Oregon Ducks vs. Washington State Cougars Score Predictions
Oregon fans have been flying high the past two weeks after convincing wins over Eastern Washington and BYU.
Finishing conference play at 2-1, Duck fans should feel confident in what lies ahead for this team--but they won't get an easy start to conference play this week when they clash with the Washington State Cougars.
Just like we do every week, our team of writers got together to give you our final score predictions for this week.
Mark Wang
Prediction: Washington State 24 Oregon 21
This game is gonna be ugly, hard-nosed and physical. It’ll take a while for Oregon to get the offense going and WSU will take advantage of the weak Ducks' secondary. It’ll be close the whole way and decided by a field goal.
READ MORE: Sports Illustrated Pac-12 football week 4 power rankings
Josh Parker
Prediction: Oregon 41 Washington State 24
The Ducks have proved they are ready for conference play the past two weeks. They've outscored their opponents 111-34 and both sides of the ball feel like they've improved drastically with each week.
Washington State's offense has already totaled 1,000 yards and the defense has only allowed 38 points in three games, both impressive marks. If Bo Nix can get his offense rolling like they were last week in a loud Martin Stadium, the Ducks should have no trouble scoring.
Defensively, Oregon has to be prepared to defend the pass like they did last week. With Wazzu’s typical air-raid offense now being referred to as the Cougar-raid with a tight end, the secondary will have to shut down Cameron Ward, Donovan Ollie and Billy Riviere.
With a win this week the Ducks can get things rolling for themselves down the road as they look to get back to Vegas for a Pac-12 title.
Graham Metzker
Prediction: Oregon 35 Washington State 24
Prior to Oregon’s upset over then-No. 12 BYU last weekend, Autzen Stadium hadn’t hosted a game where both teams were ranked since 2018.
That 2018 game saw No. 17 Oregon take out an undefeated No. 7 Washington. The very next week, Oregon traveled up to Pullman and lost to a ranked Washington State.
History will repeat itself if the Ducks are not careful on Saturday. The Cougars are on a roll, picking up a ranked win over Wisconsin just two weeks ago.
Linebacker Daiyan Henley and the Washington State defensive line will give Nix more troubles than BYU did.
However, the Ducks have great momentum as well. I see Nix putting together another strong showing with the passing game. I also see Noah Sewell and the Ducks’ defense making WSU quarterback Cameron Ward make enough mistakes to get the win.
Eric Berniker
Prediction: Oregon 40 Washington State 25
The Ducks got trounced by Georgia in their first game of the season, but since then they've secured back-to-back wins against FCS Eastern Washington and then No. 12-ranked BYU.
Each week the Ducks have looked better than the last. After failing to score a touchdown in week 1, Bo Nix threw for 5 in week two and ran for three scores in his most recent performance.
Washington State enters the contest at 3-0 and considered one of the best teams that's still unranked with a win against No. 10 Wisconsin.
My prediction is that after rolling against BYU, who was expected to be a challenge, Oregon's offense will continue to shine, utilizing the Ducks' newly balanced RPO offense.
The over under is set at 56. I can see it going either way, however with the way that the Ducks have been scoring recently, if the Cougars can keep it close and Nix remains in the game the whole time the magic number shouldn’t be too hard to notch.
Max Torres
Prediction: Oregon 45 Washington State 31
Entering this game there's two things I'm confident about. Oregon's offense is capable of putting up a lot of points and Washington State is one of the most difficult places to win in the Pac-12.
A big question that still remains is whether or not Oregon is capable of winning on the road, something they've struggled to do in recent seasons. Cameron Ward is a dangerous quarterback the Ducks will need to contain and they'll need to cover the middle of the field, an area they've been exposed at early on, especially since offensive coordinator Eric Morris looks determined to get the tight end involved in a new wrinkle for WSU.
Overall the Ducks look like they're showing steady improvement and discipline with each week, and they should take care of business on Saturday.
READ MORE: Dan Lanning addresses offensive chants made during BYU game
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