The No. 7 Washington Huskies will travel to take on the No. 17 Oregon Ducks on Saturday for a game beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC and ESPN2 (live streaming via WatchESPN).
Washington vs. Oregon 2018 pick: Predicting the winner, plus game time and TV/live stream info
It’s another rivalry game, but Saturday’s game between the Huskies and Ducks has much larger implications, with each team having one loss.
Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
Washington is coming off a narrow 31-24 victory over UCLA, a surprise as many expected a blowout in that game. Still, a win is a win, and they will have two consecutive ranked opponents in Oregon and then Colorado. Their lone loss on the season was to then-No. 9 Auburn in college football’s Week 1.
Oregon is 4-1 on the season, with their lone loss being to then-No. 7 Stanford prior to their last outing, a 42-24 over then-No. 24 Cal. Saturday’s game will be their third consecutive game against ranked competition, but the schedule gets considerably easier after Saturday.
Below is all you need to know going into Saturday’s action.
Washington vs. Oregon prediction
According to the latest S&P+ projections, Washington carries a score of 17.8 points, down five spots from the previous week. Oregon comes in with an S&P+ of 8.9 points, and moved up three places in the national rankings to 34th.
This suggests that Washington would have an 8.9-point advantage on a neutral field. It’s an Oregon home game, and that stadium isn’t the easiest one to win in. But it’s probably not enough to overcome the fact that Washington has simply looked much more consistent this season.
Time, TV, and streaming info
Washington vs. Oregon news
- What better way to get the pulse of Washington fans than a peep at UW Dawg Pound’s latest mailbag going into Saturday’s game.
- Washington has been expected to blow out many of their Pac-12 opponents, but haven’t really done so consistently. Is that a concern for the team?
- The folks at UW Dawg Pound break down the Oregon Ducks’ offense.
The defense has still played very well overall, generally keeping opponents out of the end zone. What they’ve been excellent at, matches up well with Oregon’s strengths - explosiveness. If Washington can stop Oregon’s explosive plays, that will go a long way in deciding this game. Washington probably won’t try to get after Herbert and instead will do what they do best: make offenses dink and dunk all the way up the field and hope they either can’t convert a third down, or turn the ball over.
While Oregon’s strength of schedule has improved after their three over-matched opponents to start the season, Washington will be by far the best and most complete team they have played. At times against both Cal and Stanford their offense sputtered when they couldn’t find Dillon Mitchell or keep the run game moving. Either way, this is Washington’s biggest challenge so far.
- On that note, why not check out Addicted To Quack’s podcast preview of Washington, and their Know Thy Enemy post on the matter.
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