No. 6 Oregon (8-1, 6-0) will take on the No. 24 Washington Huskies (7-2, 4-2) on Saturday at Autzen Stadium. It will be the eighth time both teams enter within the Associated Press Top 25 poll. The Ducks are coming off a dominant 49-10 win over Colorado last weekend.
Against Colorado, senior transfer quarterback Bo Nix had another Heisman-worthy performance. Nix joined Marcus Mariota and Joey Harrington as the only Oregon quarterbacks to have a passing, rushing and receiving touchdown in the same game. He had 308 total yards and his third straight game with five or more touchdowns.
Running back Bucky Irving’s touchdown pass to Nix was not the only trick play that Oregon offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham drew up last week. Backup offensive tackle Josh Conerly Jr. scored the first touchdown of the day and Noah Sewell became the first Oregon linebacker since 1996 to score an offensive touchdown. Washington will be facing an Oregon offense that is comfortable scoring in various ways.
Washington is looking to extend its winning streak to four after beating Oregon State 24-21 last Friday. Huskies quarterback Michael Penix Jr. completed the game-winning drive in the fourth quarter, which led to a 22-yard field goal by kicker Peyton Henry with eight seconds left. The Huskies will need to beat the Ducks on Saturday if they want a shot at making the conference title game.
Oregon enters Saturday’s game as the winner of 15 of its last 17 outings against Washington. It is the first time Autzen Stadium will host the matchup since 2018.
With Oregon versus Wahington being one of the country’s most heated out-of-state rivalries, a Saturday win is especially important to the Duck fanbase. Oregon head coach Dan Lanning expressed his excitement to experience the rivalry for the first time but said that preparation is no different than any other game.
Washington is the next opponent in a critical stretch for Oregon to end the season. The Ducks will look to extend their winning streak as they fight to make the College Football Playoff. With Tennessee, Clemson and Alabama all losing last weekend (previously No. 1, 4 and 6 in the CFP rankings), Oregon has the chance to control its destiny with three regular-season games left on the schedule.
Saturday’s game against Washington will air at 4 p.m. on FOX.
