Washington Huskies at Rutgers Scarlet Knights

The first of my two Friday picks takes place when the Washington Huskies travel to Piscataway New Jersey to face the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in a rematch of last seasons opener.

Rutgers returns 13 starters as well, five on offense and eight on defense. The Scarlet Knights however were only 2-10 last season and lost at Washington 48-13 to open the season.

27.5 points in a big spread for a road team traveling across the country for a season opener, but besides playing at home I don’t see many reasons to be optimistic for the Scarlet Knights. Rutgers was 4-8 against the spread last season and are 3-7 against the spread in their last ten home games overall.

Rutgers ranked last in the Big Ten last season in total, scoring and passing offense. While the Huskies defense may take a step back from last years number one ranked defense in the PAC-12 after losing four elite players on that side of the ball. The Huskies still have more than enough talent back to rout Rutgers.

Get Sports Strong Pick: Washington -27.5 (Washington 52 Rutgers 17)

Navy Midshipman at Florida Atlantic Owls

For the next free pick on Friday night we take a look at Lane Kiffin’s debut as the head coach of the Florida Atlantic Owls when then they host the Navy Midshipman.

It should be fun to see what Kiffin can do at FAU, however there is a lot of work to be done, especially on the defensive side of the ball. The Owls return six players on defense from a team that ranked 124th in total defense and 119th in the nation against the run last season.

New coaching is in place, however FAU has dropped their last six home games against the spread. The Navy Midshipman are 7-1-1 against the spread in their last 9 games when they come in as favorite between 3.5 to 10 points.

Get Sports Strong Pick: Navy -9.5 (Navy 45 Florida Atlantic 24)