Is it Thursday already? Not much fur-flying on ASCP-10 this year - maybe we all think this year's a bust? Anyway, the games do continue...

Washington at Oregon State.

Oregon State last year was the best losing-record team in the Pac-10. 6 or 7 more points spread across some games would've sent them to a bowl. Everyone thought with so many seniors leaving this year they'd be back in the basement. Then the whole New Coach thing happened, and here they are at a respectable 3-1. The Beaver jokes are over now and people are noticing OSU.

In their first 3 games the Beavers played some mediocre teams and really ran up some scoring. They managed to score 29 on USC, no small feat. They also made some big mistakes against USC, giving up 14 points on turnovers. The Beavers have the capability to score and also to make some mistakes. The most impressive stat against USC is 22 4th quarter points, to USC's 0. The Beavers are obviously not quitters. Jonathon Smith put on a passing clinic last year at Husky Stadium. Believe me it was ugly (if you're a Dawg fan.)

The Huskies are a team in the making, improving drastically from their mistake-filled first two games. By the Oregon game the Huskies seem to have come together on both offense and defense.

I see the matchups like so:

Oregon has a legitimate big-time runner in Simonton. The word is he's injured but will play. No back averages his numbers with a solid O-line. The Husky D-line is improving. Their one strong-point is defending the run. Lester Towns has suddenly decided to become mobile, so perhaps we'll see less missed tackles on the inside. I suspect Dennis Erickson will try to prove the run then mix in the passing, exploiting the UW's soft secondary.

We all know Smith can throw the ball. I expect OSU will have trouble with the run and will commit to passing. It will be pretty successful.

Washington has the most confounding offense so far in the Pac-10. Who expected a Pac team to run the option? The Beavers are 7th in the Pac-10 against the rush, and that's against some low-powered teams, except for Georgia Southern, who I believe ran a wishbone. This opens up a can of worms for the OSU defense. The UW offensive line is inexplicably good this year. If they (OSU) commit to stopping the run it'll open up the short passing game, which Marques Tuiososopo is improving daily at. OSU should stack against the run on all 1st downs, making the Dawgs pass on 2nd down. Oregon couldn't do this no matter what they tried, but I think Erickson will have some ideas. It will all hinge on keeping the Huskies to short yardage on 1st down, limiting their options.

Other factors... both teams are fighters, scoring often in the 4th quarter. UW has already scored more in 4 4th quarters than all of last year's 4th quarters. Man what a confusing sentence. What I'm saying is, it'll be a battle. UW is more physical. Oregon was punished last week, let's see if the Huskies can continue the trend.

Oregon St. will end up passing more than running as I really believe the Huskies can slow their running game. Still, OSU can score up to 35 points against the weak UW secondary. -3 since Simonton is injured. +2 at ome. -4 for being turnover prone. 30 points if they play well. They seem to be still figuring it out, so I call 28.

UW likes to play ground control and really lacks the quick-scoring ability. Still, their attack is balanced and they should rack up between 400-500 yards. Mistake-free football would give them 35 or so points. I doubt that'll happen, I call 30.

UW 30, OSU 28.

- COMMENTS -

The Beavers have some talent, but for those who didn't watch the game OSU didn't bother to show up until the middle of the 3rd quarter. What a letdown for the excited crowd. I wanted the refs to start blowing fouls against the Huskies just to even it up a little.

The Beavers lost the game against USC on offensive miscues and the trend continued yesterday. The cause for this is usually poor coaching - you guys figure it out.

Overall I don't have any indication that the Huskies played well or improved at all - the Beavers were that bad. The Huskies gave up around 450 yards, but the second-team defense played for part of the game.

Next week, those wiley ASU Sundevils. They always seem to play us close.