Rutgers vs. Boston College odds, picks, predictions: Betting preview, start time for Week 2 college football

Two East Coast foes looking to bounce back from ugly Week 1 performances meet in Boston Friday night with the Boston College Eagles hosting the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at 7:30 p.m. ET. The Eagles lost 34-15 at Cincinnati while Rutgers had maybe the worst loss of any team in Week 1, losing at home to UMass 37-21. UMass didn’t win a single game in 2025 and hadn’t won in nearly 700 days. This is an important year for both teams, as Greg Schiano is in his 18th total season at Rutgers and his seventh in this second stint as head coach, while Bill O’Brien is in Year 3 at Boston College and won just two games last season. Bet on Rutgers vs. Boston College and more Week 2 college football at DraftKings and get $200 in bonus bets when you spend $5+:

If you’re looking to wager on this Rutgers at Boston College matchup in Week 2, you should first see what the SportsLine Projection Model has to say. The model simulates every FBS game 10,000 times and is on a 33-20 run on top-rated CFB money-line picks on betting sites since the 2024 season. It has been upgraded for the 2026 season to even better factor in the transfer portal. Anybody following its picks on college football betting sites could have seen strong returns.

Football Rutgers vs. Boston College betting odds (via DraftKings)

Football Rutgers vs. Boston College betting preview

There’s nowhere to go but up, right? These teams really struggled in Week 1, with Boston College getting outgunned by a more talented Cincinnati team while Rutgers’ loss to UMass was one of the worst of the entire weekend. 

The Scarlet Knights have up 37 points and nearly 400 yards to a UMass team that hadn’t won a game since Oct. 26 2024. The biggest issue was on the ground, where Rutgers gave up 200 rushing yards. The Scarlet Knights also had four turnovers on offense, with quarterback Dylan Lonergan tossing three interceptions. AJ Surace came in and threw a touchdown last week, and he’ll start for Rutgers against Boston College on Friday. 

As for the Eagles, nothing seemed to go right last year in a 2-10 campaign. The same was true over the weekend against Cincinnati. The Bearcats basically had that game handed to them as the Eagles actually outgained them 388-339, but Cincinnati rushed for a whopping 254 yards, and Boston College had two turnovers on offense while not registering a takeaway on defense. BC also went 1-for-4 on fourth down. Quarterback Mason McKenzie had 223 passing yards and a team-leading 78 rushing yards. 

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Football Rutgers vs. Boston College picks, prediction

Rutgers-Boston College Over 53.5 points

These defenses were among the worst in the nation last year, and it doesn’t appear much has changed on that front this season. BC allowed the 14th-most points per game at 32.8 in 2025 and Rutgers was close behind, allowing 31.8 per contest. 

There’s some intriguing talent on offense on both sides, with McKenzie showing his dual-threat nature for the Eagles in a losing effort last week. Surace played well in relief of Lonergan for Rutgers last week, tossing a score and completing six of his nine passes. Boston College was able to run the ball against Cincy last week, while Rutgers had no rushing attack against UMass. Facing a team that just gave up more than 250 yards on the ground in Week 1, the Scarlet Knights should be able to get the run game going here.

Given the state of each side’s defense, we’ll target an Over/Under bet in what could be a high-scoring affair. Over 53.5 hits in more than 60% of the SportsLine Projection Model’s simulations.