PISCATAWAY -- Call it the best-case scenario for Rutgers.

As part of the Big Ten's new Friday night scheduling model in conjunction with a new television deal, Rutgers will host Washington in primetime on Sept. 1 at High Point Solutions Stadium.

The game, which will be aired by either ESPN or FOX, originally was scheduled for Sept. 2.

The Big Ten is breaking from its traditional Saturday format in favor of playing six games on Fridays in September and October.

The decision was met with varying degrees of resistance -- Michigan refused and Penn State was willing to cooperate only on the road -- because of the conflict with Friday night high school football and the complications caused in recruiting.

Rutgers will play its Friday night game on Labor Day weekend, one week before most New Jersey high school teams play their first game. Thus recruits will be able to attend and football fans won't have to pick between two settings.

"The Big Ten Conference appreciates the significance of high school football within the region and has worked to minimize the impact of this initiative by limiting the number of Friday night games," the conference said in a statement.

"Overall, these games represent approximately six percent of Big Ten home games annually, and no institution will host more than one game in any given year. Friday night games will also be announced at least 10 months in advance to provide all parties adequate time to prepare."

The six Friday night games for 2017 are:

Washington at Rutgers, Sept. 1

Utah State at Wisconsin, Sept. 1

Ohio at Purdue, Sept. 8

Nebraska at Illinois, Sept. 29

Northwestern at Maryland, Oct. 13

Michigan State at Northwestern

Northwestern is the only school with two games moved and no school has to host more than once. Of course, this is just the first year of a six-year pact between the Big Ten and the networks that will include six games annually.

"While not all institutions are able to participate in Friday night matchups," the conference statement said, "all 14 institutions will participate in the broad initiative to provide more primetime exposure on national platforms."

Rutgers athletics director Pat Hobbs said that in good faith with the Big Ten the Scarlet Knights agreed to host a Friday night game, "preferably Labor Day weekend."

"I think the conference is one of the best conferences in America, and we're on the forefront of a lot of decisions," Rutgers coach Chris Ash said last week. "We trust and respect what the conference is doing but other than that, I haven't put any thought into it."

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