By Khalid Bennett
The Seattle Medium
One of the most hostile rivalries in the Pac-12 renewed itself Saturday afternoon as the Washington Huskies and the Oregon Ducks exchanged pleasantries on a rain soaked, Alaska Airlines Field. T
This highly anticipated match-up was a chance for Washington to stay in the race for the Pac-12 north division. Oregon came into the ballgame holding the top spot in the north and the 12thspot in the national rankings. Washington bounced back last week after their loss to Stanford with a 51-27 victory down in Tucson over Arizona. Oregon has not lost since their season opener to Auburn. Both teams play tough on defense, but the attention focused on the quarterback position as both Washington’s Jacob Eason and Oregon’s Justin Herbert are expected to take their talents to the next level. But before that, they both are looking to leave their mark in this heated rivalry between the two schools.
Oregon opened up the scoring in the first quarter with a lengthy 12 play drive that resulted in a 12 yard touchdown pass from Herbert to Spencer Webb that chewed up over five minutes off the clock.
Washington was able to answer later in the quarter with a 13 play drive of their own that took over five minutes as running back Salvon Ahmed was able to reach the endzone from 9 yards out to tie the game at 7-7.
In the second quarter, Washington was able to show that they can score quickly, when Eason found receiver Jordan Chin for a 48-yard bomb that put the Huskies ahead 14-7.
Both defenses stood firm and forced two 3 and outs by the Washington and Oregon offenses before the Ducks were finally able to knot the game at 14 after another touchdown pass by Herbert to Jaylen Redd. Washington received the ball with 3 minutes left in the half. Once again, their ability to strike quickly resulted in another touchdown pass by Eason to receiver Andre Baccellia to put the Huskies up 21-14 at halftime.
In the first half Washington was able to lean on their running game. Ahmed finished the half with 81 yards on 13 carries. The Huskies’ success with the run opened up the big play opportunities that came in the passing game. Washington continued to utilize that strategy to begin the second half with a big 20-yard run followed by an 8-yard run by Ahmed. That set up a 33 yard touchdown pass from Eason to freshman wide receiver Nacua Puka giving Washington a two touchdown lead, 28-14 Huskies.
Oregon refused to allow Washington to keep the momentum and answered on the ensuing drive using the very strategy that Washington used which was a heavy dose of the run game as Cyrus Habidi-Likio closed the gap with a 14 yard touchdown run to make the game 28-21 Washington.
The Huskies pushed the lead to 10 with a field goal by Peyton Henry, but holding Washington to only three points kept the momentum swinging in favor of the Ducks. With both teams trading touchdowns up to this point, this would end up hurting Washington in the end.
The fourth quarter would be the determining and decisive quarter in the game as the Oregon defense was able to step up and force Washington into two 3 and out situations as well as two fourth down stops that would haunt the Huskies as the clock continued to wind down. The Ducks took full advantage of Washington’s inability to convert late in the game. The Husky defense looked gassed on Oregon’s final drive. Missed tackles enabled the Duck’s rushing attack to play a huge part in closing out the game for them on the road. Habidi-Likio finished the game with 81 yards on 14 carries, and was able to set up Oregon on the 5 yard line for Herbert’s fourth touchdown of the day, as he connected with Redd for the go ahead score, Oregon 35, Washington 31. That would be the final score as Washington drops to 6-3 (2-3 in conference) as Oregon maintains their lead amongst all in the Pac-12 north.
Pictorial Highlights Of UW vs Oregon
Photos by Aaron Allen
