After an impressive comeback win in College Park, the Washington Huskies look to build some momentum before a pair of upcoming ranked matchups.  The second half adjustments were important in overcoming the 20-0-hole UW found themselves in late in the 3rd quarter.

Rutgers proved to be a frustrating upset loss last season in New Jersey, but now the Scarlet Knights have to visit Seattle for a Friday night black out.

Here’s what Washington needs to do to get to 2-1 in Big 10 Conference play:

Let Jonah Eat: Last season Jonah Coleman had his Husky rushing best against Rutgers going for 148 yards on 9.3 yards per carry. Coleman has looked even better this year while the Rutgers defense has not.

So far in 2025 the Scarlet Knights have held one FBS opponent (Miami, Ohio) under 30 points. Washington will be by far the most dangerous offense they have faced, and Jonah Coleman the most productive player.

After a slow day against Maryland getting Coleman back to his usual production will be a key for the Huskies if they want to control this game end-to-end.  An often-overlooked aspect to Washington’s ground game is the blocking by the receivers.

Coleman’s presence on the ground opens things up vertically for Demond Williams and the passing attack, allowing more down field shots to the likes of Denzel Boston and more eyes following Coleman while Williams is free to work.

Three Down Defense: Last season, the game story was all about now Chicago Bear Kyle Monongai running all over the Huskies defense.

With Monongai now in the NFL the Scarlet Knights have leaned more into quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis and he has delivered. With 1,399 yards and 9 touchdowns already Kaliakmanis is the leader of this offense.

The defense did a good job in preventing big plays against Maryland, but the inability to get off the field on third down allowed for that 20-point deficit to be built.

While the secondary will need to be all hands on deck tonight, the pass rush has to step up, especially on later downs. Getting off the field will be crucial in slowing down a Rutgers team that has proven their ability to put points on the board.

Tacario Davis’s hopeful return tonight should help out on the back end but no Zach Durfee will mean Jacob Lane and Isaiah Ward will need to show up.

Get a Stop, Get a Score: Washington scored 24 unanswered points to take down Maryland last weekend and the mentality out of the half for the dawgs was simply “Get a stop, get a score.”

Both the offense and defense found their legs late, but with this amount of talent on both sides of the ball, a full game performance should be the expectation for Washington.

Keeping things simple is perfect for what this team wants to do. Run the ball until you can’t and hit your deep shots on offense. Man up and be physical on defense. That wins football games.

Continuing the momentum from last week is a great way to establish a standard for this team. 21 fourth quarter points is no small feet and a perfect encapsulation of what the Huskies are capable of.