greenblood
New Fish
Adding Helfrich into the equation and it's evenOn paper Oregon will be favored by 10-14but I'm not convinced we can't go in there and pull the upset. Last year that was Oregon's best performance of the year and the bounces went their way that game.
We will have a much better DL & DL depth. That is something we haven't had in a while. Oregon also has potential questions at WR and on defense having lost 6 starters. Notice I say potential. They've recruited well and good players are filling in.
Also factor in that we've gone from Sark against Chip to Pete against Helfrich. Helfrich appeared to lose his team after the Stanford game. They were not good the last several games of the regular season. What happens if they lose to UCLA the week before?
UW has the talent to play with Oregon, the players know that and with Petersen instead of Sark, they will believe they can win. That, along with the depth and experience on both lines will give them a reasonable chance, which is a huge upgrade from no chance in recent years.
Mariotta is probably the difference though. I think Oregon is vulnerable though. No Chip. Huge expectations. Nearly tanked last year after facing adversity. They are a Mariotta injury away from being a big disappointment. You could say that about any team's QB but Oregon has the biggest expectations of anyone and Mariotta may be more susceptible to injury than some of the other QB's. I do expect Oregon's OL and tailbacks to be very good though.
Crisp