The Washington Huskies have become one of the trendier teams this year to back to win the National Championship. They've got a total of 16 starters returning from last year's 7-6 team, and Chris Petersen has earned a tremendous level of success after his past triumphs at Boise State. The biggest test of the year for U-Dub will clearly come at Autzen Stadium against the Oregon Ducks in Week 6.
This Week 6 game will take place on Saturday, November 8, 2016, at Autzen Stadium.
College Football Odds at BookMaker.eu
Washington Huskies +2
Oregon Ducks -2
Odds Analysis
Mighty interesting spread, huh? The perception is there that Washington is the better of these two teams even though Oregon has been the traditional powerhouse of the Pac-12. The Ducks are the favorites at -2, but the value isn't even big enough to cover home field advantage. We'll have to see what the spread actually ends up being by the time these two teams get here, but there's a real chance that both clubs could have donuts in the loss column by the time this game gets on the docket.
Why It's Important
The Pac-12 North is particularly stacked this year, and the loser of this game is probably going to effectively be out of the running for the College Football Playoff. A 12-1 team which wins the conference title might still have enough to get into the last four, but the chances of that happening are slim, especially since 11-1 without going to the Pac-12 Championship Game certainly won't be good enough.
For Washington, this game is clearly about respect as well. Not only are the Huskies 0-12 SU against Oregon since 2003, but they're 0-11-1 ATS in that stretch as well, getting beaten by at least 17 points in all but one game the two have played over the course of the last dozen years.
Why Oregon Will Beat Washington
By all accounts, Dakota Prukop needs to be named the starting quarterback for Oregon. He's a graduate transfer from Montana State and is the only QB on the roster who has any legitimate experience whatsoever. Outside of Marcus Mariota, Prukop has the best arm a Duck quarterback has had since the Jeff Tedford era, and that's really saying something.
History will tell you that the Ducks will run up and down the field, and Prukop is going to have to play at a really high level in this game to take advantage of a defense which is clearly going to be the weaker of the two sides of the ball for U-Dub in 2016.
Why Washington Will Beat Oregon
You know that Petersen has had this game circled on his calendar all year long. The Huskies really made just a few too many little mistakes in a 26-20 loss to Oregon last year, but that was the game where things really started to feel like they might turnaround just a bit. From that game forward, then freshman QB Jake Browning completed almost 65 percent of his passes and had 11 TDs against just four picks for the rest of the year. The Huskies scored at least 44 points four times in that stretch, including in their bowl game against Southern Miss.
Toss in the fact that literally every projected starter on this defense is either a junior or a senior, and the leadership should be a big thing as well. Playing on the road shouldn't bother this team at all.
The X-Factor
All too often, Browning found himself under immense pressure last year in this game. He was sacked three times and generally looked uncomfortable in the pocket.
That offensive line though, features four returning starters from a unit which was much improved from that point forward. Oregon's front seven has just one returning starter, and if there is a game where the offensive line for U-Dub can really make a massive difference, this is it. If Myles Gaskin can control the ground game and Browning gets some time in the pocket to make some reads, this is a dangerous Washington offense.
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