With everything on the line, Ducks and Huskies meet again — and so do we

Home-and-Home is a regular conversation between Christian Caple of On Montlake and Tyson Alger of Lookout Eugene-Springfield. With more than two decades of combined experience covering football in the Northwest, On Montlake and Lookout have unique views on the Ducks, Huskies and Pac-12 football.

Tyson Alger: Caple, Happy Thanksgiving. A bit’s happened since we did our last Home-and-Home a year ago. Dan Lanning finally beat the Huskies, the Mariners made a deep playoff run and, after four years on my own, I gained full-time employment here at Lookout Eugene-Springfield. 

I think each one of those gets progressively more unbelievable.

This will be the first time some of my readers here at Lookout will experience the wit and banter that only cast-off Athletic employees can provide in our occasional back-and-forth — and I’m pretty stoked that we get to kick things off here with a compelling installment of this rivalry. 

Christian Caple: Tyson, my readers have been clamoring for our banter, so I’m just thankful we can still do this now that you have a boss again.

Alger: You and I have covered games in this series with bigger stakes than this one, but the 118th meeting between these schools is no slouch: It’s the Huskies that stand between the Ducks and a trip to the College Football Playoff.

We’ve had a lot of games without feel two years into this Big Ten experiment. This is not one of them. I’m thankful for that.

To kick things off, give me a sense of what Washington is thankful for this year coming into Saturday.

Caple: Honestly, Washington should be thankful for the opportunity to be just a touch disappointed with its current 8-3 record. To be clear, I’m not suggesting the Huskies are underachieving in Jedd Fisch’s second season, or that 8-3 is anything to scoff at for a program that essentially reverted to factory settings after that magical 2023 season.

But this week would be even more interesting had Washington found a way to beat Wisconsin on Nov. 8.That 13-10 defeat might look more tolerable today than it did at the time, considering the Badgers’ dominant win over Illinois on Saturday, but it still was a game the Huskies should have won, and if they had, they would be 9-2 and probably sitting around No. 17 or so in this week’s CFP rankings. Beat Oregon in that scenario, and who knows?

The fact there is even one single loss to rue, however, represents progress in itself. Last year, the season pretty quickly became about getting to six wins and making a bowl, which UW accomplished in its penultimate game. This year, the Huskies made the initial CFP rankings, at least, and still have a path to 10 wins, however narrow.

At present, their 2026 recruiting class is ranked No. 15 in the composite, which, if it holds, would be right around their highest-ranked class in the modern recruiting era. Several players from the 2025 class already have made an impact this season, and quarterback Demond Williams Jr. is a sophomore. Coaching instability could always change things, but at present, the arrow is pointing up.

You watched Oregon slice through the Big Ten unbeaten last year before running into the Ohio State buzzsaw in Pasadena. This year, the Ducks’ only loss is to unbeaten Indiana, and they’re coming off a pretty impressive handling of USC. 

We all know what it looked like when Oregon and Washington met in Eugene last year. Are there similar expectations for the Ducks this time around, or do you get the sense they’re preparing for a more competitive game?

Alger: Outside the locker room, I think there’s a reasonable amount of anxiety with this one.

Dan Lanning has lost eight games in his career as a head coach. Three of those have come to the Huskies. And while last year’s 49-21 win in Eugene came with a lot of “Lanning gets Washington off his back” headlines as the Ducks made their way to the Rose Bowl, that Washington team wasn’t like those Washington teams.

When Oregon’s digital team filmed Lanning smashing a UW helmet in the locker room at halftime of that game, they had a pretty good idea they were going to be able to use that footage later. They don’t make those Ducks vs. Them episodes after losses — and this one did 115,000 views on YouTube. 

But this year’s Oregon team hasn’t been quite as dominant as last year’s Oregon team. This year’s Washington is better. And while the Ducks should be confident after they deftly handled USC with a short-handed roster, we’ve had a few of these over the years where the situation called for the Ducks to be confident, only to see the Huskies triumph in the end. 

I thought the Ducks would win this one. 

I thought the Ducks would win this one. 

And here, today, I think the Ducks will win this one.

The Huskies have closed the gap in Fisch’s second year. Williams is dynamic and his ability to convert with his feet should be frightening for an Oregon defense that struggles on third down. But the Ducks are deeper, more balanced and have played well on the road this season — granted, I still don’t know how to evaluate what I saw at Penn State.

So let me ask you this: Washington is clearly better than it was a year ago. Their improvement in recruiting is massive as well. A win over the Ducks to end Oregon’s playoff bid — while securing their own 9-3 season — would be a monumental moment for a coaching staff and program seemingly headed in the right direction. 

I feel like you could sell the hell out of that to boosters and season ticket holders. 

But Fisch’s name is a popular one in the coaching carousel — even if he did reaffirm his commitment to Washington earlier this month. How are UW fans doing balancing the two? Because this, at least, is something Oregon fans from 2016 through 2021 can empathize with.

Caple: That question will no doubt loom over Washington in some capacity until all these openings are filled (and even then, I suppose some would be sweating out the NFL hiring cycle). Kalen DeBoer’s abrupt departure for Alabama created a lingering sense of insecurity among fans, and the transitory nature of Fisch’s career only heightens those anxieties. 

And, you know, the head-coaching job at Florida is open.

I get the sense that Fisch’s name being so frequently connected to his alma mater, in particular, makes it difficult for folks to allow themselves too much excitement about a young roster that, no doubt, should have people excited. Freshmen and sophomores on both sides of the ball have made a lot of plays the past two weeks, especially, and they have to some degree all season. There’s growing confidence that this roster could be really good in 2026 … there’s just maybe not as much confidence that it will be really good at Washington. 

If there’s any benefit to this worry, it’s that no honest UW fan would be able to claim they were blindsided by any Fisch departure. DeBoer’s exit left deep wounds in the UW psyche; I think it fundamentally changed the way fans here regard the head coach, and certainly any notion of his long-term commitment. Combine that with Fisch’s track record and all the Florida talk, and you’d have to be fairly oblivious not to at least recognize the concern.

Nobody wants to start over again after two years. News of a contract extension (or a raise or whatever), I think, would be greeted positively, with some distance now from the Wisconsin loss. Any affirmation of Fisch’s return would be celebrated.

If he were to leave, though, I think more fans would accept it and move on while still bracing for the struggle ahead.

Meanwhile in Eugene, Lanning has no problem letting everyone know how green the grass is — don’t think that’s gone unnoticed here, either — and the Ducks are coming off their most impressive win of the season. What sets this Ducks team apart? They’re top-five nationally in both offensive and defensive yards per play.

Alger: If we had done this after the season’s first month, I would have said this was a high-flying, explosive, pass-happy offense with a future No. 1 pick at quarterback in Dante Moore, carrying first-class weapons in receiver Dakorien Moore and tight end Kenyon Sadiq. 

But through a combination of injuries, weather and some growing pains from the quarterback, the true motor of this offense has been the rushing attack. 

What a ride that’s been. 

The Ducks have rushed for 179 yards or more in five consecutive games, have four running backs averaging 5.9 yards per carry or more and have seen the rise of Jordon Davison, a 235-pound true freshman out of Mater Dei, who has 511 yards and 13 touchdowns. Of Oregon’s 2,515 rushing yards this season, only 70 belong to Makhi Hughes, who transferred to Oregon with the expectation of being the guy after 1,401 yards last year at Tulane — then redshirted after getting 17 carries in the season’s first four games. 

The consistency of the rushing attack has allowed Moore time to rekindle his early-season form.

In wins over Iowa and Wisconsin, Moore was 22-of-36 for 198 yards, no touchdowns and a pick. In the two wins since over Minnesota and USC: 49-of-60, 563 yards, 4 touchdowns and a pick. 

That’s pretty darn good production on top of an elite running game. And it’s pretty remarkable production when you consider the Ducks have played the last three games with just four scholarship receivers available. 

The defense’s strength is its secondary, where the Ducks have a host of lengthy defensive backs who have produced the No. 3 passing defense in the country. Dillon Thieneman has been expectedly good coming over from Purdue, but the true star has been Brandon Finney Jr. at corner. He’s 6-foot-2, a true freshman and ranks second in the Big Ten in highest forced incompletion rate, per PFF. 

The Ducks have made a lot of noise in the transfer portal the last few years. But the real strength of this team has been the depth that two consecutive top-five recruiting classes have provided. 

Let’s begin to wrap this thing up: How does Washington win on Saturday? And, like, that’s got to be a field-stormer, right? 

Caple: It certainly would be. Any UW upset bid has to start with the running game, on both sides of the ball. O-line injuries or not, Oregon’s offense might be the most physical Washington has seen this year, and its defensive front is similarly nasty. The Huskies have improved in both areas themselves, especially compared to what they put on the field at Autzen last season, but they still haven’t proven they can run the ball consistently against a quality defense.

It sounds like Jonah Coleman should be healthier after missing most of the last three games with a knee injury. His return would help. The Huskies seem to have found their best O-line combination to account for two injured starters. It sounds like Fisch expects star receiver Denzel Boston to play.

Washington has scored a total of two touchdowns in its three losses. They do a lot right offensively, but they still haven’t found a way to sustain and finish drives against a talented defense, and their own defense — which has played well of late, but against weaker competition — has to at least force Dante Moore to throw the ball down field.

Obviously, he’s been pretty good at that — the Ducks rank sixth in FBS in passing efficiency, for crying out loud — but you, ah, select your venom when facing balanced teams with few weaknesses. Considering Oregon’s elite running game and the physical toll it can exact if UW can’t stop it, I’m guessing the Huskies would prefer to make the quarterback beat them, then tackle well to limit YAC.

They also need Demond Williams Jr. to do some Demond stuff. 

In sum: Washington has to play by far its best game of the Fisch era to win on Saturday.

What do you think? Based on what you’ve seen from Oregon all season, what is it about Washington that gives it the best chance to pull off an upset?

Alger: The Ducks have been able to succeed over the last three weeks with, essentially, me being up next on the WR depth chart. They’ve made it work — and at times, really excelled with the passing game — but that continues to be a worry with the status of Dakorien Moore and Gary Bryant Jr. unknown for Saturday. 

If Washington can do what touted run defenses like Iowa and Wisconsin could not and limit the Ducks on the ground, there’s going to be pressure put on those receivers — and an offensive line that spent much of the USC win down its center and left tackle. 

The Ducks have played in some pretty intense road environments this year. Husky Stadium, a place of recent Oregon nightmares, will be right up there — with everything on the line for the Ducks.

I think us writers can work with that, no?

It still feels weird not seeing Oregon State after Thanksgiving, but at least we’ll be coming out of our tryptophan slumber with what I think will be a really good football game. 

See ya in the press box.

Caple: Like Autzen, the Husky Stadium press box is open-air. There aren’t many of those left. Dress warm.