When Washington has the ball
Jake Locker is definitely out of the game and RS frosh Keith Price will get his first start going up against the number one team in the country. Price has seen spot action this year, throwing nine passes in five games. He did throw a touchdown pass in his one attempt in a 32-31 win over USC.
Look for the Huskies to try run the ball more than usual to take some pressure off of Price. Washington's greatest chance for success is to control the ball on offense and keep it away from the high flying Duck offense. That will be quite a challenge since Chris Polk has been held to 82 yards on 27 carries over the last two weeks.
Washington's single unpublished goal in this game is to get out of Eugene with a little bit of respect and no injuries so they can get ready for the last three games of the season which are considered winnable. Win those last three and the huskies salvage the season and earn a bowl bid.
When Oregon has the ball
Oregon is the best offensive football team in the country and some say they may be among the best offensive teams of all time. Hard to argue with that when the Ducks are averaging over 54 points per game.
The Ducks picked up 599 yards against a USC defense which had the speed to at least keep up with the Ducks on paper. The Huskies are going to be challenged to keep this offense under 600 yards since they only rank 106th in the BCS in total defense.
The best defense for Washington is going to be an offense that controls the ball all night. chances for that are pretty slim when you look at the Washington offensive output against Stanford and Arizona.
Tough to say if Chip Kelly will take his foot off the accelerator pedal and show Washington some mercy in order to save his regulars for duty during the last third of the season. There is no love between the two programs and a record sized lopsided win is always a huge asset when it comes to recruiting.
Intangibles
Jake Locker is out with a cracked rib. He will be holding a clip board on the sideline.
If Keith Price goes down don't expect to see Nick Montana to enter the game. The likely back up is either WR Cody Bruns or RB Jessie Callier.
Cody Habben has regained his starting job at right tackle.
WR Jordan Polk will miss the trip back to his home state after suffering a concussion in practice on Wednesday.
DT Cameron Elisara is expected to sit out again in an effort to get him healthy for the last three games of the season.
DE Talia Chrichton who is recovering from knee surgery will also sit this one out but it is expected to be back for the UCLA game.
RB Kenjon Barner is scheduled to return to action for the Ducks.
Matchups
Quarterback: Oregon
Running Backs: Oregon
Receivers: Washington
Offensive Line: Oregon
Defensive Line: Oregon
Linebackers: Oregon
Secondary: Oregon
Special Teams: Oregon
Steve Sarkisian Quotes
"We obviously hit rock bottom."
"He's got a real confidence about himself right now, (Keith Price) It'll be a great challenge for him, and a great challenge for us."
"I think our guys are excited to go play down there (Oregon). Anytime you get an opportunity to go play on the road against the number one team in the country in their stadium I think we would be fools not to embrace that opportunity regardless of what color uniform they are wearing or what color helmet they have on. It happens to be Oregon, this happens to be in our own conference, they happen to be in first place and the defending Pac-10 champs. So we are going to embrace it and go play.''
Chip Kelly Quotes
"We have a tendency to wear people down," coach Chip Kelly said. "I'm not into statements. I'm just into winning games."
On Sark taking snaps with the UW Scout team - "I think Scott Frost would be our first choice. I think Frost is a little bit better quarterback than I am."
“We’re 1-0 against them, that’s how I look at it. Hopefully we can be 2-0 this Saturday — but we’re going to have to go out and practice really hard to do that.”
“We watched the game and we broke it down, but Stanford runs such a different offense than we run, we don’t put a lot of stock in that.”
“They’ve thrown a lot (of schemes) at different people. We’ve got an idea, but it really taxes you defensively because you have to practice it all. It forces you to run a lot of different looks in practice. Fortunately for us, with the tempo we practice at, I think we’ll be able to get all those looks in.”
“I’m a big fan of Jake. He’s probably all that’s right about college athletics. He probably turned down a pretty lucrative deal to come back and play at Washington. I feel for Jake more than anything. He’s everything you want in a football player. I feel bad that he can’t play against us because I enjoy watching Jake play.”
Factoids
Oregon has averaged 42.0 points in winning six straight in the series since a 42-10 loss in 2003.
The Huskies have posted only a 1-9-1 record against first ranked opponents, with the lone victory coming over top-ranked Minnesota in the 1961 Rose Bowl.
The Oregon offense which leads the nation with 54.9 points and 572.9 yards per game.
The Huskies allow 34.1 points per game to rank 106th in the FBS.
Washington owns a 58-39-5 series advantage over Oregon.
The Ducks have had the edge of late in the series, winning 11 of the last 15 against the Dawgs.
Oregon entered this week third nationally in rushing offense, at 308.8 yards per game.
From 1974 to 1993, Washington won 17 of 20 meetings. The series also features one of the biggest year-to-year turnarounds in college football history as the Ducks beat the Huskies, 58-0, in 1973 and then lost at the UW, 66-0, the following year.
Washington was listed as a 35 point underdog before word leaked out that Jake Locker was injured.