The Washington Huskies host the No. 8 Oregon Ducks on Saturday in Washington's third game against a ranked opponent this season. Washington will look to produce a different result this time around after enduring their only two losses of the season to then-No. 11 Nebraska and then-No. 8 Stanford in road games.
The Huskies are coming off of a bounce-back win against the Arizona Wildcats one week after sustaining a 44-point loss to Stanford. Though the Huskies let the 2-6 Wildcats hang around in Saturday's contest, Washington poured in 28 points in the second half to emerge victorious.
This week, the Huskies face a much better opponent in the 7-1 Ducks. Oregon has been an offensive juggernaut all season, scoring no less than 41 points since its Week One loss to LSU despite injuries to starting quarterback Darron Thomas and starting running back LaMichael James.
The Ducks were below-average on defense last week though as they surrendered 28 points to the Washington State Cougars. That could play into the hands of Huskies quarterback Keith Price and the Washington offense, a unit that has demonstrated its own ability to score by means of a 35.6 points per game average.
The last time these two teams met one year ago, the then-No. 1 Ducks defeated the Huskies 53-16 on their home field. This time around, however, the Huskies are much improved and get to play host. The Ducks are favored in this game, but a quick start by the Huskies offense and some solid play by the Huskies defense could make this game very interesting.