The Washington Huskies won a closer than expected game in their season opener against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights by a score of 30-16.
Washington struggled to pull away from Rutgers in the first half. Scarlet Knights head coach Chris Ash was prepared for this game. For the second night in a row, a lower tier Big 10 team competed with a team that made the College Football Playoff last year. Ohio State had trouble with the Indiana Hoosiers before pulling away in the second half.
Quarterback Jake Browning did not look the same as he did last year. The loss of former star wide receiver John Ross could have affected his ability to spread the ball to his skill position players. Rutgers’ defense also played a very admirable game against a strong passing attack.
The Washington backfield got stronger as the game went along. Myles Gaskin and Lavon Coleman are two of the best options on the Husky offense. They were mostly held in check in the first half although Gaskin found some running room in the second half. He started to look more like himself in both the passing and running game.
Rutgers does look like a different team after they won just two games a year ago. Washington defeated the Scarlet Knights 48-13 in the 2016 season opener. This was a much more competitive game that favored Rutgers for quite a while. All the transfers that Ash brought into the program paid off in a big way.