Inside The Huskies

Huskies Host Rutgers on Friday Night Next Week

Those teams played on Friday evening a year ago in New Jersey.
Dan Raley|
Huskies running back Jonah Coleman (1) gets tackled by Rutgers defensive back Robert Longerbeam in their 2024 game.
Huskies running back Jonah Coleman (1) gets tackled by Rutgers defensive back Robert Longerbeam in their 2024 game. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Once it faces Maryland on Saturday afternoon on the East Coast, the University of Washington football team will return home and turn its attention to a Friday night game against Rutgers in what should be chilly evening for all involved at Husky Stadium.

Kickoff for that Big Ten contest will be 6 p.m. PT and FS1 will televise it.

The UW (3-1 overall, 0-1 Big Ten) and Rutgers (3-2, 0-2) played on a Friday night last season in Piscataway, New Jersey, with the Scarlet Knights emerging with a 21-18 victory played in the rain.

The game proved to be extra costly to Jedd Fisch's team, with standout junior defensive tackle Jayvon Parker having a stellar performance before suffering a season-ending Achilles tendon tear.

Twelve months later, the 6-foot-3, 330-pound Parker still hasn't played for the Huskies and remains in recovery.

UW edge rusher Zach Durfee started that Rutgers game, but similarly wasn't able to finish as double turf toe injuries sent him to the sideline and prematurely ended his season.

Whether it's Rutgers last year or Maryland this weekend, the Huskies find themselves on their longest road trip of the season. Maryland is 2,719 miles from Seattle compared to 2,798 to Rutgers, a long plane ride.

The degree of difficulty is higher next week because the UW comes off this cross country trek and has just six days to get ready for Rutgers, which is enjoying a bye week to prepare for a trip to Montlake.

Last year, the Huskies outgained Rutgers 521-299 in total offense yardage, with running back Jonah Coleman rushing for 148 yards and since departed quarterback Will Rogers throwing for 306 more, but they never led throughout the contest.

That game featured one of the more unusual plays of the season when the UW blocked a first-half field goal only to have the play negated when reserve safety Vince Holmes ran onto the field to celebrate before it was over and the Huskies paid dearly for his actions. Given a reprieve, the Scarlet Knights scored a touchdown.

The Huskies typically play one Friday night game each season for television purposes.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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