The No. 21 Oregon Ducks renew their border rivalry with the Washington Huskies for the 101st time Saturday, 7 p.m. at Autzen Stadium, in a rare season-opening Pacific-10 Conference contest between the teams.
The only other time the two teams met in a season opener was 1945, with the Ducks prevailing 20-6. The earliest meeting in its history was on Sept. 22, 1979, making this rendition of the rivalry the earliest ever by 23 days.
Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti has said the early rivalry game has been refreshing in that it has helped focus the team during fall workouts. He just wishes the game time weren’t so late.
“I’d rather get up and say ‘let’s just go play’ to be honest with you,” he said. “I think sitting around is difficult on a first-game basis because you’ve been waiting and practicing for this game since August 4, and now on game day you have to wait until 7 p.m. to kick it off. There’s a lot of wasted energy and nervous energy that’s expended on that day.”
How does the coach pass the time before a 7 p.m. start?
“Watching football is very therapeutic and soothing to me,” he said. “I’m not sure it is for my players sometimes because watching it just gets their blood pumping.”
The Ducks won at Husky Stadium last season for the first time since 1997 last season, taking over in the second half of last year’s game at Husky Stadium, turning a 31-31 third-quarter tie into a 55-34 blowout that featured a career-high 251-yard, two-touchdown performance from Oregon junior running back Jonathan Stewart, this year’s first-round selection by the NFL’s Carolina Panthers.
Oregon junior running back Andre Crenshaw added 113 yards and two touchdowns to the school-record 465 rushing yards and 661 total yards.
Despite the loss, Washington sophomore quarterback Jake Locker had some success against the Ducks last season as a freshman, throwing for 257 yards and four touchdowns to just one interception. Locker rushed for 78 yards in the game and is the Huskies’ leading rusher in the rivalry as one of just two current Huskies to have positive rushing yardage in their careers against the Ducks.
“Jake Locker is a tremendous athlete, a tremendous quarterback and a tremendous competitor. He is, in my opinion, probably the most difficult weapon to defense in Division I football,” Bellotti said. “He’s faster than you think, he’s stronger than you think and he possesses a very strong arm … You have to be aware, every single play, where he is.”
The game will be nationally broadcast on Fox Sports Net, one of at least four Oregon football games that will be televised nationally this season.
[email protected]