NCAA Football: Pac-12 Media Day

Washington defensive back Kevin King poses during Pac-12 media day. The Huskies secondary is considered a team strength.

(Kirby Lee | USA TODAY Sports)

Hosting the top-ranked team in the country in Ohio State last October, Rutgers was a 23-point underdog at kickoff.

Consider it useful perspective when you read the next sentence.

Rutgers is a 26-point underdog for its visit to No. 14 Washington in Saturday's season-opener, according to VegasInsider.com. The point spread has gone up from 22 since the betting line originally opened.

In May, Rutgers opened as a 20.5-point underdog to Washington as listed by the 5Dimes Sportsbook.

One of the final indignities of the Kyle Flood era was when Rutgers opened the final week of the 2015 regular season as a two-point home underdog against two-win Maryland. Home teams typically are granted three points to account for home-field advantage.

Maryland wound up rallying from 21 points down for a 46-41 victory.

Rutgers was an underdog in all seven of its Big Ten games last season.

Apparently, despite all the signs of change coming from Piscataway in the offseason, the oddsmakers are going to make first-year coach Chris Ash prove that this is not the same old Rutgers.

Rutgers was an 8.5-point underdog when it opened the 2014 season in Seattle, upsetting Washington State on the "neutral" field that is home to the Seattle Seahawks.

This time, Rutgers is making a campus visit and facing a much more highly regarded opponent. Washington, which finished last season on a three-game winning streak by the combined scoring margin of 141-48, is expected to challenge Stanford for the Pac-12 North Division title.

The lopsided point spread backs up Ash's assessment of the public view on Rutgers, which was a unanimous preseason pick among experts to finish last in the Big Ten East Division.

"We just have to continue to push the football team to get better in everything that we do," Ash said, "but right now nobody expects much out of us and I'm perfectly content with that."

Ryan Dunleavy may be reached at rdunleavy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @rydunleavy. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.