Dan’s Payback? “If You Can’t Beat Washington Now, When Can You?”

750 The Game Staff

Intensity tends to swell when the Oregon Ducks and Washington Huskies prepare to square off on the football field and this week is no different.

No. 1 Oregon (11-0, 8-0 Big Ten) hosts their rivals on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. on NBC, trying to snap a three-game losing streak in the series and claim Dan Lanning’s first victory against Washington (6-5, 4-4).

Dave ‘SOFTY’ Mahler of sports radio KJR in Seattle is as Husky Honk as they come. He called into 750 The Game to heap added pressure on Lanning and remind him of his painful past against his rival to the north.

“Simply put, if UW goes down to Eugene and they beat the Ducks, I’m playing for the right to laugh in your face,” Softy told John Canzano. “If you can’t beat Washington now after everybody that’s left, with fifty new players, with a Heisman Trophy quarterback, with a golden child at head coach in Dan Lanning…

“If you can’t beat Washington now after what they did to you twice a year ago, when are you going to beat them?”

With head coach Kalen DeBoer, offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb and quarterback Michael Penix, Jr., Washington went 3-0 against Oregon including a win at Autzen Stadium in November of 2022 when the Ducks were 8-1 and ranked No. 6 in the CFP and favored by 13.5 points.

The Huskies won that game 37-34, then defeated Oregon again in Seattle the following October in a matchup of two top-ten teams 36-33.

Both teams kept winning after that game, setting up the Pac-12 Championship in Las Vegas that had Oregon again favored by double-digits but again saw Washington come out on top 34-31 and punch their ticket to the College Football Playoff while sending Oregon to the Fiesta Bowl to play Liberty.

Listen to the full segment with Softy below.

Oregon is favored by 19.5 points on Saturday against the Huskies.