The pretending can stop now. The last vestige of hope that Rutgers would show “significant improvement” in Chris Ash’s fourth season evaporated with a 30-16 loss to a bad Boston College team. This was Ash’s Waterloo, and the result almost certainly means the 150th season of college football will be another ugly autumn in Piscataway.

It no longer feels like a matter of if Chris Ash will get fired, but when. This was the game that his Rutgers team had to win -- at home, after a bye, against a BC team that got undressed last week by Kansas. Now the Scarlet Knights are 1-2 going on 2-10 or 3-9.

The shame of it? This game was right there for the taking. Incredibly, Rutgers was the better team for most of the afternoon at SHI Stadium. Artur Sitkowski, the quarterback who struggled mightily through his freshman season, had the game of his life. If you looked at the two teams, you might have even given Rutgers a slight edge in talent.

And still: It’s another loss, the 15th in a row against Power Five teams, and it had so many of the usual issues for Ash and his team. There was the awful start. There were the three punts from opposing territory. There was the defense getting gashed by BC’s power running game. There penalties, so many stupid penalties, sabotaging any hope of a second-have comeback.

And then, as time ran out in the fourth quarter, there was a frustrated fan base streaming to the exits.

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Oh, there are still winnable games left on that schedule. But who can imagine the Scarlet Knights winning enough of them to make a difference? Not anyone who has paid attention for the last three and a half years. This feel like an inevitable march toward a necessary leadership change.

“At the end of the day we didn’t play well enough to win a game,” Ash said. “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.”

Here is the silver lining: Patrick Hobbs must know what he has to do now. The athletic director has two months to figure out how his always cash-starved athletic department is going to pay the $7.5 million on Ash’s contract. He has time to plan when and how to cut ties with the coach he hired just five days onto the job in 2015 and get support from the necessary power brokers.

The latter will not be difficult. Never in 20 years around Rutgers have I encountered more resignation and exasperation. Three dedicated alums -- the kind of people who normally would sooner tattoo the Seton Hall mascot on their arm than root against their alma mater -- told me that they arrived on Saturday hoping their team would lose.

The crowd, maybe 18,000 fans on a perfect September afternoon, told the story. People had given up on Ash and this team before this loss to Boston College. No coach in Rutgers history has done less with more, and the time has come for Rutgers to make a change in leadership. Ash has to go.

The loss, at least, will stop everyone from pretending otherwise.

Here are five observations from another home loss:

1. THE SURRENDER PUNT HALL OF FAME

It should have been a surprise, given Ash’s addiction to punting from opposing territory. But this was the surrender punt to end all surrender punts.

Rutgers was at the Boston College 40, down 11 points, facing a fourth and 10. Granted, that’s a long way to go, but this was late in the third quarter and the offense was having its best game against a Power Five opponent in years. The defense was starting to show signs of wear and tear. How many more better chances was Rutgers going to get?

Ash still sent punter Adam Korsak onto the field, and appropriately, the boos that rained down from the seats. The fans wanted to see fight from the home team, and it did -- from the players. The head coach was a different story.

2. ARTUR SITKOWSKI IS THE GUY

This was especially dispiriting: At one point Rutgers quarterback Artur Sitkowski was 17-of-20 passing for 243 yards with a touchdown and zero interceptions ... and the Scarlet Knights still trailed 24-13. They got all they could have expected and then some from the sophomore starter, thrust back into the job after senior McLane Carter’s concussion, and still couldn’t capitalize.

The severity of Carter’s injury is unclear, but the choice at QB is not. Sitkowski did more than enough to earn the start next week in Ann Arbor. His accuracy was much improved -- and far better than BC counterpart Anthony Brown -- and he showed poise in the pocket. It’s unlikely he’ll have this much time to operate against a Big Ten defense, but he looked like a Division 1 quarterback.

3. ABOUT THE PLAY CALLING ...

I understand the concern about asking Sitkowski to do too much. He lost the starting job out of training camp and, as a freshman last season, threw 18 interceptions. Still, based on how comfortable Sitkowski looked in the pocket and BC’s inability to cover anyone downfield, it’s hard to understand John McNulty’s play-calling late in the first half.

Rutgers, moving to the BC 14, had a chance to take a lead into intermission with a touchdown. Sitkowski took a loss on what appeared to be a designed run, then threw twice underneath to Blackshear. Granted, Rutgers saw what Blackshear can do with the ball in his hands in the first quarter, but why not take a shot at the end zone there? It felt like the Scarlet Knights were settling for a field goal when they finally had an opponent on the ropes.

4. ANOTHER SHAKY START

It is possible to overvalue the importance of a bye week, but for the Scarlet Knights, it certainly seemed as if it was timed perfectly. After getting blown out at Iowa and with its starting quarterback knocked out of the game, Rutgers needed an extra week. And with that extra preparation time, this team gained ... what, exactly?

Ash’s defense certainly wasn’t prepared for what everyone knew Boston College would do. The Eagles handed the ball to running back A.J. Dillon on four of the first five plays, gaining an average of seven yards on those. Then, after a 9-yard pass, backup running back David Bailey broke free up the middle for a 42-yard touchdown run. He ran untouched.

On the first offensive series, Rutgers lost yards on a run before a false start. Then Sitkowski’s third-down pass hit the hands of a BC defender when running back Isaih Pacheco was open for a big gain. To top it off? A 15-yard penalty for hitting the BC punt returner on a fair catch. Rutgers had five penalties in the first 12 minutes.

5. WHERE IS EVERYBODY? OH, RIGHT ...

Some off-the-field thoughts from the scene around the game:

a. Perfect weather. A beatable opponent that used to be a hated rival. Rutgers fans had plenty of reasons to make the trip to SHI Stadium, but with just 30,000 tickets distributed for the game, the actual attendance appeared to be in the 18,000 range. Even the student section was less than half full.

b. Much was made about how important this game is for recruiting, and without question, it matters. But, as always, it is never wise to overreact. For fans obsessed with recruiting rankings, here are the final Rivals rankings for Rutgers and Boston College over the last five years:

2019: Rutgers 50, Boston College 58.

2018: Rutgers 58, Boston College 71.

2017: Rutgers 43, Boston College 66.

2016: Rutgers 78, Boston College 83.

2015: Rutgers 53, Boston College 46.

One team went 1-11 last season and the other went to a bowl (and, yes, the 1-11 team had a far more difficult schedule). The conclusion? Identifying the right players and developing them makes all the difference.

c. The little things matter, Example No. 763: Steve Pikiell doesn’t jump come to all the home football games. He is in the parking lot, working the tailgates where the most influential fans and donors hang out, shaking hands and making small talk.

d. “You could have run through that hole.” -- Rutgers color analyst to radio voice Chris Carlin after David Bailey ran 42 yards for the first-quarter BC touchdown.

e. This was something I hadn’t seen before.

Rutgers center Mike Maietti was so fired up about that touchdown, he legit punched QB Art Sitkowski in the face: pic.twitter.com/ySC9HaAKss — Brian Fonseca (@briannnnf) September 21, 2019

f. The gospel singers at halftime were a nice touch.

g. The referee’s mike caught Ash using some naughty words when he was forced to burn a penalty 1:52 into the second half on a third and 18. Isn’t the delay-of-game penalty a better outcome in that situation, though?

h. That score out of Madison is not exactly the development that Rutgers needed as it heads to Ann Arbor next weekend. Wisconsin beat the Wolverines, 35-14. You think Jim Harbaugh will have their attention next week?

i. Korsak 2020

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