In a monumental Pac-12 matchup in Seattle, Oregon’s Ducks and Washington's Huskies mixed it up in a game that was so close statistically. Only a couple of differences stood out, and those spelled doom for the Dawgs and gave coach Mario Cristobal and his band of silver and green zealots an exquisite 35-31 victory.

It was a duel of two great offensive lines, two great quarterbacks and a pair of defenses; one of long-standing repute, the other gaining street cred as a toughie as the season wears on. Washington had a 28-14 lead in the third quarter, but was outscored decisively from then on, with the Duck defense rising up on key third-down conversion tries and in the final best moment, a fourth-and-3 stop with 54 seconds left in the game.

The Ducks revealed a new, explosive running back in Cyrus Habibi-Likio, formerly restricted to runs in the red zone, who ran and jumped over Husky tacklers for 81 hard-earned yards on 14 carries. Travis Dye and CJ Verdell also had their moments lugging the pigskin, but it was Habibi-Likio and a veteran line that hitched up their big-boy pants and put it to the Husky defensive front the entire second half, mixing strength, resolve and fundamental technique to wear them down.

A prime stopper to the Ducks' first-half offensive woes were the two left feet belonging to quarterback Justin Herbert that seem to occasionally cause him to shortcut his brain, causing poor decisions and errant throws across his body.

Oregon’s much-maligned offensive coordinator, Marcus Arroyo, masterfully called a game plan that worked almost perfectly. His use of formations and motion confused the Husky defense, especially on a series of screen passes that were basically the same, but to a variety of receivers and formations.

Another example, a Duck running back attempting to run to the tight-end side of the formation was run down from behind by a defensive back. Subsequently, Arroyo changed the same play to run the opposite way (toward the weak side) with a tight end (usually Hunter Kampmoyer) lined up as a wing that went in motion and kicked out the edge defender who was undersized to fend off a big guy. The play couldn’t be run down from this formation because there was still a tight end lined up on the strong side that could pick off any Husky attempting to run the play down from behind.

With Habibi-Likio leading the way, Travis Dye added 51 yards and CJ Verdell contributed 50 yards for a total of 182 yards with only two lost in the run game. The Huskies’ fine back Salvon Ahmed gained 140 but UW only netted 125 yards on the ground to the Ducks’ net of 154, both totals impressive against strong run defenses. Each team lost yards, the Huskies lost 31 yards on a sack and fumble and the Ducks lost 39 -- 19 on a bad snap (second game in a row) and 20 yards lost while Herbert was downing it in the victory formation.

While the Huskies gassed the Ducks with some tempo, they could not sustain it throughout the game and Oregon was able to flex its muscle more with their own version of tempo. Washington looked disorganized and tired and only had 10 men on the field when Habibi-Likio stormed into the end zone in the third quarter to make the score 28-21.

For Oregon, the comeback was on and the Duck defense dug in after giving up successive scores in the third quarter and holding Washington to a field goal that concluded its scoring at 3:39 of the third quarter. The Huskies could not sustain a scoring drive in their last three drives of the game when it mattered most.

In the quarterback battle, Washington’s Jacob Eason had a slight edge over Herbert statistically, hitting 23-of-30 passes for 289 yards and three scores, while his opponent completed 24-of-38 throws for 280 yards and four touchdowns. Neither gave up an interception, throwing lasers in a rainy, swirling environment made manageable by excellent pass protection afforded by both offensive lines.

But Herbert had the edge when it counted most. He converted only 2-of-4 third-downs in the first half, but 5-of-6 in the second half, good enough for three precious first downs and a pretty fourth-and-3 completion for a 33-yard score by Mycah Pittman at the end of the third quarter.

Eason was only able to convert 3 of 13 third downs and 2 of 3 fourth-down conversions. The one miss on fourth down was the last, and was the game. Eason’s pass to Puka Nacua was successfully defended by frosh corner Mykael Wright. Some Dawgs howled pass interference, but Wright did not impede Nacua’s hands or arms from making a bona fide attempt to catch the ball. Some referees have said there can’t be pass interference below the waist and Wright has some right to make a play on the ball. It actually looked as if Nacua tripped on his attempt to catch a pass that was thrown too hard and too early to be caught cleanly.

Herbert then dropped three times in victory formation for a loss of 20 yards rushing and total offense, but no one cared, the clock expired and Cristobal had his best victory yet — even better than last year’s overtime win over the Huskies in Autzen Stadium. Cristobal was ecstatic after the win, exclaiming: “The tougher it gets, the better we play — this validates all the hard work we put in.”

He can be proud of his Ducks in the second year of his transformative rebuild of a program that was headed south. Many Oregon fans, skeptical of tough talk and of an offense and coaching staff that was seemingly unaware they had a Heisman-like guy at quarterback, are now seeing Cristobal’s vision more clearly.

Not many questions remain, but there are two regarding his prize quarterback. Why can’t, or won’t, the Ducks have Herbert throw deep like everyone else does against Oregon? Arroyo has some excellent receivers to choose from and it remains a mystery as to why the deep ball is still the weakest arrow in Herbert’s quiver. He’s had three years to coach him and the Ducks’ leader is a smart, excellent athlete.

There’s still time for this to happen and it would sure put icing on the vision. This week come the Washington State Cougars, a dangerous team because they can, and will, throw deep often. They have a four-game win streak over the Ducks, including two at Autzen and embarrassed Oregon mightily last season when they outweighed the Ducks 60 pounds per man on the defensive line and held Oregon’s vaunted run game to only 58 yards.

The same offensive line is back for Oregon and it will be interesting to see if it is able to exact revenge on Washington State. They should, if the Husky win doesn’t go to their heads, like it did last year in Pullman.

The crucial stats for the Washington game:

No. 1 (explosiveness, yards per play) — Washington 6.5, Oregon 5.6 (leader wins 86% of the time);

No. 2 (efficiency, 3rd- and 4th-down conversion) — Oregon 7 of 15 for 47%; Washington 5 of 16 for 31% (leader wins 83% of the time);

No. 3 (drive-finishing, points per trip inside 40) — Oregon 5 of 5 for 100%; Washington 5 of 5 for 100% leader wins 75% of the time);

No. 4 (average field position) — Oregon 24.6-yard line, Washington 29.9-yard line (leader wins 72% of the time);

No. 5 (turnovers) — Oregon 0, Washington 1 (leader wins 73% of the time).

Former Oregon player Ken Woody coached college football for 18 years. He conducts a weekly coach's corner from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays at the 6th Street Grill.