Oregon Football has a distinct home-field advantage at Autzen Stadium but will face Washington State Saturday with a big piece of the Pac-12 North on the line.
Despite losing against Stanford and beating Washington in overtime last weekend, Oregon Football must have a road warrior mentality for the rest of the season. The Ducks have just two home games remaining with the rest coming on the road. Oregon faces back to back road games starting at Washington State and the Air Raid Offense of Mike Leach before traveling to Arizona next weekend.
If you look at the standings, both teams enter the game at 5-1(2-1 Pac-12.) The Cougar are a field goal from being closer to undefeated following a loss 39-36 to the hands of the USC Trojans. The secret about Washington State in recent years has been their passing game. Head Coach Mike Leach finds a specific type of Quarterback who can sling the ball and get rid of it quickly – oh and they are also very efficient. This season, Senior Gardener Minshew has thrown the ball over 2400 yards for 15 touchdowns and just four interceptions.
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The Oregon Defense needs to get to Minshew early in the game and not allow too much familiarity with what he will see for the game. Oregon will need to mix it up, as they did against Washington. There were multiple third and short opportunities last weekend for Jake Browning that saw Oregon take the edge and get a stop in key spots in the game.
Troy Dye will see his first trip to Pullman this season and is looking forward to the challenge, “I’ve heard it was really rowdy. Fans got into the game a lot they’re kind of obnoxious but they really got into it and I’m really looking forward to it.” Dye was injured two seasons ago and did not travel to Martin Stadium.
Oregon Football faces Washington State Saturday at 4:30pm Pacific Time on FOX.
Quotes obtained firsthand at Oregon Football Media availability.