We're one day away from the big one, as they face Washington State tomorrow night at Autzen Stadium in a pivotal Pac-12 North tilt.

Today, we released a podcast listing our bold predictions. Matt Prehm and I picked five for this pivotal tilt. This story accompanies the podcast as a written version. These are my five bold predictions. The podcast is available to listen below:

1. Oregon rushes for season-high on the ground

There aren't many teams worse at defending the run than Washington State. Just two exist in the Pac-12, and 35 nationally. After all, Northern Colorado ran for 216 yards on the ground against this defense, Houston had 239 and all four Pac-12 opponents have run for more than 150. There's no reason in my mind why the Ducks can't run for more. After a few big outings, the Ducks are third in the Pac-12 in rushing yards (173.6). Of the Cougars previous seven opponents, only Utah (ranked first in the Pac-12) has a better rushing offense. I think the Ducks post a new season-best on the ground against WSU. The current-best is 252 yards against Colorado. I won't say I expect 300 yards rushing (that'd be the most since Oregon ran for 392 in the Civil War), but I do think they'll get awfully close.

2. WSU quarterback Anthony Gordon held under 300 yards passing

It's hard to imagine a better head-to-head battle this season than the Cougar pass offense against Oregon's pass defense. No passing attack in the nation is more prolific than the Cougars. And there aren't many passing defenses better than the Ducks who are 15th in opposing passing yardage and fifth in opposing QB rating. This is strength versus strength. I don't think Gordon, who like all Mike Leach passers has put up gaudy stats, will be shut out completely. But, I'm expecting he'll be well below his season average of 425.9 yards per game. Incredibly, Gordon has only thrown for less than 300 yards once this season. He had just 252 in a road loss at Utah. I think the Ducks perform more closely to the Utes than any other pass defense this season.

3. Oregon's trio of running backs reach the end zone

Oregon has yet to have a game where all three regular runners (CJ Verdell, Travis Dye and Cyrus Habibi-Likio) reach the end zone. In fact, Dye has yet to score at all. This is a particularly bold call, but I have all three doing just that on Saturday. I'm expecting a truly dominant run-performance, and I expect contributions from all three players. These don't have to be rushing scores only. They could score via the pass or even the return game. I just think we see a lot of end zone celebrating from Jim Mastro's guys.

SIGN UP NOW AND GET 60% OFF ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION!!!

4. Ducks score second defensive touchdown of the year

When you throw the football on over 75-percent of your plays, you open yourself up to turnovers. Washington State has 11 of them this year. That's not a terrible number, but it is eighth in the Pac-12. I expect the Cougars to have a few mistakes on Saturday. I also think one of them goes the other direction for points. For some reason, I have Thomas Graham in mind for this. The junior has 33 career starts and over half a dozen picks, but just one for points. I think he, or one of his teammates, makes a house call.

Justin Herbert connects on longest pass play of the season 5.connects on longest pass play of the season

I've already covered how impactful I'm anticipating the run-game to be. I think most of the damage happens there. With that said, a successful running attack can morph into a big play through the air via the play action pass. I think Herbert connects on his longest pass of the season on Saturday. The current long is a 66-yard strike to Jacob Breeland in the beatdown of Nevada. I think he completes a longer gain on Saturday. After all, no team in the Pac-12 has given up more pass plays over 50 yards (5) or 80 yards (2) than Washington State.