It’s rivalry weekend.
Oregon travels to Seattle this weekend to take on No. 16 Washington in their newly-renovated home stadium, where the Huskies will be looking to snap a streak of nine-straight losses to their feathered enemies from the South. Washington suffered its first loss of the season last week against No. 5 Stanford and needs a win over the Ducks to keep its Pac-12 championship hopes alive.
Oregon and Washington both enter Saturday’s game with elite rushing attacks, respectively ranked third and 15th in the nation for rushing yards per game. Washington’s Bishop Sankey has racked up 732 yards on the ground thus far, good for fourth in the country. The two teams nearly mirror one another in passing statistics.
Washington is 23rd in passing yards per game with 298.2, barely edging out Oregon who sits 24th with 294.6 yards per contest. Keith Price is looking like the 2011 version of himself when he threw for more than 3,000 yards and 33 touchdowns. Marcus Mariota has climbed atop most Heisman leader boards and has yet to throw an interception this season. His accuracy has been off at times, but he continues to self-adjust and lead the country’s second-highest scoring team.
While much has been made of the two fast-paced and similarly-designed offenses, each team boasts an elite defensive unit. Oregon has allowed the second-fewest points in the country (59) and Washington isn’t far behind at 12th (74). Neither team defends the run particularly well in terms of yards per game, but that’s mostly due to the high volume of running plays called by their opposition. With both offenses owning superior running games, that will be an intriguing matchup to watch.
The Huskies have locked down opposing passing games this season, allowing the third-fewest yards per game through the air. Mariota will be tested by the Washington secondary, which has forced seven interceptions this season. Both teams look better overall than they have in recent years and though both defenses are sharp, expect a total of 75-80 points to be scored in a shootout.