Tale of the Husky and Duck Tape

We do a deep dive into all of the categories that could influence the outcome of Saturday's game at Husky Stadium.

The season records are the same, the national rankings are virtually identical, the fan-base expectations have gone through the roof and the rivalry hatred has never been more venomous, so who has the better college football team this weekend — Washington or Oregon?

Two hundred and seventy-five Interstate 5 miles separate the fine metropolises of Seattle and Eugene, and thirteen victories distance their respective teams in the all-time series (61-48-5, favoring the UW), but precious little else puts much of wedge in a football rivalry so strong it will survive the break-up of the Pac-12 Conference and continue on.

Huskies and Ducks. UW and UO. Purple and gold against the green and yellow. Flea bags against the Quackers.

With so little else to differentiate them in this latest backyard brawl, we dive into the details, take a look at the minutiae driving this particular fracas between the Montlake hashmarks, which will be set up by College GameDay in the early hours of Saturday and played before ESPN cameras and a national audience later that afternoon.

Feel free, of course, to disagree with everything and anything said below.

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TALE OF THE TAPE

Quarterback — Michael Penix Jr. and Bo Nix both are veteran transfers and worldly travelers for the UW and Oregon, respectively. Serious Heisman Trophy candidates, too. Penix has completed 133 passes and thrown 16 touchdowns, Nix 131 and 15, demonstrating their similarities in talent. There's more. Penix leads the nation in passing yards per game (399.8), Nix in completion percentage (.804). Penix is 16-2 as the Husky starter, Nix 15-3 at Oregon. Penix won the first meeting, 37-34 in Eugene, which is about the only deciding factor. Advantage: Huskies

Running Back — The UW's Dillon Johnson and Oregon's Bucky Irving are more transplants. Johnson previously played for Mississippi State and Irving is formerly of Minnesota. At 6-foot and 218 pounds, Johnson is more of a power back, while the 5-foot-10, 195-pound Irving is a flat-out speedster. Irving has run 50 times for 393 yards and 4 scores while Johnson has a 41-240-4 stat line. Irving piled up 143 yards against the UW last season, which gives him ample momentum coming in. Advantage: Ducks

Wide Receivers — Oregon's Troy Franklin is one of the Pac-12's very best receivers, same as the UW's Rome Odunze. Franklin has 32 catches for 535 yards and 7 touchdowns to Odunze's stat line of 32-608-4. The difference is Odunze has a better supporting cast of starting pass-catchers in Jalen McMillan and Ja'Lynn Polk. Advantage: Huskies 

Tight end — Jack Westover of the UW and Terrance Ferguson of the Ducks bring plenty of size, stats and veteran experience to this match-up. The 6-foot-3, 248-pound Westover has 13 catches for 125 yards and 4 touchdowns, amazingly 3 coming against Michigan State. Ferguson, at 6-foot-5 and 255 pounds, has more catches (15) and yards (129), but just one score. Westover's TD magic wins out. Advantage: Huskies

Offensive Line — The Huskies return both starting tackles in the very capable Troy Fautanu and Roger Rosengarten from last year's game while Oregon brings back only center Jackson Powers-Johnson, previously a first-unit guard. Both rebuilt lines are highly proficient in pass protection, each permitting just 3 sacks this season. However, the Ducks are huge, averaging 6-foot-4 and 320 pounds per man, compared to the UW line dimensions of 6-foot-4 and 305 pounds per guy. Also, Oregon left tackle Josh Conerly Jr., the Seattle native, is a wildly athletic sophomore and an NFL player waiting to happen. Advantage: Ducks

Defensive Line — The Huskies have star power in edge rusher Bralen Trice, a 2022 first-team All-Pac-12 selection, but the Ducks have a playmaking SEC import in edge rusher Jordan Burch from South Carolina and a proven player in Brandon Dorlus, coming off a second-team All-Pac-12 showing. Oregon's starting front line has piled up 8 sacks to the UW's 3. Husky defensive tackle Tuli Letuligasenoa may not be at full strength. Advantage: Ducks  

Linebackers — At the inside backers, the UW relies on Edefuan Ulofoshio and Alphonzo Tuputala while the Ducks turn to Jeffrey Bassa and Bryce Boettcher. All are similar in size and juniors or older. Ulofoshio and Bassa each have 45-yard interception returns for touchdowns. The Husky duo has a combined 45 tackles to the Duck pair's 42, with Ulofoshio topping everyone with 27. Each side has one sack. Ulofoshio is the difference. Advantage: Huskies

Secondary — The Ducks have a secondary JaMarcus Shephard calls the best in the U.S. On Saturday, it might not be the best in Husky Stadium. The UW starting DBs have 5 interceptions to Oregon's 3. While the Ducks turn to a couple of well-regarded SEC imports in ex-Alabama cornerback Khyree Jackson and former Mississippi safety Tysheem Johnson, the best defender on the field this weekend could be Oklahoma State transfer Jabbar Muhammad for the UW. If nothing else, he has the coolest name. Advantage: Huskies

Punter — Oregon's Ross James has a booming 52.3-yard average, with a long punt of 63 yards, which means nearly all of his kicks are rockets. The UW's Jack McCallister comes in at 42.2 with a long of 55, which isn't bad, but makes him take a backseat. Advantage: Ducks

Kicker — The Ducks' Camden Lewis has converted on 6 of 7 field-goal attempts, with a long of 43 yards, while the Huskies' Grady Gross has been good on 4 of 5 with 41 his long three-pointer. Quantity wins out here. Advantage: Ducks

Punt Return — Tez Johnson has averaged 8 yards a return on a dozen runbacks, with a long of 18. That pales in comparison to Rome Odunze of the Huskies who averages 43.5 yards per return in two tries, with one of them going 83 yards for a touchdown against California. Advantage: Huskies

Kickoff Return — USC transfer Gary Bryant Jr. handles these duties for the Ducks and averages 20.2 yards on four returns, with 24 his longest. Michigan State transfer Germie Bernard has a 23-yard average on eight runbacks for the UW, with a long of 51. Advantage: Huskies 

Transfer Starters — In using the portal to full advantage, Oregon counts 9 transfers among its current 22 starters, with three of them coming from the talent-rich SEC, foremost Bo Nix. The UW has 5 transfers in its opening lineup, foremost Michael Penix Jr. Advantage: Ducks 

Homegrown Starters — A dying art is the local hero who stays home and plays for the hometown team, with Conerly a good example of how that's going for the Huskies. The UW actually has five local starters in guards Nate Kalepo (Renton) and Geirean Hatchett (Ferndale), tight end Jack Westover (Bellevue), linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala (Federal Way) and nickelback Mishael Powell (Seattle). Oregon, with its all-United Nations team, has just one in Eugene-produced linebacker Bryce Boettcher, who originally came to the school as a baseball player. Advantage: Huskies 

Reciprocal Transfers — Defensive tackle Taki Taimani is a former Husky who transferred to Oregon, while cornerback Darren Barkins went from Eugene to the UW. Both are subs. Taimani plays more; Advantage: Ducks

Penalty Recipients — The Huskies are 130th and dead last in college football in drawing penalties, picking up 44 for 471 yards, while the Ducks are 107th with 36 for 320 yards. Crime doesn't pay. Advantage: Ducks

Coach — Oregon has the better football facilities and higher-rated recruits, but the Huskies have the more established, polished and creative coach in Kalen DeBoer. He's 16-2 so far at the UW (95-11 at three schools), with wins over Michigan State (twice), Texas and Oregon. The Ducks' Dan Lanning, the former Georgia defensive coordinator, is 15-3, but one of those setbacks was to the UW in a game in which his team led 34-27 with 3:54 to play, only to get outscored 10-0 to the final gun. DeBoer is 1-0 against the Ducks. Advantage: Huskies

Strength of Schedule: Both teams have played unimposing schedules, ridiculous schedules. Oregon's opponents currently stand 12-16, UW's 12-15. Yes, the Ducks had no business facing Portland State in their opener, beating the Big Sky entry 81-7. Oregon has trailed just four times this season, three deficits coming against Texas Tech, but the Huskies have been behind just once, at 6-0 to Boise State to open the season. Only the Ducks have been tested much, scrambling for 10 points over the final 1:10 at Tech to win 38-30. Advantage: Ducks

Better Team: The Huskies are ranked seventh nationally to Oregon's No. 8 poll showing. The UW holds the all-time series edge by those aforementioned 13 victories, but the Ducks have captured 20 of the past 28 games. Both are high-scoring teams with improving defenses. Both rely on the home-field edge, but it doesn't always hold up, as last year's game showed. Advantage: Pick 'em.

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