Thirty unanswered points at Rutgers
UMass trailed 7-0, then scored 30 points in a row. That stretch produced a 37-21 win at Rutgers overnight and ended the longest active losing streak in the FBS at 16 games.
Pop Watson III threw for 197 yards and three touchdowns in the season opener for both teams. Elijah Faulkner caught two of them, Joseph Griffin Jr. the other. The Minutemen led 24-7 at the break, their first halftime lead over a power conference opponent since they were ahead of Mississippi State in 2017.
Curtis Kimmons IV ran in from 17 yards late in the fourth quarter to make it 37-14 and settle the argument.
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Lonergan’s debut unravels
Dylan Lonergan moved the ball plenty in his first start for Rutgers and gave most of it back. The quarterback finished with 242 passing yards and two touchdowns against four interceptions and a lost fumble. Greg Schiano watched his offense surrender possession five times on a night his team was favored by nearly five touchdowns.
Oddsmakers had installed UMass as a 29.5-point underdog, according to BetMGM. The result now stands as the biggest upset in the FBS since Kansas beat Texas as a 31-point outsider in 2021.
Rutgers scored three touchdowns and still lost by 16, which tells you how little of the second half belonged to them. Every UMass drive after the interval seemed to end in points or a takeaway going the other way.
A first since 2012
The Minutemen had never beaten a Power Four opponent since joining the FBS in 2012. The wait for a win of any description ran 677 days.
Rutgers begin the year 0-1, carrying a quarterback question that did not exist on Thursday morning. UMass fly home with the sort of result that reframes a whole season before September is a week old.
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