We’re about three hours away from kickoff and it’s a cloudy day in Eugene. It’s not that cold – it’s supposed to be in the 50s – and it’s not raining or very windy. But it’s supposed to get rainy and windy, so we’ll see. Obviously that would have an impact on the game, and possibly in the Huskies’ favor. If anything can slow down Oregon’s offense, it’s wet weather. The Ducks have had a problem with turnovers this season – especially in their losses – and any turnover would help the UW. The Huskies have not been good at creating turnovers this year, with most of them coming from the linebackers rather than the defensive backs.
Of course, the weather could also hurt the Husky offense. Louis Rankin has been known to fumble from time to time. This team really needs Kenny James to play well today. As always, the running game is going to be huge in order to control the clock and try to keep the crowd out of the game. A good start by the Huskies is critical. If they can stay in the game early, it could be a good day. If Oregon gets hot early though, it could be really ugly.
Another thing that I’m really interested (in a semi-morbid way) of seeing is if Carl Bonnell and Johnny DuRocher both get hurt. It could well happen. Bonnell, frankly, always seems to get hurt. And if he goes down, Oregon is going to blitz the heck out of DuRocher, and given the struggles of the Husky offensive line, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that he could get hurt. Would the Huskies really use Felix Sweetman? Or would they turn to Jake Locker? It probably depends on what the score is. If Washington is in the game, I think there’s a good chance they go to Locker despite what the coaches have said the last week. If it’s a blowout, it obviously wouldn’t matter who they used, so we’d probably see Sweetman.
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