10 Things Oregon Needs to Know About the Huskies

Here's a pre-Pac-12 championship game primer with various facts and observations.

Outside of a darkened and empty Husky Stadium on Saturday night, not far from the Don James statue, a makeshift Pac-12 memorial stood mounted on a black platform, with beer cans, beer cups and assorted water bottles piled high around a crude headstone.

While this creation was meant to mark the end of a proud conference, Washington and Oregon actually will bring the football end of things to a close in the Pac-12 championship game on Friday in Las Vegas.

A makeshift Pac-12 memorial outside of Husky Stadium / Dan Raley

As the Huskies (12-0 overall, 9-0 Pac-12) head to Nevada trying to extend their perfect season record, and the Ducks (11-1, 8-1) come in bent on reversing their earlier three-point loss to UW, here are 10 things Oregon probably needs to know:

1) The UW has the best non-starting linebacker in the soon to shutter 12-team conference, if not all of the college landscape, in Carson Bruener. The junior came off the bench to pile up a game-high 14 tackles in the 24-21 Apple Cup victory over Washington State, this coming a week after he had a game-best 14 tackles as an injury fill-in starter at Oregon State. His 73 season total ranks him third among all UW defenders, trailing only safety Dominique Hampton's 89 and fellow linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio's 77.

2) Physically banged-up Husky defensive tackle Tuli Letuligasenoa is playing on sheer guts. He ran onto the field before the Apple Cup for senior ceremonies, hugged his parents and kissed his girlfriend, and then wasn't seen again until he was inserted into the game with 4:52 left and the Huskies needed a final stop, which Tuli and the others made happen.

3) Husky edge rusher Bralen Trice had a single sack entering the first Oregon game six weeks ago. He now has 5 and they're not simple pat downs. Lately, he's been hitting opposing quarterbacks like a runaway truck.

4) If this game comes down to a final-play field goal to determine things, the Huskies have the edge in Grady Gross, who ended the Apple Cup with a game-winning 42-yard field goal with all zeroes on the clock. The Ducks' Camden Lewis, of course, missed a 43-yarder wide right to tie the first Washington-Oregon game and force overtime as the clock ran out in Seattle. Gross has been good on 11 of 15 field-goal attempts this season, Lewis 10 of 16.

5) This game likely will settle the Heisman Trophy winner. On stats alone, Oregon's Bo Nix has the edge with 315 completions in 401 attempts for 3,906 yards and 37 touchdowns, with 2 interceptions, compared to the UW's Michael Penix Jr., who is 280 for 427 with 3,899 yards and 32 touchdowns, plus 8 interceptions. However, Penix is 1-0 against Nix this season in head-to-head matchups, 2-0 over two seasons. Friday's winner takes all.

6) Sophomore free safety Makell Esteen played in the first Oregon game, but he didn't start. He does now, becoming the fifth different Husky to man that particular back-row position this season. He has a knack for coming up with difficult interceptions. In the Apple Cup, he grabbed a ball tipped by both teams, catching it on the dive for his third career pass theft. 

7) Wide receiver Rome Odunze has season totals of 73 catches for 1,326 yards and 13 touchdowns, including three consecutive games with 2 scoring receptions each time out. The last time he faced Oregon, he likewise had a pair of scoring catches, including an 18-yarder with 1:38 left to play to decide the 36-33 UW win. Did we fail to mention he'll want to be at his very best while he's playing this Pac-12 championship game in his hometown?

8) Mississippi State transfer Dillon Johnson needs 39 yards to become a 1,000-yard rusher, which would make him the Huskies' first since Salvon Ahmed collected 1,020 in 2019. In three seasons and 35 games in the SEC, Johnson had 1,198 career rushing yards, picking up no more than 488 yards in any one season for Mike Leach's Air Raid offense. Johnson's 961 UW rushing total has come on 173 carries, for a 5.6 average, and he's scored 12 times.

9) Previously playing in Sin City, the Huskies have split a couple of Las Vegas Bowls, beating Boise State 38-7 in 2019 and losing to the Broncos 28-26 in 2012. Oregon is 1-3 in this Nevada town, beating Air Force 41-13 in 1997 and losing to BYU 38-8 in 2006 and to Boise State 38-28 in 2017, all in the Vegas Bowl, and losing to Utah 38-10 in the 2021 Pac-12 championship game at Allegiant Stadium. 

10) The Huskies are attempting to beat Oregon for the third time in as many tries over just 394 days, or 13 months, a time period that goes from Nov. 12, 2022, to Dec. 1, 2023. If they can do it, the Husky victories will have come on the road, at home and on a neutral field. The last time the UW emerged with three consecutive victories over Oregon was in 1991, 1992 and 1993, which was actually part of a five-game winning streak that began in 1989.

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