OREGON SCORES AGAIN--The Huskies aren't good. 43-12 Ducks with 11:21 left. We'll end the game thread here.

HUSKIES MAKE IT LOOK A LITTLE BETTER--Polk scores on 4th-and-goal from the one yard line to make it a little more respectable. Oregon still leads 36-12 after a failed two-point conversion attempt.

BLOWOUT--Ducks add another touchdown. 36-6 now with 3:21 left in the third quarter.

THIS GAME'S OVER--Ducks score again, this time a 13-play 96-yarder capped by a 16-yard touchdown pass to D.J. Davis. It's 29-6 with 4:54 left in the third quarter, and UW appears headed for its fifth loss of the season.

HUSKIES ALMOST OUT OF IT--They go three-and-out on the first possession of the second half, then Oregon needs just three plays to punch it in the end zone and make it 22-6. UW needs to respond in a big-time hurry.

SOME NUMBERS--The stats seem to suggest Washington is winning this game, as the Huskies have outgained the Ducks 196-132, including a surprising 75-60 edge in rushing yards (though Masoli did lose 31 yards on two sacks). Locker's 12-for-23 for 123 yards and one very big interception. The difference is obviously the special teams. You figure that unit has cost UW 12 points today, eight coming on the blocked punt for a TD and subsequent two-point conversion, then another four when a fake field goal set up a touchdown when it appeared Oregon would have to settle for three. UW's defense is playing as well as anyone could have asked, really. But too many breakdowns in special teams has the Huskies trailing right now.

RIDICULOUS FINISH TO FIRST HALF--And what may be the longest second in school history. First, Locker hits James Johnson for a first down on a play that started with 5 seconds left. The clock ran out, but after review, one second was put back on the clock. And after a UW timeout, Locker gets sacked...but a personal foul penalty is called on Oregon, moving the ball to the Ducks 30 yard line, close enough for an Erik Folk field goal attempt. And he nailed it. 15-6 Oregon after a frustrating half for the Huskies, but that finish might lend them a bit of momentum.

THREE-AND-OUT--And UW has to punt with 1:54 left in the half with the ball at its own 28 yard line. Oregon has two timeouts left.

DUCKS SCORE AGAIN--After a 14-play, 80-yard drive that saw a conversion on 3rd-and-25, as well as a fake field goal run for a first down on 4th-and-5. Huskies really not doing anything to help themselves. 15-3 Oregon with 2:22 left in the first half.

TERRIBLE EXECUTION--Huskies get a first-and-goal at the UO four, and can't punch it in on four tries. Locker threw an interception in the end zone on fourth down. UW has to score there. It's as simple as that.

OREGON BLOCKS PUNT, SCORES--Mahan has his punt blocked and the Ducks recover in the end zone, then run that weird PAT formation and end up getting a two-point conversion out of it. 8-3 Oregon with 12:45 left in the second quarter.

FIRST SCORELESS 1st QUARTER OF THE SEASON--That's the first time the Huskies have held an opponent scoreless in the first quarter this season.

UW DEFENSE HANGING TOUGH--Ducks get to the UW 39 yard line before two incompletions set up a sack, a 15-yard loss that came after the Huskies brought three guys on a blitz. Nathan Fellner also had a monster hit on an Oregon receiver on the second incompletion during that series. First quarter over, Huskies lead 3-0.

HUSKIES STRIKE FIRST--Erik Folk hits a 33-yard field goal to give UW a 3-0 lead with 3:27 left in the first quarter. And it came after Jake Locker took a sack on third down, and literally had his helmet ripped off his head. No penalty was called.

DUCKS STUFFED AGAIN--After picking up a first down on the first play of the series, the UW defensive backs make a couple of really nice plays, including a tackle for a three-yard loss by Adam Long, to stuff Oregon and get the ball back at the UW 42 yard line. Two tackles for loss on that possession.

HUSKIES PUNT, TOO--They pick up two first downs before the drive stalls at their own 48 yard line. Nice punt by Will Mahan, as he skips it out of bounds at the Oregon 4 yard line. Let's see if UW's defense actually has something figured out, or if that first drive was a fluke.

DUCKS PUNT--On their first possession, a good sign for UW, obviously. It was actually a three-and-out, too.

CAPTAINS--Jake Locker, Donald Butler, Tripper Johnson, Adam Long, Ryan Tolar and Danel Te'o-Nesheim are UW's captain. Also, looks like Masoli is a definite go today. He's out as a captain at midfield and looked to be moving fine in warmups. Huskies win the toss and defer.

We've arrived at the press box here at Husky Stadium, where it's about 40 minutes until kickoff of what's shaping up to be a pretty interesting game between Washington and Oregon. I say interesting because at least four fairly well-known sports scribes have picked UW--Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times, Stewart Mandel of SI.com, Ted Miller of ESPN.com and noted college football guru Phil Steele--in a game the Huskies are 10.5 point underdogs.

And that seems a little surprising. The biggest knock on the Huskies for the better part of this decade has been that they can't play defense, and that isn't any less true this year. So why do so many people think they're going to be capable of shutting down one of the more potent offenses in the country, one that they haven't come close to stopping in the past five years? This just doesn't seem like a favorable matchup for UW at all.

Oregon has some holes in its defense, too, though, as the Ducks are kind of working with a banged up secondary right now, which maybe could be where Washington has the most opportunity to steal this one. Jake Locker's obviously more prepared to take advantage of a weak secondary than he was last year or the year before, so he'll be even more of a threat in this one.

A big factor is whether Jeremiah Masoli plays, too, though Steve Sarkisian noted this week that the Ducks offense doesn't change any if Nate Costa is under center. And that's really the biggest problem for the Huskies--not who's playing quarterback, necessarily, but whether they can figure out where the ball is and make plays in space against that spread offense.

Let's call it Oregon 42, Washington 20. Just don't see them stopping that offense.

Check back for the game thread.

 

 

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