Oregon State heads to Seattle Saturday to take on the Washington Huskies, seeking its third consecutive win at Husky Stadium.
This is the longest stretch of road games the Beavers (2-3, 0-2 Pac-10) have played against Washington (4-2, 2-1 Pac-10) since then Oregon State University traveled to play the Huskies eight consecutive times between 1924-40. Should the Beavers win, it would be the longest streak of road victories over the Huskies since winning four in a row between 1945-51.
One Beaver who doesn’t mind the trip is kicker Alexis Serna. In his last two trips to Husky stadium, usually a problematic place for kickers, he is 11 of 11 on field goals, including a Pac-10 record tying 6 of 6 last year, when he accounted for all of Oregon State’s points in an 18-10 victory. The longest field goal of Serna’s career (55 yards) came there two years ago and he has been named Pac-10 Special Teams Player of the Week for his performances at Husky Stadium in each of the last two seasons.
Washington comes into the game looking to rebound from a tough 26-20 loss to the USC Trojans.
“I think it’s a great time for us to come back home,” said coach Tyrone Willingham in his Monday press conference. “I think there is still a lot of excitement about what our team has done to date.”
The game will air live regionally at 3:30 p.m. on Fox Sports Northwest.
Arizona State at USC
The Trojans play host to the Sun Devils Saturday, after narrowly defeating the Washington Huskies at home last week, 26-20.
USC (5-0, 3-0 Pac-10) looks to extend its Pac-10 record-streak of 20 straight conference home victories. The Trojans have looked vulnerable in each of the last two weeks with both games coming down to the final minutes against opponents USC was expected to beat easily. The Trojan offense, which returns wide receiver Dwayne Jarrett but will likely be without fellow wide receiver Steve Smith, needs another strong showing from sophomore receiver Patrick Turner. Turner had 12 catches for 116 yards and a touchdown last week against Washington.
Arizona State (3-2, 0-2 Pac-10) comes to Los Angeles still seeking its first conference win. After opening the season with three non-conference victories, the Sun Devils opened Pac-10 play with back-to-back losses.
Arizona State is coming off of its bye week after losing to Oregon two weeks ago at home, 48-13.
The game will be televised live at 5 p.m., regionally on ABC.
Arizona at Stanford
The good news for rizona and Stanford fans this weekend is that one of them has to leave Saturday’s game at Stanford Stadium with a conference victory. The bad news: The loser will remain firmly entrenched in the conference basement.
The Cardinal (0-6, 0-3 Pac-10) have lost five of their six games this season by more than 20 points, with their only close game being a 35-34 loss to San Jose State University.
Stanford has won its last three meetings against the Wildcats (2-4, 0-3 Pac-10), its longest current winning streak against a Pac-10 opponent.
Arizona looks to rebound from a 27-7 loss at UCLA last week, a game in which the Arizona offense was held scoreless in the first half for the first time this season. The Wildcats also lost quarterback Willie Tuitama to a concussion and will start senior Adam Austin, who has completed three passes for 32 yards in three games during his career.
The game figures to be low-scoring, with Arizona averaging 11.2 points per game and Stanford averaging 12.2.