The Prediction – Washington vs. Rutgers

The University of Washington travels to Piscataway, New Jersey to take on Rutgers University in prime time on Friday night. The Scarlet Knights have a 2.5 point advantage. Who will win the spoils in this epic tournament?

Max Vrooman

This should be a much more competitive game than the last time Washington played at Rutgers in 2017. New Rutgers quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis (transfer to Minnesota) is off to the best start of his career, averaging 9 YPA and only 1 INT so far. He loves throwing deep and had long-range goals against the lackluster opening schedule. This is partly because the running game is so important to opponents. RB Kyle Monangai is a beast, averaging a 6.3 YPC after rushing for nearly 1,300 yards last season. He's a real bell cow and already has 16 more carries than Jonah Coleman, even though Rutgers has only played 3 games. Rutgers' offensive line has been completely dominant so far, clearing holes for him, and UW's D-line faces its toughest test yet.

The good news for Washington is that Rutgers is much weaker on the other side of the trenches. The Scarlet Knights have just 2 sacks in 3 games from their top four rotation players (compared to 9 in 4 games for UW). Linebacker Dariel Djabome has been a breakout player with 25 tackles so far, replacing star Mo Toure, who is injured and out this year. The secondary is fine, but the advantage is clearly Washington's.

And chances are you can throw all of the above analysis out the window. Washington travels across the country in a short week. There is essentially no current precedent for how the Huskies would react if they crossed three time zones with one less day of rest. Considering how sloppy they were without leaving the city of Seattle, I'm not optimistic they'll do any better in this context. From the day the schedule came out it clearly looked like a possible loss of the schedule and the results so far have not dissuaded me from that notion.

Washington 20 – Rutgers 27

Photo by Lee Coleman/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Mark Schäfer

It's now week five and this is the first Big Ten away game the Huskies will ever play as they travel all the way to the other side of the country to take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Furthermore, they will do this on a Friday evening. You may be right to be a little scared, as all factors point to a significant disadvantage for our Dawgs. But I'm still confident they'll make it to the end of the game. By how much I'm not sure.

These are two teams that rely on what works. The Scarlet Knights have a strong physical defender in Kyle Monangai, who they will rely on early and often, and quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis, who will make deep throws when set up by said running game.

The Dawgs will rely on Will Rogers to make good decisions, Jonah Coleman to run downhill and gain yards, and Denzel Boston and Giles Jackson in the passing game. Offensively, the key is getting the ball to Jonah to make explosive plays, whether in the running or passing game, as Rutgers is weaker in defense against the run. If we can pressure Kaliakmanis, we'll be successful on defense, but that's a tall order considering Rutgers' perimeter scored very well in Pro Football Focus. Overall, it will be a close game and all factors point to a Rutgers win, but I just can't decide against the Dawgs!

Washington 28 – Rutgers 24

Andreas Berg

Let's start with the case against the Huskies in Friday night's primetime game on Fox. First, the Dawgs have to travel 3,000 miles across three time zones to play an away game on a weekday (okay, that's three arguments against the Huskies). Rutgers will lean on a strong running back in Kyle Monangai offensively, and the Huskies have not shown the ability to dominate the line of scrimmage defensively in a way that could put Rutgers behind the uprights. Athan Kaliakmanis has his faults as a QB, but Rutgers used the running game to get the defense closer to the line of scrimmage and the Greek Rifle successfully outran it with 9.0 yards per attempt. Defensively, Rutgers is best beaten on the ground, and the Dawgs didn't commit to the run game throughout the game, perhaps due to a lack of confidence in the offensive line. Overall, Rutgers is a very physical team at a level the Huskies have not yet reached.

There are also very good arguments in favor of UW. Rutgers doesn't have a particularly explosive offense, and the only way the Husky defense has been able to score points so far this year is by committing enough penalties to prolong opponents' offense. While Will Rogers may not always look particularly good, he has put up solid stats and is forming impressive connections with both Denzel Boston and Giles Jackson. Rutgers has a pretty good defense, but it's not so elite that it has to completely throw Rogers out of rhythm.

On a neutral field with equal rest and running performance, I would call the Huskies the winner. With many other factors working against UW, I worry that this difficult stretch of games will get off to an undesirable start.

Rutgers 27-UW 23

ATS picks; UW 1, Rutgers 2

SU selection: UW 1, Rutgers 2

Average score: Rutgers 26-Washington 24