Washington @ Oregon State preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 22, 2016 ) Oregon State 17, Washington 41

Sixth-ranked Washington has discovered its running game and it looks to remain unbeaten when it visits Oregon State on Saturday in Pac-12 play. Junior running back Myles Gaskin underwhelmed with 153 yards through the first three games before erupting for a career-high 202 in last Saturday's 37-10 victory over Colorado.

Gaskin rushed for over 1,300 yards in each of his first two seasons but talk about his lackluster start evaporated with the superb 27-carry outing against the Buffaloes. "Myles always gets better the more you give him the ball," Washington coach Chris Petersen said. "He'll get into a rhythm if you can give him a little bit of space. I think we took a step forward in the run game." Oregon State is coming off a bye but has been atrocious on the defensive side by allowing 485.5 yards and 47.5 points per game, the latter ranking 126th nationally out of 129 FBS teams. "I don't believe we've represented ourselves the way that we should as a football team as a whole," Beavers coach Gary Andersen said. "And that's just not the wins and the losses. That's the overall package. That is extremely frustrating to me and we've talked about that."

TV: 8 p.m. ET, Pac-12 Network. LINE: Washington -26.5

ABOUT WASHINGTON (4-0, 1-0 Pac-12): Junior quarterback Jake Browning has passed for 958 yards and nine touchdowns against two interceptions and will look to expose an Oregon State defense that has already allowed 12 touchdown passes. Senior receiver Dante Pettis leads the team with 15 receptions for 263 yards and has three punt return touchdowns to match the NCAA career record of eight punt return scores -- tying Texas Tech's Wes Welker (2000-03) and Oklahoma's Antonio Perkins (2001-04). The Huskies are allowing just 100.3 rushing yards per game and are limiting foes to a stingy 2.7 yards per carry, and senior inside linebacker Azeem Victor had a season-best 10 tackles against Colorado in his top effort of the campaign.

ABOUT OREGON STATE (1-3, 0-1): Senior quarterback Darell Garretson will make his first start of the season -- and 18th of his career -- after junior Jake Luton suffered a spinal injury in the Beavers' most-recent game, Sept. 16 at Washington State. Junior running back Ryan Nall has rushed for 323 yards, topping 100 yards twice to raise his career count in that category to eight. The defense has allowed 48 or more points in each of the three defeats with freshman safety David Morris (32 tackles) and senior inside linebacker Manase Hungalu (29) rating as the top tacklers.

EXTRA POINTS

1. Washington has won the past five meetings and holds a 62-34-4 series lead.

2. Beavers senior P Nick Porebski has punted 21 times but only four have been returned for 11 yards.

3. Huskies junior WR Chico McClatcher (broken ankle) is likely done for the season, while redshirt freshman CB Byron Murphy (foot) will miss at least six weeks.

PREDICTION: Washington 52, Oregon State 17