On Black Out Night, Huskies Black Out at Rutgers

Jedd Fisch's team moved the ball at will, but couldn't put it in the end zone.

Huskies running back Jonah Coleman breaks a long one at Rutgers. / Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

PISCATAWAY, New Jersey -- At the birthplace of college football, the University of Washington came bearing gifts.

On a Friday night interspersed with intermittent sheets of rain, the Huskies confidently moved the ball up and down SHI Stadium and then turned feeble often whenever they got near the end zone and lost to Rutgers 21-18.

In the Garden State, Jedd Fisch's team was its own worst enemy and got plowed under.

Could someone say a few words before they lower the casket?

It was a particularly disheartening defeat because the UW (3-2 overall, 1-1 Big Ten) could have used some momentum going into next weekend's national championship rematch with Michigan coming to Seattle. Instead, this team will have to explain itself over and over for what happened at Rutgers (4-0, 1-0).

On Black Out Night, the Huskies incredibly outgained Rutgers 521 to 299 in total yards, but were left black and blue. Willl Rogers led all passers by completing 28-for-36 attempts for 306 yards for 2 touchdown passes to Denzel Boston, who led all receivers with 125 yards receiving on 6 catches. Jonah Coleman topped all rushers with 148 yards on 16 carries.

Yet this UW team came in second.

Same as the Apple Cup two weeks earlier, these guys did silly stuff throughout to ruin whatever chance they had of winning one on the road in this festive but damp Big Ten enclave.

"You can't play two teams -- the opponents and ourselves," Fisch said.

Rutgers wide receiver Dymere Miller (0) is tackled by Huskies cornerback Jordan Shaw (3) during the first half. / Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Typical of their mind-boggling infractions was Husky reserve safety Vincent Holmes running onto the field after the snap on a field-goal attempt and getting called for illegal substitution -- the same thing Weber State was guilty of in the opener -- and his actions hurt his team in multiple ways.

The flag not only negated teammate Lance Holtzclaw 's block of a 38-yard field goal try, it enabled Rutgers to score on the very next play, on 15-yard pass to Ian Strong from Athan Kaliakmanis coming 30 seconds before intermission, good for a 14-3 lead at the break. Holmes apparently went out to celebrate and ran onto the field too early.

"I grabbed him and said,'You're a freshman and you just had a freshman moment,' " Fisch said.

This game ended at 11:39 p.m. ET, with Grady Gross' 55-yard field goal to tie missing left.

The Huskies took the opening kickoff and were impressive at the outset, picking up three first downs and reaching the Rutgers 38.

Then they had their first mental meltdown -- an overexuberant UW center D'Angalo Titialii effectively killed the opening drive with his actions.

After freshman running back Adam Mohammed caught a pass for a short gain, Titialii pancaked a Rutgers tackler and fell on him. The officials ruled a late hit on D'Angalo after reviewing the play for possible targeting and moved the ball back to the UW 49. Fisch's team ran out of downs on the Scarlet Knights 37, choosing to throw to the end end zone on a fourth-and-9.

"That's the difference between good teams and great teams," senior linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala said of the mistakes made. "We've just got to clean up on many fronts."

Following a Rutgers 3-and-out, the UW put pressure back on the Scarlet Knights' defense once more. The Huskies drove from their own 27 to the home team's 4 but squandered another opportunity, settling for Gross' 22-yard field and the game's first points with 4:10 left in the opening quarter.

Rutgers finally settled in and got some offense going. The host team must have sensed the Huskies were mistake-prone and vulnerable. The Scarlet Knights put together a laborious 15-play drive -- their longest of the season -- by moving 75 yards for Kyle Monangai's 1-yard TD plunge and the lead for good at 7-3 at the 11:26 mark of the second quarter. Monangai would finish with 132 yards rushing on 25 carries.

Back came the Huskies. On the first play of the new drive, Coleman went up the middle through a huge hole and broke a 39-yard run to the Rutgers 39. Cam Davis followed with an 11-yard gainer to the 28. Maybe it was time for the UW to settle down and settle in.

It wasn't going to happen.

Huskies running back Cameron Davis (22) is tackled by Rutgers linebacker Dariel Djabome (28) and defensive back Flip Dixon (10) during the first half. / Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

This UW drive stalled when Davis was called for a low block, forcing another field-goal attempt. Gross lined it up from 42 yards goal but missed it left.

Following Holmes' brain freeze and enusing Rutgers touchdown catch, the teams headed for the break with the Scarlet Knights up 11.

Once play resumed in the second half, it was more of the same for the Huskies. They forced the home team to punt and they flexed more muscles, and got mothing for it. Coleman broke a 35-yard run on the drive's first play and followed with an 11-yarder. In four carries, he personally moved the ball to the Rutgers 2, only to have the UW run out of downs again with Rogers missing on a pair of end-zone passes, with the second one deflected.

"We've been saying that stuff and and we're almost halfway through the season," Rogers said of eliminating the penalties and mental mistakes.

The Huskies finally used some of that pent-up frustration to make something happen. They went 94 yards in six plays, with Boston catching one over the left side, breaking a tackle and racing in to score from 51 yards out,

No flags, no bonehead plays, no excuses.

With 4:23 left in the third quarter, the UW crept within 14-10.

However, the Huskies weren't done being self-destructive. Into the fourth quarter, they stood up Monangai on his 31 for no gain, only to have defensive tackle Jayvon Parker called for a face-mask penalty.

Later in the drive, after Parker was helped off with a leg injury and Rutgers faced a third-and-4 at the UW 37, Samuel Brown V went over the left side, broke a pair of tackles and scored standing up for what would be the game-winning points. It was the longest run of his career. The clock said 10: 57 left to play.

With 1:40 remaining, Boston caught his second scoring pass, a 12-yarder in the left corner of the end zone, and tight end Keleki Latu pulled in a two-point conversion throw, both from Rogers, and the UW was down by three and still had a pulse.

The Huskies made it real interesting by getting the ball back on their 39 with 35 seconds remaining. They even moved into field-goal range for Gross, but he had his third consecutive kick sail left after making his first one and it was over.

"It's startiing to me because how automatic Gross is in practice," Fisch said.

In a place called Jersey, the uniform color of choice on this night was black.

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