{"id":81012,"date":"2025-10-09T14:00:20","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T18:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=81012"},"modified":"2025-10-09T12:22:50","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T16:22:50","slug":"pre-snap-preview-washington-v-rutgers-prediction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/10\/09\/pre-snap-preview-washington-v-rutgers-prediction\/","title":{"rendered":"Pre-Snap Preview: Washington v Rutgers, Prediction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington will suit up in its blackout uniforms for a Friday night homecoming matchup against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Greg Schiano\u2019s program will enter Husky Stadium off a bye week. And it\u2019s the third-straight opponent to face Washington coming off a bye. Ohio State and Maryland each had off weeks prior to taking the field against the Huskies. This one will feature two of college football\u2019s most sustainable offenses, both with success rates that rank inside the top 17 nationally.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Friday Night Lights – Washington Rutgers<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Fast Start Scarlet Knights<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cThe quarterback knows exactly where to go with the ball,\u201d Washington defensive coordinator Ryan Walters said this week. \u201cThey operate at a high level. They\u2019re very efficient in what they do.\u201d Athan Kaliakmanis<\/a> is a second-year starting quarterback for Rutgers, but he\u2019s in his fourth year of offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca\u2019s system, having played for Ciarrocca at Minnesota. Kaliakmanis is responsible for 81 first downs this year, whether it be through the air or on the ground. That leads the Big Ten and is tied for fifth-most in the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kaliakmanis has been particularly efficient in early game situations. Against Iowa, he began the game 12 of 14 passing in the first quarter, leading his offense to 14 points. The next week against Minnesota, Kaliakmanis started nine of nine into the early part of the second quarter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With Kaliakmanis under center, Rutgers has scored 123 first-half points this season. It\u2019s averaging 24.5 points going into halftime in its first five games. This is an offense that has been getting off to fast starts in its games. It scored 14 first-quarter points against Iowa\u2019s defense in week four and put 21 points on Minnesota in the first half two weeks ago. Those are each top-20 defenses nationally, and Rutgers\u2019 offense tallied 400 and 387 yards of offense in each game, respectively. The Scarlet Knight offense ranks sixth nationally in available yards percentage (67%). They\u2019ve put together eight scoring drives in two Big Ten games this season. Every scoring drive in those two games spanned at least 62 yards. Four of them went for 75 yards.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Familiar Receiver Threats<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Rutgers offense distributes the football evenly between its top three wide receivers. Ian Strong<\/a> and KJ Duff<\/a> have 29 and 30 receptions, respectively. And they\u2019ve helped build an elevated downfield passing game for Rutgers this season. Strong and Duff each have 21 receptions for 10-plus yards this season, which is tied for second-most in the Big Ten. Kaliakmanis trusts his tall receivers to win 50\/50 ball matchups as well. At 6\u2019-3\u201d, Strong has pulled down 11 contested catches on 14 contested catch opportunities. The 6\u2019-6\u201d Duff has eight contested grabs on 15 opportunities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the slot, North Texas transfer DT Sheffield<\/a> has been a valuable addition to the Scarlet Knight offense. Sheffield has track speed, and the offense uses it to their advantage. He leads the team in receiving yards on passes of more than 20 air yards with 174.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve got a really good receiving corps, they’re throwing the ball very well this year,\u201d Jedd Fisch said on Monday. \u201cYou can see that they\u2019re focusing in on really being able to work it to their receivers and give them those jump balls, finding one-on-one matchups.\u201d And those one-on-one matchups are going to be crucial on Friday night. The status of Tacario Davis<\/a> remains in question for the fourth-straight game. The Washington cornerback left the UC Davis game with what we now know is a rib injury, and he has not returned to game action since. A healthy pair of 6\u2019-4\u201d cornerbacks would benefit the Huskies against the length of Rutgers receivers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bryant\u2019s Bounce Back<\/strong><\/h3>\n

But Walters had praise for Leroy Bryant<\/a> after the Maryland game, who bounced back with a solid performance at nickel on the road with 45 snaps. \u201cI thought he played well, man. He made a huge play when we were in cover three, and they ran a wheel route from the number one receiver. And that\u2019s hard to see when you\u2019re the curl-flat dropper\u2026 For him to peek out there and play the technique the right way\u2026 was a huge play in that game.\u201d Bryant allowed just three catches in coverage on six targets for 16 receiving yards. Bryant had allowed 15 catches on 18 targets in the prior two weeks against Ohio State and Washington State for 178 yards and two touchdowns.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

RPO & Power Success<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Rutgers runs a lot of its offense out of the RPO. As such it will be important for the Husky defense to set a disciplined edge and not overanticipate when in coverage. Running back Antwan Raymond<\/a> runs with a similar style to Jonah Coleman<\/a>, and the two have nearly identical numbers on the year. Raymond has 471 yards on 87 carries with nine scores. Compared to Coleman\u2019s 474 yards on 82 carries with 10 scores. \u201cTheir running backs run hard,\u201d Walters said this week. \u201cAnd the amount of YAC yards they get is incredible.\u201d Raymond is averaging 4.3 yards after contact per carry. For comparison, Coleman is averaging 3.9 yards after contact per carry.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kaliakmanis also presents a threat on the ground. He\u2019s scrambled 15 times this season – tied for sixth most in the conference – for 67 undesigned run yards. That\u2019s an average of almost 4.5 yards per scramble. The Rutgers offensive line returned all five of its starters from 2024 into this season. The continuity up front has been a big reason for their offensive success early in the year. \u201cThey communicate well and ID the fronts, and who the mike is in protection, seamlessly,\u201d Walters said. \u201cSo that\u2019s why they’re playing as well as they are on offense.\u201d Power success is measured as an offense\u2019s ability to run on short yardage situations (less than two yards) on third down and near the goal line. Rutgers has a power success rate of 82%. It\u2019s a powerful front, and the Husky defensive line will be tested with its physicality.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe gotta put a four-quarter performance together and play our best football to date if we want to take care of business at home,\u201d Walters added. \u201cWe gotta do a great job of being gap-sound and being physical up front, and we gotta wrap them up.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Washington\u2019s Advantage<\/strong><\/h3>\n

But on the other side of the ball, there\u2019s more of a discrepancy. Washington\u2019s offense ranks just ahead of the Scarlet Knights in available yards percentage at fifth nationally (67.1%). On Friday night, the Huskies will have an opportunity to showcase their offense for a full 60 minutes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Washington\u2019s last two games have been against two of the best defenses in the conference. Ohio State has allowed just five points per game in five games this year. The Buckeyes\u2019 success rate ranks 18th defensively, allowing just 35.1%. Maryland ranks 11th nationally in defensive success rate allowed at just 33.2%. Rutgers, however, ranks 127th in defensive success rate nationally, allowing successful plays on 46.2% of its defensive snaps.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rutgers is not particularly good in early down defense. Against Iowa, Rutgers allowed an average of 6.2 yards gained on first down. At Minnesota, Rutgers gave up 8.2 yards per first down play. In the fourth quarter against Maryland<\/a>, Washington averaged 8.9 yards gained per first-down play when its offense was in rhythm. A defense that allows this kind of early-down success will help the Huskies establish early rhythm and potentially outpace the Scarlet Knights\u2019 offensive efficiency.<\/span><\/p>\n

Prediction<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Washington – 38<\/span><\/p>\n

Rutgers – 27<\/span><\/p>\n

Main Image: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington will suit up in its blackout uniforms for a Friday night homecoming matchup against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Greg Schiano\u2019s program will enter Husky Stadium off a bye week. And it\u2019s the third-straight opponent to face Washington coming off a bye. Ohio State and Maryland each had off weeks prior to taking the field […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3944,"featured_media":80512,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,2,17,35611,35612],"tags":[1666],"class_list":["post-81012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bigten","category-featured","category-news","category-rutgers-scarlet-knights","category-washington-huskies","tag-jedd-fisch"],"modified_by":"Tony Siracusa, CFB Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3944"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81012"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81016,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81012\/revisions\/81016"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}