dweller and that was all but confirmed with a blowout loss to UMass.
The loss to UMass is different from your run-of-the-mill upset. The Minutemen went winless in 2025 and were four touchdown underdogs against Rutgers.
Last season Rutgers went 5-7, winning two more games than UCLA, but things are looking worse to begin 2026 for the Scarlet Knights. USA TODAY writer Matthew Glenesk discussed buyout options for Rutgers' head coach Greg Schiano after the humiliating start to the season.
"Greg Schiano is the winningest coach in Rutgers football history. But that distinction can't sugarcoat the disaster Thursday night was as the Scarlet Knights — a 29.5-point favorite — lost at home to UMass," Glenesk said. "If the school was to make a change, Schiano is owed 76.875% of his remaining base salary when he is fired. If he is let go at the end of November, that number would be approximately $18.5 million, per documents obtained by USA TODAY Sports."

#season

On social media it stung after heavily favored Rutgers football lost to UMass Thursday night in a result that puts coach Greg Schiano on the hot seat.
"Rutgers invented college football in 1869 and has spent the last 160 years regretting the decision," someone wrote on X.com
Here are five unbelievable things that are going to live on in infamy from the 37-21 Rutgers loss to Massachusetts:
Greg Schiano reacts to Rutgers' UMass loss: 'Never saw it coming'
1. A college football "buy game" (or guarantee game) refers to an FBS program paying a smaller school a guarantee check to travel for a game. The buyer usually wins the game but not always. Rutgers paid UMass $1.55 million, according to FBSchedules.

#umass #Football #college

Reaction to Rutgers' 37-21 loss to UMass came from all quarters of the Internet Thursday night.
From the NFL Memes X/Twitter account to John Fanta to UConn fans, everybody had something to say.
Let's start with the fact that Rutgers paid UMass $1.55 million for the game and then proceeded to lose to a team on a 16-game losing streak, a team that hadn't won a game in 677 days.
Oh, and Rutgers lit off a pre-planned fireworks show after the game.
"Rutgers paying UMass $1.5M to play them Week 1 as 30-point favorites only to lose and then set off a pre-planned fireworks show postgame might be the single saddest thing l've ever seen," posted the NFL Memes account, which has 1.5M followers.

#lose #team

In one of the first days of the 2026-27 college football season, chaos ensued at the SHI Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey. On Thursday, Sept. 3, coach Greg Schiano's Rutgers Scarlet Knights hosted coach Joe Harasymiak's Massachusetts Minutemen for their first game of the campaign. Unfortunately for the Scarlet Knights, the Minutemen defeated them by 16 points, 37-21.
It was an embarrassing defeat, to say the least, for the Scarlet Knights, as they were the overwhelming favorites to beat the Minutemen. As the rest of the college football world reacts in shock to the game, insider Brett McMurphy called out the Big Ten Conference, where the Scarlet Knights play, following the Minutemen victory with a post on X/Twitter.
"Can a conference be considered the nation's best conference if one of its teams loses to UMass? Asking for a friend," McMurphy wrote.
– Brett McMurphy, September 3, 2026
McMurphy later reported on On3 that the Scarlet Knights paid the Minutemen $1.5 million for the fixture, which ended up backfiring for the Big Ten program.

#scarlet #conference #coach

Yes, there is such a thing as a good 5-5 start – at least for now, considering how insane it is to try figuring out all these teams with mostly new players.

What's so good about it? Going 3-2 yesterday was fine, and over the first two runs, one loss was that horrific Hawaii beat against Stanford, another came in the final seconds of Illinois-UAB, and then there's the whopper – thinking Rutgers would destroy UMass. Historically shocking whiff, cap tipped, moving on.

There aren't many options for the Friday games, but let's force down an appetizer before the smorgasbord on Saturday.

Last Week's Results: 5-5
– All the Week 1 Picks
– Week 1 Expert Picks
Line: Point Total 46.5
ATS Pick: Under

This is one of those picks to see if we have our in-season game legs early on. Seriously, feel free to ignore this one, because it's a little dangerous.

Both teams have new coaching staffs, new ideas, and wholesale personnel changes. That, and 46.5 isn't all that hard to hit – the original call to make this one of the games was when the total was 49.5.

Again, I'm flying a bit blind here, but it's Pat Fitzgerald with a pieced-together team. It'll be about the defense and running game. Mike Jacobs' Toledo side will keep the chains moving and the clock rolling. This should be a good, tough fight.
– Toledo vs Michigan State Game Preview
Line: Kansas -41.5
ATS Pick: Kansas

It's a small sample size, but one key mini-trend isn't shocking – with the exception of Buffalo against Albany, FBS teams are annihilating the FCSers.

Utah 66, Idaho 14
UCF 73, Bethune-Cookman 6
Missouri 54, UAPB 14
Delaware 42, Merrimack 7
Kennesaw State 47, West Georgia 0 (I LOVED this and chickened out yesterday, not making this one of the five best picks)
Minnesota 59, Eastern Illinois 7

I never change our call on the predicted final score in our game previews unless something insane happens, but Kansas big at home against LIU – partly because it'll likely go full throttle for a full 60 minutes – was the call from the start. If anything, we were probably too conservative on what the Jayhawks will do.
– LIU vs Kansas Game Preview

Sticking with that FBS blowout over FCS thing …
Line: Purdue -35.5, o/u: 55.5
ATS Pick: Purdue

There's no need to do a deep dive here. Purdue has a brutal schedule ahead, it's been a rough run over the last few years, and the coaches will keep pushing because the program has to set a new tone. Purdue beat Indiana State 49-0 in 2024, and Indiana slipped past the Sycamores by 73 last year.
– Indiana State vs Purdue Game Preview
Line: Point Total 47.5
ATS Pick: Over

Two things are in play here. First, the Stanford defense didn't look like anything special once the Hawaii offense got rolling in the 37-27 Cardinal win. There's a real chance Miami takes care of most of the total on its own.

Here's the second part – the line is 24.5. In the six games last year when Miami won by more than that, all but the 38-7 win over Pi

Rutgers football paid $1.55 million to lose to UMass, 37-21, on Sept. 3, snapping the Minutemen's 16-game losing streak. But that number presumably didn't include pyrotechnics.
The Scarlet Knights hosted the saddest fireworks show in the world after the loss at SHI Stadium in Piscataway, putting a droopy exclamation point on an 0-1 start to Greg Schiano's seventh season.
REQUIRED READING: UMass snaps longest college football losing streak with rout of Rutgers
It's the kind of loss that immediately puts a coach on the hot seat, and Rutgers will now have to reconcile what this means for the nation's oldest program. While the team has hardly been even middle-of-the-road in the college landscape since Schiano's first stint in 2001-2011, losing a buy game to a team that hadn't won a game since 2024 is program-shakingly bad.
The loss to UMass is arguably as bad or worse as losing to some FCS programs. Since joining the FBS in 2012, the Minutemen have been brutally bad, amassing a 26-134 record with six seasons with 11 losses or more.

#rutgers #umass #loss #Football

Dr. Frank Domino was one of the more than 800 volunteers at the FM Championship, the LPGA Tour stop at TPC Boston last weekend.
He didn't instruct fans where to park or urge them to keep quiet while a golfer was about to take a shot. No, he offered his services to the golfers as a doctor.
Dr. Domino, a Northborough resident, is an attending physician and a professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the UMass Chan Medical School.
Last year, he emailed FM Championship tournament director Patrick Healy to ask if the tournament needed volunteers and Healy told him his services as a doctor would come in handy for the players.
So for the past two FM Championships, he has volunteered as the on-site, on-call tournament physician for the players and their families.

#tournament #domino #championship #last

Who on Earth would possibly want one of the worst FBS jobs in college football?
Well, that would be Joe Harasymiak. If you asked him, he would say he's probably an idiot.
"That's ultimately probably a fault of mine," he told USA TODAY Sports. "I look at some things and want the challenge."
Ask, and you shall receive. The 40-year-old coach has one of, if not the, greatest challenge in college football: UMass coach. It has been at the basement for more than a decade, and in 2025, it reached its nadir: a winless 0-12 season.
College football season predictions: Picks for CFP, Heisman, biggest surprises

#season #well

Cale Makar and the Colorado Avalanche have agreed to a eight-year, $163.2 million extension, his agency announced Friday. The deal will be worth $20.4 million in annual average value; Makar becomes the first player in the NHL to sign a deal exceeding $20 million in annual salary, via insider Frank Seravalli.
Makar is entering the final year of a six-year, $54 million extension he signed in July 2021. He was set to become an unrestricted free agent next summer.
Getting a deal done now allows Makar and the Avalanche to ensure the contract is for eight years. Once the NHL's new CBA goes into effect on Sept. 15, maximum contract lengths cannot exceed seven years.
The Avalanche confirmed the deal with a video of Makar, in which he said he "couldn't be more excited" to stay in Colorado for the long-term future.
Makar, 27, is entering his eighth NHL season, all with Colorado. Since breaking into the league during the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the UMass product has won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year, been named to the NHL First All-Star Team four times, won two Norris Trophies as the NHL's best defenseman, and helped the Avalanche to the 2021-22 Stanley Cup ******* le, where he was also named postseason MVP.

#stanley

Announced by the program Monday, former Alabama Crimson Tide transfer Dylan Lonergan has been named as the starting quarterback for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.
Lonergan, who transferred to Rutgers this past offseason following a season at Boston College, beat out AJ Surace to win the job.
The former Alabama quarterback was originally a member of the Crimson Tide's 2023 recruiting class, and went on to play two seasons in Tuscaloosa as a backup. Lonergan saw action in only three games from 2023-24, completing 7-of-8 passes for 35 yards, along with rushing for 21 yards on two attempts.
Following the 2024 campaign, Lonergan entered the NCAA transfer portal where he eventually committed to Boston College. Lonergan ended up enjoying a breakout season a year ago at Boston College, completing 66.9% of passes for 2,025 yards and a 12:5 TD:INT ratio across 10 games prior to entering the transfer portal at seasons end for the second time.
Rutgers' 2026 season is set to begin Thursday, Sept. 3, at home against UMass. The Scarlet Knights will also travel to Boston College in Week 2.

#rutgers #crimson

Every college football fan knows there are levels to the sport. There are Ohio State, Indiana, Georgia, Notre Dame and Texas, but you also have Oregon State, Bowling Green and UMass.
Simply put, there are tiers to the college football world, and every year teams shift up or down multiple levels. ESPN slotted all 138 Football Bowl Subdivision teams into 20 tiers ranging from "The safest bets" to "Technically still FBS programs."
ESPN's David Hale places the 2026 Colorado Buffaloes in Tier 15 ******* led "If Indiana can do it...," which is a fascinating placement for Deion Sanders' team, but one that fits the ceiling of the current team.
Hale notes that this tier is also known as the bottom class of the Power Four. He wrote that CU went from a plus-9.5 points-per-game margin vs. Power Four opposition in 2024 to a minus-15.6 margin last year, which was the biggest year-over-year decline. The Buffs also need to develop a running game, which, since Sanders took over, has averaged a meager 3.88 yards per designed run, the worst mark in the Power Four.
Fixing the running game and being more competitive against Power Four opponents likely puts the Buffaloes back on the right track. Two things that are easier said than done.

#game #hale #sanders

A star has been born in Chicago, and it's an undrafted rookie who was just a few years ago getting DNPs at UMass Amherst.
That star?
It's Sydney Taylor, the 25-year-old Chicago Sky guard who is amid a ridiculous offensive explosion that reached its pinnacle on Saturday afternoon.
Taylor is averaging 14.7 points and 1.6 ******* ists per game, while shooting 45.5% from the field and 34.8% from three. She's the second-leading scorer among rookies, and the bright spot for a Sky season that has come with its fair share of disappointments, headlined by an early-season Rickea Jackson ACL tear.
On Saturday, Taylor recorded her brightest moment as a pro, hitting a game-winning three-pointer over the Las Vegas Aces in a 29-point performance. That marked her fifth 25-point game of the season, and her latest offensive masterclass in her first pro season.

#taylor #Chicago #saturday #dnps

Rutgers fans have gotten accustomed to waiting until game week to learn who the starting quarterback will be.
Will that be the case once again? Maybe not.
Head coach Greg Schiano joined the Big Ten Network crew on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the upcoming season. He was asked about when the right time is to name a starting quarterback.
"You wish after that first scrimmage," Schiano said. "I think our first scrimmage is practice 12. But if it's not time yet, it's not time yet but it better be the week after. I don't want to go much more than that because right soon after that, you're getting into your first game prep for UMass."
This has become an annual tradition for Schiano and Rutgers. The exception came two years ago following the arrival of Athan Kaliakmanis. He was quickly named the starter, which gave Gavin Wimsatt the right amount of time to be able to transfer.

#game #week

When it comes to measuring a college football fan's dedication, ranging from attending every home and most away games, spending substantial amounts of money on merchandise, or, in today's NIL-driven landscape, donating money to a program's collective to help fund recruiting efforts and land top transfer portal additions, has become the effective form of support.
On Monday, Message Board Geniuses released its top-10 "Most loyal college football fanbases" with Nebraska coming in at No. 1, followed by Texas A&M at No. 2, which makes perfect sense given both programs' struggle to match their success in the 1990's, especially the Cornhuskers, who dominated with three national championships in 1994, 1995, and 1997 under legendary head coach Tom Osborne.
Texas A&M came close to competing for a national **** le multiple times under former coach R. C. Slocum, who finished his A&M coaching career 123-47-2, including three Southwest Conference **** les and one Big 12 Championship during the 1998 season. Since then, Texas A&M has undergone five coaching changes, and Mike Elko will enter his third season at the helm after leading the Aggies to the College Football Playoff last season.
Texas A&M alums gleefully greet one another with "Gig 'em" or "Howdy!" and will stand throughout every home game in Kyle Field, no matter the team's record. The best example of steadfast support for the Maroon & White came during the 2022 season, when the Aggies finished 5-7 and, despite home losses to Ole Miss and Florida, wins against UMass and LSU, at least 90,000 fans made their way to Kyle Field.
Last season, over 100,000-plus Aggies attended every home game, including 108,582 during Texas A&M's epic comeback win vs. South Carolina.

#college #Football #every #field

The state that played as important of a role as any in the formation of the United States — the home of the Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere's midnight ride, the Boston Massacre and the Battles of Lexington and Concord, to name a few major events — has also produced its share of exemplary college athletes.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a bastion of American higher education, with roughly 100 colleges dotted across 7,800 square miles of landmass. And at a number of those schools, there are proud programs with a lengthy history of producing accomplished athletes.
Boston College has produced a Heisman Trophy winner, and future NFL and NHL stars. UMass and Holy Cross have both enjoyed runs as national powerhouses in men's basketball. There are few, if any, places in the country where you'll find better men's and women's college hockey, whether it's the Beanpot quartet of BC, Boston University, Northeastern and Harvard or elsewhere in the commonwealth at places like UMass, UMass Lowell or Merrimack.
Who are the best athletes those schools have produced?
In honor of the 250th anniversary of the birth of the United States, USA TODAY Sports is ranking the top 10 college athletes from each state. The athlete doesn't have to be from the state, but is required to have attended college there to be considered. These rankings are based purely on what an athlete did at the college level, not once they left campus. Tough cuts had to be made, especially somewhere like the Bay State, with so many colleges and universities to consider.

#athletes #umass #produced #states

The Rutgers football 2026 season is set to kick off in just under 2 months, meaning that it is time to start looking at the opponents the Scarlet Knights have on the schedule.
First up on the slate is the UMass Minutemen, who Rutgers will be taking on Thursday, June 3 at 6 p.m. UMass is led by second-year head coach and former Rutgers defensive coordinator Joe Harasymiak. The Minutemen did not win a single game during Harasymiak's first year with the team, even falling to 3-9 FCS Bryant by one point.
The Minutemen's starting quarterback for most of last season was AJ Hairston, although he did miss a few games at the end of the season with an injury. Last year as a freshman, he totaled 957 passing yards, four touchdowns, and four sacks while completing 49.5% of his passes. However, after just one season with the program, Hairston opted to transfer to Merrimack. His backup, Grant Jordan, decided to transfer elsewhere as well. That leaves junior quarterback Brandon Rose as the only UMass quarterback to get playing time with the team last year.
Rose started two games last year and ended the season with 424 passing yards and one touchdown against three interceptions. He also posted a 59.1 percent completion percentage. UMass also added Virginia Tech transfer Pop Watson III in the portal. He has a total of 558 passing yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 interceptions over three seasons with the Hokies.
UMass' leading rusher, Brandon Hood, transferred out after last season, leaving Rocko Griffin as their best returning running back. Griffin recorded 53 carries for 246 yards and 2 touchdowns last season while averaging 4.6 yards per carry. UMass also brought in former Marshal running back Justin Williams-Thomas, who carried the ball 35 times for 197 yards and two touchdowns while averaging 5.6 yards per carry for the Thundering Herd last season.