He brought the energy of a man who had just run a marathon to his postgame press conference. Chris Ash looked beyond drained, like he knows he is a dead coach walking at Rutgers, and he was unable to hide it in the aftermath of this 30-16 loss to Boston College.

“At the end of the day we didn’t play well enough to win a game,” Ash said during his opening remarks. “That’s my fault. It is all on me. I have to do a better job of getting the team ready. They did a better job than I did.”

What followed was an awkward Q&A where the answers were often shorter than the question. Soon after it ended, one influential Rutgers booster who was watching texted me this: “I feel sorry for the guy.” And, if fans are capable of putting their anger and frustration aside after his 15th straight loss to a Power Five team, that’s an easy conclusion to reach.

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It’s also why, for the first time, I am starting to wonder if Ash will survive the season. Firing a coach in midseason would be a very un-Rutgers-like thing to do, and in many ways, it would send the wrong message about Rutgers as an institution. This is a university, after all, not the Oakland Raiders, and athletic director Patrick Hobbs has steadfastly refused to evaluate his head coaches before they have played their last game in the past.

But does Rutgers really want to suffer through nine more weeks of ... this?

The small crowds. The constant booing. The uncomfortable questions from the media. If this is a forgone conclusion -- and it certainly feels that way -- is Hobbs showing mercy if he makes the move before the season completely spirals out of control? And can he build enough support from the Rutgers community to make it happen?

“What must be done eventually must be done immediately,” is what former Florida AD Jeremy Foley famously said after firing Ron Zook midway into the 2004 season. That possibility, as distasteful as it is, is on the table now.

Rutgers travels to Michigan next week, where the Wolverines will be looking to make a statement following an embarrassing 35-14 loss at Wisconsin. Then, it’s home against Maryland before a trip to Indiana. If the Scarlet Knights are 1-5 at that point, with a Homecoming game against Minnesota next on the schedule, there’s no reason to wait.

Ash can change this narrative with a win. Maybe quarterback Artur Sitkowski’s 304-yard performance against Boston College is a starting point, because for the first time in a long time Rutgers got enough from its passing attack to actually beat a real opponent. Maryland and Indiana are hardly invincible. A win would solve a lot of problems.

But there was a sense of inevitability in Piscataway. The fans I encountered in the parking lots were expecting the worst as they grilled their burgers. The conversation already has turned to the future -- who’s next and when? -- and the performance against Boston College did nothing to change that.

Rutgers could/should have won this game. With the exception of brilliant running back A.J. Dillon (32 carries, 150 yards, two touchdowns), Boston College did nothing exceptionally well. But the Eagles were tougher up front on both lines, more opportunistic, and most damning, just better coached all around.

Ash didn’t have any answers when it ended. Not the 11 penalties that cost the Scarlet Knights 100 yards, including a couple of drive killers in the second half. Not the decision to punt on BC’s 40-yard line with Rutgers down 11 last in third quarter. Not the conservative-to-a-fault play calling at the end of the first half when the team could have scored a touchdown.

And not about his own future.

“No. I’m worried about our football team,” Ash said when asked if he is concerned about his own job security. It is a difficult question for any coach to get, but a perfectly valid one even with a week and a half still left in September.

The numbers are staggering. Ash has an 8-32 record, with 14 games in which his team didn’t pass for 100 yards, with nearly a third of its losses by 30 or more points. The average score during the 15-game losing streak to Power Five teams is roughly 34-10. That’s unacceptable, to say the least.

Ash is owed $7.5 million on his contract, so he’ll walk away with financial security no matter what happens. The man who arrived in 2015 from the Ohio State football factory with so much confidence looked like the three years in Piscataway have aged him 13. And maybe they have.

“We’ll keep working,” Ash said. “I’m going to keep working. I love our guys, trying to give everything I can to be the best coach I can be to put them in the best position to be successful. That’s it.”

He looked resigned to his fate, and to be fair, so did everyone else in the room. If that’s the case, Hobbs the people in charge at Rutgers have an uncomfortable question to ask: Why wait?

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Steve Politi may be reached at spoliti@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevePoliti. Find NJ.com on Facebook.