Rutgers Loses to Winless UMass Minutemen by Seven Points

College football is back with a roar this week, and someone clearly forgot to warn the folks in Piscataway, New Jersey about what was coming. The Rutgers Scarlet Knights started their 2026 season as massive underdogs in some books, sitting at 29.5 points over UMass. That spread looked wild because the Minutemen hadn't won a single game last year and had not posted a W since October 26, 2024.

Thursday night proved that Greg Schiano and his team learned a hard lesson about just how dangerous the Minutemen could be. UMass scored thirty straight points on Rutgers defense before the Scarlet Knights managed to get back inside their own end zone. Quarterback Dylan Lonergan finally found wide receiver KJ Duff for the game-winning touchdown, but there were only seven minutes left on the clock when it happened. The final score was 37-21 in favor of UMass.

This was no ordinary defeat for Rutgers. Since Schiano took over as head coach before the 2020 season, the Scarlet Knights had built a reputation against teams outside the Big Ten Conference. They defeated Ohio, Miami (Ohio), and Norfolk State during 2025. In 2024, they beat Howard, Akron, and Virginia Tech to start the year. Even in 2023, they took down Temple, Virginia Tech, and Howard. Rutgers had not lost to a non-conference opponent outside of a bowl game since falling to Boston College back in 2019.

Schiano has successfully revived energy around the program since his return in 2020. The team kept Jim Harbaugh's Michigan squad on the ropes in November 2020. They beat Miami (FL) inside Yankee Stadium for the 2023 Pinstripe Bowl and knocked off Washington at home in 2024.

But as fireworks lit up Middlesex County on Thursday night, it seemed like all that momentum gathered over several good seasons came to a sudden halt. No matter how much UMass rebuilt their roster recently, there is simply no excuse for New Jersey's top FBS school to lose to a team that went winless for all of 2025. This stands as the worst loss of Schiano's second stint leading Rutgers. The days of A-list celebrities like James Gandolfini appearing at SHI Stadium are long gone. Now, it is time for Rutgers to fix their problems. Next week, they travel to face Boston College.

A single victory can wash away a lot of negative energy. It has to start there before declaring the entire 2026 season lost.