Good Luck Ducks, Week 9: The Cougar in the Room

Oregon looks to end a four-game losing streak to Washington State. 

There was a point last week where it looked like the Ducks were going to leave Husky Stadium searching for answers and facing an uphill battle towards regaining conference supremacy. Fortunately, this Oregon bunch looks like a completely different animal than has been seen around these parts in, well... ever? After trailing for most of the game, the Ducks quite confidently and calmly imposed their will against the smaller (?!!) Washington team and just ran right past their line. They bucked most conventional wisdom (and Pac-12 history for the most part) by running the ball when they were behind, even with a highly touted and experienced quarterback taking the snaps. It was an impressive feat to pull off, and it bodes well for the future of a program that seems to be in the process of being completely remade right before our eyes under their former lineman-turned head coach.

Next up are the pesky, dare I say it, dreaded Washington State Cougars. After seeing quarterbacks depart for the NFL for two straight years, it looks like the Cougars are down a bit this year. That doesn't make the four game losing streak to Wazzu any less imposing at this point, however. They're coming off a game where they hammered Colorado, which followed a very close loss to a good Arizona State team. It's a late night game tonight, and there's no doubt that the Ducks will be looking to put this team away early. Injuries and the recent transfer decision of senior Brenden Schooler have begun to limit Justin Herbert's passing targets even further, but they are still in good hands with the offensive line and the powerful running game at the moment.

• The Last Game: Oregon overcame a two touchdown deficit to come back and win 35-31 over their bitter rivals Washington.
• Know Your Opponent: Some are standing up for WSU's defense, which is an interesting position for a team that lost a game 67-63 this season where I swear there were no hoops involved.
• The Unis!: Nightmare green. Thanks, Nike. I guess this is close enough to Halloween, and I am definitely not clamoring for black uniforms to come back.
• Mario Cristobal's "Crystal Ball" prediction: "Complete confidence in them entering this football game." Concentrate and ask again.

• Luke Skyywalker's Crystal Balls say: Uncle Luke apparently coaches high school football now, which would give him unfettered access to Cougar Town. Of course, he's got to be older than most of the players' parents, which is whole different thing altogether. Hood rat, hood rat, hoochie mama 

Game time is 7:30 PM PDT on ESPN. Steve Levy, Brian Griese, Todd McShay and Molly McGrath are on the call. Go Ducks!