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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Lame Ducks can derail Huskies’ championship hopes

Running back Royce Freeman (21) and the Oregon Ducks will try to extend their dominance over the Washington Huskies. (Ryan Kang / Associated Press)
By Matt Calkins Seattle Times

Since the streak started, they have gone against Marcus Mariota, Dennis Dixon and Vernon Adams.

They have tried to slow LaMichael James, Jonathan Stewart and Kenjon Barner, too.

They have faced two teams that played in the national-championship game, four that won the conference and five that scored at least 45 points per game.

Yes, the past 12 Oregon squads have included some of the most frightening rosters in college football. And as a result, they’ve terrorized Washington every season since 2004.

But this particular group of Ducks is the scariest one the Huskies have faced since the turn of the century. And truthfully, it isn’t all that close.

It’s important to note that the operative word in the above paragraph is “scariest.” This is nowhere close to the best or most talented team Oregon has fielded in the past decade-plus.

In fact, there’s a good chance this will be the first UO team to miss out on a bowl berth since 2005. Which makes Saturday’s game in Eugene, Oregon, all the more terrifying for the Huskies.

Think about it: When is the last time UW has had this much to lose? When can you recall a game with such buzzkill potential?

Oregon (2-3, 0-2 Pac-12) is like a block eight moves into a Jenga game. It should be easy to remove, but if you’re not careful, the whole thing comes crashing down.

On Friday, Washington (5-0, 2-0) played its best football game since its Rose Bowl season 16 years ago. It destroyed then-No. 7 Stanford 44-6 in front of a national TV audience and surged to No. 5 in the AP Top 25 poll. It was the loudest and most crowded Husky Stadium had been since its renovation, and felt like a prelude to two more months of madness.

If the Huskies can beat Oregon, of course.

Few things in college football are as intense as the animosity UW fans have built toward the Ducks. For 12 years, they gave the Huskies an annual reminder of the power shift in the Northwest, and Washington was defenseless to stop it.

Even last October, when the Huskies were favorites going into the game, Oregon led wire-to-wire and came out with a 26-20 win in Seattle.

What’s different about this year is that the power shift seemingly has done a 180. Now, Washington looks like the team with national-championship potential and Oregon the team that can salvage its otherwise forgettable season with a win over its interstate rival.

It was a pretty sudden about-face – not one the past few seasons have necessarily been building toward. In other words, when it comes to maintaining its status in the national eye, this Huskies team doesn’t have much experience to draw from.

It was just a few weeks ago, remember, that UW broke into the AP top 10 for the first time since 2002. And it was just two weeks ago that it needed overtime to knock off an unranked Arizona team. The Huskies proved they have one-punch power against the Cardinal last week, but they haven’t proven they can punch that hard more than once.

On Monday morning, Washington coach Chris Petersen was asked if it is difficult to follow an A-plus performance with another stellar game the next week. His answer? Absolutely.

“I know it seems like it shouldn’t be that hard, but it really is,” Petersen said. “It’s our job to make sure the players understand that if you don’t play at a really high level anybody can beat anybody in this league.”

Plus, this Oregon team plays a speed-based style that resembles Arizona’s offense far more than it does Stanford’s. And the Huskies will be playing on the road, where they were 2-3 last year and are barely 1-0 this year. More than anything, though, the Ducks will have desperation as a teammate, as Oregon might need this win for coach Mark Helfrich to keep his job.

All that adds up to potential trouble.

Then again, the Huskies might just be so talented and so well-coached that none of those factors will matter. And if they can thump the Ducks the way they did Stanford, this train toward the College Football Playoff officially would be at top speed. But if they let this one get away, it would stymie all the momentum that has been built to this point.

Generally speaking, it’s an exciting time to be a Husky fan right now. But this week, it’s just plain scary.