Oregon Ducks Should Be On Upset Alert Against Washington Huskies

The Oregon Ducks are riding high following their 42-30 win over the UCLA Bruins at the Rose Bowl last Saturday, a win that likely vaults the Ducks back into the National Championship picture. However, if the Ducks don’t want their title hopes to evaporate just as quickly as they materialized, they better not look past the visiting Washington Huskies this Saturday at Autzen Stadium.

Despite the fact that the Ducks are 21-point favorites and have defeated the Huskies in 10 straight contests, there are a couple of areas they need to address in order to avoid an upset.

Primarily, the Ducks are still without two of their starting offensive linemen. Jake Fisher returned last week and the line held UCLA without a sack, but they had surrendered 12 in the two games prior to that. This could prove to be a problem against a Huskies team that is tied for third in the FBS with 24 sacks and has the leader in sacks in the FBS in linebacker Hau’oli Kikaha with 10.

The Huskies are coming off a road win against the California Golden Bears last week where they held the Golden Bears, who were leading the Pac-12 in points per game at 50.0, to just seven points. The Huskies’ defense also ranks second in the conference in scoring defense, allowing only 21.3 points per contest.

Another area of strength for the Ducks is their rushing attack, where they lead the Pac-12 in rushing offense at 217.2 yards per game. However, the Huskies’ rushing defense ranks fourth in the conference in allowing only 117.5 yards per contest.

When all of these factors are added up, it seems to suggest that the Ducks could have a tougher time with the Huskies than most think, especially if they are looking ahead to the short week where they play the Golden Bears on Friday night. If the Ducks want to avoid the upset, they need to protect Marcus Mariota by running a lot of screens and quick passes to avoid sacks and mixing in a few well-timed runs to throw off a stout Huskies defense.

Phillip Jacques is a Pac-12 Football writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google