**Editor’s Note: Each week during football season we will feature an essay from the opponent’s student newspaper on how Oregon will lose. This week’s edition is from Kevin Dowd, the sports editor at Washington’s The UW Daily.**
It’s been 3,262 days since November 1, 2003, a very long stretch of time that nonetheless has seemed much longer for Husky fans. You see, that was the day the Washington football team last beat Oregon.
It was a weird game. Oregon jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter. Then the Huskies scored 42 straight.
It certainly was not a sign of things to come.
Since then, the Ducks have made the Huskies whimper, outscoring their neighbors to the north 339-137. And it’s often felt even more lopsided than that, at least on this side of things. In the past eight years, the UW has beaten every school in the Pac-12 except Oregon, and there have been very few signs that this year will be different.
When it’s been 3,262 days, though, you tend to magnify the heck out of those very few signs.
For one, it looks like this could be the best and deepest UW defense in a decade. After a few years of top-25 recruiting classes, the Huskies might finally have the horses to contain the Ducks when Chip Kelly goes to light-speed in the second half.
For another, the Husky offense can’t get much worse than it’s been the first four games of the season. Ben Riva might be back at right tackle this week, which should lessen the number of plays on which Keith Price is running for his life.
Kasen Williams and Austin Seferian-Jenkins are really good, good enough to give the Duck defense some serious problems. Defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox actually knows what he’s doing, a rather large improvement over the past three seasons.
Still, the Ducks will probably have 20 of the 30 best players on the field. Their offense is a machine, and their defense is underrated. They might be the best team in the country.
I know this headline reads “Why Washington will beat Oregon,” but that begs a question I’m not totally comfortable assuming. All I can say is that if Washington does finally beat Oregon, it will have been a long time coming.