Jedd Fisch admits 'beating Oregon does a lot for me' ahead of rivalry game with Ducks

It’s rivalry week around the country, and there is plenty on the line in several of these key games. Among those is the Washington Huskies vs. Oregon Ducks game where Washington is looking to throw a chaotic swing at the College Football Playoff.

Ahead of the game, Washington head coach Jedd Fisch shared some thoughts on their chance to throw a wrench in Oregon’s season. However, more important than that to him is just beating Oregon for the sake of beating a rival.

“Beating Oregon does a lot for me,” Jedd Fisch said. “Knocking them out is just another part of it.”

Washington goes into the final week of the season 8-3 overall and 5-3 in Big Ten play. It’s been a step forward from last season, but the Huskies are still on the outside looking in at the College Football Playoff picture. Oregon, meanwhile, is 10-1 and has only lost one game to unbeaten Indiana. In last week’s selection committee rankings, they were ranked No. 7 nationally. That’s before adding a ranked win over USC. So, time will tell if Oregon finds itself ranked even higher by the selection committee.

The selection committee rankings for the final week of the regular season come out on Tuesday night. That should give some more insight into how Oregon stacks up. Regardless, a loss to Washington could put Oregon on the bubble to make the CFP as an at-large bid.

“But we want to do everything we possibly can to get a win on Saturday. That is our plan to do everything possible to get that done. We will work exceptionally hard knowing that we have a really, really good opponent coming to town. I think they’re fifth in the country right now. Rightfully so,” Fisch said. “And we have to play our very best this coming Saturday.”

Jedd Fisch is now in his second season as the head coach at Washington. A year ago, in Eugene, his Huskies lost 49-21 to the then No. 1 Oregon Ducks. He also lost to Oregon twice when he was the head coach at Arizona. So, beating the Ducks as a head coach isn’t something he’s managed to do, even with the success that Fisch has had as a program builder on the West Coast.

This year, Fisch and Washington are set to host the game at Husky Stadium in Seattle. Kickoff is currently scheduled for 3:30 p.m. EST on Saturday, November 29th.