Oregon State at Washington

Written by Steve Janus

This Saturday the No.24 Oregon State Beavers will look to improve to 3-0 in Pac-10 play when they go on the road to take on the Washington Huskies. The Beavers stunned the No.9 ranked Arizona Wildcats 29-27 on the road last week, while the Huskies were unable to backup their win over USC with a win against Arizona State, losing 24-14 at home. The Beavers will look to extend their current six game winning streak over the Huskies, which includes a 48-21 blowout win at home last year. If you are thinking about betting on the game this weekend, the current college football odds have this game at a pick’em.

Oregon State (3-2, 2-0 Pac-10): The Beavers only two losses this season have came against No. 3 Boise State and No.6 TCU, and the Beavers were in both of those games. Last week Oregon State proved why they deserved to be ranked, as they went into Arizona and took down the undefeated Wildcats on their home field. Quarterback Ryan Katz had a monster day throwing the football, as he completed 30 of 42 passes for 393 yards and two scores, and added another touchdown on a 1 yard run. Running back Jacquizz Rodgers had 83 yards with a touchdown on 25 carries, giving him 481 yards and seven touchdowns on the season. As good as the win was for the Beavers, they also got some bad news, as they lost their leading wide out and return specialist James Rodgers for the rest of the season.

The defense has been a liability for the Beavers so far this season, as they come into the game this weekend giving up 30 points and 456 yards of total offense a game. While losing Rodgers is going to be a tough situation to overcome, I still think the offense is well equipped to put plenty of points on the board, but the defense is going to have to step it up a notch if the Beavers still plan on contending.

Washington (2-3, 1-1 Pac-10): It’s hard to get a good feel for the Huskies this season, as they have been about as inconsistent as you can get. After losing at BYU to start the season the Huskies dominated Syracuse at home, but then followed that up with an embarrassing performance against Nebraska. The Huskies then went on the road and beat a ranked USC team in their next game, only to lose at home against Arizona State last week. Last week against the Sun Devils the Huskies got on the board early with a first quarter touchdown run by quarterback Jake Locker, but didn’t score again until Locker connected with D’Andre Goodwin for 15 yards in the fourth quarter. Locker finished with 209 yards on 23 of 38 passing, but also had an interception in the loss.

Defensively the Huskies have not been very good this season, allowing nearly 31 points a game, which really puts a lot of pressure on Locker and the offense to produce. If the offense struggles the Huskies almost have no chance of winning because the defense just digs them too much of a hole. This week though I think Washington could surprise the Beavers, as they should be able to move the ball against Oregon States defense.

Looking at the Odds: I have a big feeling a lot of the public is going to be all over the Beavers in this game after their surprising win over Arizona last week, but my money is on the Huskies in this one. While I don’t feel losing Rodgers will hurt the Beavers offense that much, I think losing him as a returner is going to make a big impact on field position which should lead to fewer scoring drivers. My final score prediction is Washington 38, Oregon State 35.

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