ScoopDuck Roundtable: Surprise Storyline vs Washington
Well it’s round two and about to be the longest week of your life. We have to wait four more days to see Oregon and Washington battle for it all in round two.
Washington finished the season 12-0 including a win earlier against Oregon. This week however it’s the 11-1 Ducks that are favored headed into this matchup.
Here are some of our surprise storylines to watch as Oregon heads to Vegas for the Huskies on Friday.
Jarrid Denney: Oregon’s secondary holds up better than it did in Seattle
Don’t get me wrong, Washington’s offense is still incredibly dynamic. To a certain extent, Penix and Odunze are going to get theirs. But the Huskies’ three lowest passing yards totals of the season have come during the month of November. Lately, they haven’t been nearly as sharp as they were early in the year.
Meanwhile, Oregon’s defense has improved substantially since Week 7. Even if Jahlil Florence isn’t able to go, I think the Ducks will do a better job of slowing UW’s passing attack than they did the first time around.
Joel Gunderson: Oregon’s run game struggles
Whether it was scheme-related from Oregon State, or perhaps just game 12 weariness, Oregon’s run game against the Beavers was concerning. Now they’re headed into a game where keeping the Huskies off the field is paramount.
But even against a Washington defense that’s not exactly known for their stout upfront, I don’t see Lanning and company sticking with something that isn’t working — especially with everything on the line.
Let’s hope the second half against OS was a fluke, but something tells me it’s not.
Corpatty: OC Swan Song
The offensive coordinators in this game, Ryan Grubb and Will Stein, have both been mentioned as candidates for some of the open head coaching jobs. Which team and OC can block out that outside noise will be critical to determine how their respective offenses perform. But it will be short lived as one of these OCs will coach their last game at their current school on Friday night.
Jhop: Ducks Bend, Don’t Break
Look we all hate this kind of defense. In fact it’s been nice seeing Oregon do very little bending and even less breaking in the last month. But Washington’s strengths on offense match up well with Oregon’s weaknesses on defense. If I’m Lanning, Tosh and Hampton, I do my absolute best to trade field goals for touchdowns with this team. At some point you will make UW one-dimensional if successful and you can scheme much easier for that.
While we might not see the dominating win like we’ve been seeing, a win just the same is all that is needed.
