SEATTLE — No. 4 Oregon almost got stuck in the mud Saturday.

It needed a jolt to claw its way out of the downpour in Husky Stadium and the proverbial spider web of the college football landscape — which entangled and delivered losses to multiple top-25 teams, and a pair of top-10 teams Saturday.

Oregon’s defensive performance was the kick in the butt that the Ducks’ offense desperately needed. 

Final: Oregon 26, Washington 16.

There’s been times this season that the Oregon defense has stranded its offense. Saturday was the opposite. 

On an inauspicious night from quarterback Anthony Brown (10-of-20, 98 yards), it was the defense that carried the Ducks and uplifted their offensive counterpart against the rival Huskies. The Ducks snuffed Washington out and turned in their best defensive performance of conference play — perhaps a welcome sign of things to come for the College Football Playoff hopefuls. 

Washington nabbed a gift-wrapped Brown interception on the game’s opening possession and led 9-3 before it converted a first down. 

The Huskies got one final shot to tie the game late after a clock-chewing Oregon drive fizzled at the hands of penalties. The Ducks’ defense left no doubt. Three-and-out.

Oregon forced six three-and-outs as the Huskies amassed a mere 166 yards on 3.3 yards per play, converting 3-of-12 third downs. 

“The physicality, you could hear it,” Cristobal said of his defense. “It sounded different from the sideline.”

The Ducks’ defensive stands allowed the offense to set the tone and pound the ball for 329 yards, with a career-high 211 coming from Travis Dye.

Linebacker Noah Sewell had 10 tackles and two leaping pass breakups at the line of scrimmage. His running mate in the middle, the firecracker Jeffrey Bassa, terrorized the Washington offensive line on blitzes. Bassa, the only true freshman starter on the Ducks, finished with six tackles, 1.5 for loss, a sack and a pass break-up. He’s got a special motor and a bright future.

Safety Jordan Happle, his right hand engulfed in a hard cast, picked off a ball, and his teammates in the defensive backfield smothered Washington’s receivers all evening.

“It was really everyone coming together as a defense and shutting them down,” Bassa said. 

Washington’s 16 points is the lowest total the Ducks have allowed in conference play. What’s more impressive is the Huskies sustained only one drive longer than 27 yards — their 11-play 75-yard touchdown drive. The other 9 points came off a two-play drive that began on the Oregon six-yard line and an Oregon safety.

The Husky offense is no world beater. It’s bottom three in the conference in yards per game. So are the Stanford and Colorado offenses — both hung 29-plus points on Oregon.

The Ducks have won multiple games at the hands of their defense, but they’ve just lacked a killer instinct at times, and timely forced turnovers have covered up miscues. On Saturday, the killer instinct was there.

The display was promising. It’s something to build on, the type of performance the Ducks need more of with both Oregon State and Utah looming on the schedule — the conference’s third and fourth best offenses in yards per game.

The defense has playmakers in spades. The talent’s unquestionable, the potential stifling. They finally put it all together. 

Oregon showed its teeth and snarled in the face of the Huskies.

The Ducks defense must build on the momentum they captured at Husky Stadium. Now that they found the jolt they needed to get out of the mud.