Oregon Ducks

Last year's loss to No. 12 Washington fuels Oregon (Nov 04, 2017)

Published Oct. 31, 2017 10:58 p.m. ET

Washington ended 12 seasons of frustration when it delivered a punishing victory over Oregon last year.

The No. 12 Huskies now look to prevent the angry Ducks from wrecking their season.

The 70-21 beat-down hasn't been forgotten by the Oregon players, and first-year coach Willie Taggart is playing up the whipping all he can as the Ducks (5-4, 2-4 Pac-12) venture up to Seattle to face Washington on Saturday.

"I'm sure any competitor out there wouldn't forget what happened," Taggart said at a press conference. "Our job this week is to make sure we're at our best this week, to see to it that what happened last year doesn't happen again."

The Huskies pushed the Ducks around last season while prevailing for the first time in the heated rivalry since 2003.

Now the contest has another ramification in the mix -- Washington can't lose again if it wishes to keep alive its hopes of returning to the College Football Playoff.

The Huskies (7-1, 4-1) were 12th in the initial CFP rankings unveiled Tuesday night. The stunning setback to Arizona State on Oct. 14 leaves Washington in must-win mode to stay alive.

And one thing Washington players like to make clear: They feel they control their fate, not others.

"If we play to our level, if we do what we know how to do, it doesn't matter who we play against, or what the quarterback is, or what record they have," sophomore cornerback Austin Joyner said. "It doesn't matter as long as we handle business how we can."

The Huskies were focused on running the ball in last Saturday's 44-23 victory over UCLA as they rolled up 333 yards on the ground.

The slow start that junior Myles Gaskin experienced is now an afterthought. Gaskin racked up 169 yards against the Bruins for his third 100-yard outing in five games.

Gaskin has 795 yards and looks primed to top 1,300 rushing yards for the third straight season. In addition, senior backup Lavon Coleman enjoyed his best outing of the season with 94 yards and three touchdowns.

"When you get the ball, it just shows the trust that the coaches have in the offensive line and in you," Coleman said. "Around here, we aren't selfish. If I see someone running good, then I'm going to use that as motivation to get myself running good. We feed off that competition."

The Washington running game success could be tested against the Ducks, who are a stellar 15th nationally against the run (115.9).

Sophomore linebacker Troy Dye has been superb with 80 tackles, including five games with 10 or more stops. Junior defensive end Jalen Jelks has a team-best 12.5 tackles for losses (including a team-high six sacks) and Dye has 10.5.

Oregon isn't so good when it comes to stopping the pass. The Ducks rank 98th in pass defense (253.7) and probably don't want to recall the way Huskies quarterback Jake Browning carved them up last season.

Browning completed 22 of 28 passes for 304 yards and six touchdowns -- and added two rushing scores.

However, Browning hasn't thrown a touchdown pass in either of Washington's last two games. He passed for just 139 yards in the loss to Arizona State and the output dropped to 98 against UCLA.

Also, emerging true freshman tight end Hunter Bryant (22 receptions, 331 yards) will miss the game with a leg injury.

In other words, who knows whether the game plan will be run-heavy or pass-happy.

"I think we're week to week on that whole thing," Huskies coach Chris Petersen said. "It just depends on what we think we need to do. We always talk about balance and those types of things but quickly go to where we think we want to go and need to go and where we're having success."

The Ducks will throw a lot of senior star running back Royce Freeman at a Washington run defense that ranks second nationally at 71.6 yards per game.

Freeman has rushed for 1,096 yards and 10 touchdowns, topping 1,000 for the third time in his standout career. He has six 100-yard rushing outings this season, including 139 in last Saturday's 41-20 win over Utah to help end the team's three-game skid.

True freshman quarterback Braxton Burmeister (two touchdowns, five interceptions) is expected to make his fifth consecutive start, but sophomore Justin Herbert is getting close to returning from a fractured collarbone.

Taggart made it clear that he won't rush back Herbert.

"We're going to put Justin out there when we feel like he's ready to go," Taggart said. "We're not going to do anything to jeopardize him. If he's ready this week, then we'll play him, and if not then we won't.

"We're not going to put him out there in harm's way, and let him reinjure himself."

Oregon has won 17 of the past 22 meetings.