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‘We’ve got to represent’: UW coach Kalen DeBoer hopes to usher in next chapter of Oregon rivalry
DerekJohnson
Administrator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 64,089 
By Mike Vorel
Seattle Times staff reporter
Rivalries have chapters.
The players change. The coaches change. The circumstances change.
Change is inevitable — and for Washington, it’s especially welcome.
After all, the Huskies were 4-4 when they hosted No. 7 Oregon this time last fall, still reeling from a season-opening loss to FCS Montana. And, at a news conference Nov. 1, 2021, head coach Jimmy Lake was asked if he considered the Ducks a recruiting rival as well.
“I think that’s made up a lot, pumped up in your world,” Lake infamously responded to a local reporter. “In our world, we battle more academically prowess teams.”
Five days later, UW dropped a 26-16 defeat to the 8-1 Ducks — and a sideline shove of walk-on linebacker Ruperake Fuavai accelerated Lake’s eventual ouster. Players from both teams had to be separated after time expired inside Husky Stadium.
Afterward, while being unknowingly recorded by a player in the road locker room, Oregon coach Mario Cristobal said: “Those [expletive] guys right there, they represent everything that’s wrong with football. So when you kick their [expletive], you let them know it.”
So, yeah: some chapters are uglier than others.
But Husky fans are happy to turn this particular page.
Barely a year later, No. 24 Washington (7-2) will play at No. 6 Oregon (8-1) in a nationally televised game at 4 p.m. Saturday. For the Huskies, at least, a whole lot has changed.
Lake is out, Kalen DeBoer is in — and the stakes for UW’s new coach are unquestionably clear.
“I don’t know if there’s a speaking engagement I’ve went to where they haven’t emphasized how important it is to beat the Ducks,” DeBoer said with a laugh Monday. “It’s certainly important. It’s going to be fun, because we’ve put ourselves in a spot where it means something. They’ve got themselves in a spot where it means something. You’ve got the rivalry on top of it, and it looks like it’s going to be a great week weather-wise come Saturday. So it’ll be a fun weekend.”
It’ll be more fun, of course, if Michael Penix Jr. performs how he has all season. Through nine games, the redshirt junior Indiana transfer leads the nation in passing (359.1 yards per game) and has already set program records for single-game passing yards (516, against Arizona) and completions (36, against Arizona and Cal). He’ll receive an appetizing match up Saturday — against a Duck defense that ranks 101st nationally in opponent passing touchdowns (19), 115th in opponent completion percentage (65.3%), 117th in passing yards allowed per game (276.6) and 126th in third down defense (48% conversions).
But when asked what the Tampa native knows about the UW-Oregon rivalry, Penix smiled and said, “I don’t know much, except that this is a team we don’t really like.”
It’s also a team the Huskies have topped just twice in their last 17 match ups (though they still hold a 60-48-5 edge in the all-time series).
That slide is not expected to stop Saturday inside Autzen Stadium, as the Ducks (and new coach Dan Lanning) are considered 13.5-point favorites. Their offense — which ranks third in the nation in scoring (43.1 points per game), fifth in yards per carry (5.81) and 11th in rushing (231.22 yards per game) — is led by another transfer quarterback in Auburn departee Bo Nix, who has amassed an astounding 35 touchdowns (22 passing, 13 rushing).
Nix — a 6-foot-2, 213-pound senior — has completed 73.3% of his passes and thrown for 2,495 yards, while adding 457 rushing yards and 6.6 yards per carry as a diabolical dual threat.
“Nix is playing with a ton of confidence,” DeBoer said. “You can just see the way he’s operating, the game has slowed down for him. Man, I can’t say enough good things about what he’s doing leading that offense. They’re one of the best in the country for a reason.”
In their first legitimately hostile road environment of the DeBoer era, containing Nix and Co. will be the primary challenge for UW.
But it won’t be the only challenge.
“I try to preach to these guys, ‘Don’t be an Otis elevator, going up and down all the time,’” UW associate head coach and pass game coordinator JaMarcus Shephard said. “It doesn’t matter if we’re going to a hostile environment or, shoot, if we’re going to the library: Try to maintain the same intensity you should always have. It shouldn’t rise any higher or fall any lower because we’re going into a hostile environment. I just need them to go in and execute.”
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Which is a historically rare confluence in this particular rivalry. Though the Huskies and Ducks have met 113 times, Saturday will mark just the eighth match up between two ranked teams. (Three of those eight ranked match ups will have come in the last four meetings.)
Still, when it’s Oregon and Washington, there’s always something at stake.
“Just the history between UW and Oregon, there’s nothing like it,” sixth-year senior right guard Henry Bainivalu said. “It’s not the Wazzu rivalry, but it’s something special. The fans know it. Everybody knows it. They know it’s a special week. There’s something at stake when it’s Oregon Week.”
Added junior linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio: “It’s a program-defining game. Whatever coach comes in here … Pac-12 championships, yeah, those are great. But it’s how we play against Oregon that’s ultimately it. If you win against Oregon, they’ll love you forever. If you don’t, you might not be here anymore.”
The previous chapter is certainly proof of that.
But this rivalry isn’t about the characters who come and go.
It’s about Washington and Oregon.
“We’ve got to represent, right?” DeBoer said. “The alumni, who have poured so much into this program, we want to make them proud. We want to make our fan base proud. I can promise you, we will give it everything we’ve got, all week long.
“These guys want to continue to make this a great season, want this program to be better than it was when they got here. We’re still writing the story for the 2022 Huskies.”
Interesting sales pitch.
DeBoer's comments also sound like little thought went into what he was saying. But ultimately he's not paid to be a silver-tongued orator.