It’s “Husky Hate Week” here in Eugene, with the Oregon Ducks set to travel up a couple of hundred miles north later this week to take on the Washington Huskies in one of the more heated rivalries in the Pac-12.
While the two teams are in wildly different places when it comes to on-field success, some fuel has been thrown onto the fire thanks to Washington coach Jimmy Lake. Despite his team’s embarrassing start to the season where they lost to an FCS team in Week 1, and then got throttled by Michigan in Week 2, Lake decided to pull some punches and take a shot at the Ducks, saying that Oregon is not someone they compete with in recruiting, noting that they see themselves going against schools with more “academic prowess.”
#Washington coach Jimmy Lake, asked today if #Oregon is a recruiting rival. Woo boy pic.twitter.com/7vHFQi96yp
— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) November 1, 2021
If you were to ask Mario Cristobal, I bet he’d say they don’t necessarily compete with Washington for recruits, either…
For the past three years, Oregon has been ranked No. 1 in the Pac-12 recruiting rankings and is often inside the top-10 in the nation as well. Over that time, Washington has ranked No. 6 once, and No. 2 twice. Not exactly on the same level.
If Lake doesn’t consider players at Oregon to be smart enough to play for his school, he may be in the wrong business. No matter which schools he thinks that his team is competing with in recruiting, it’s pretty obvious that he’s losing the battle.
Have a fun Husky Hate Week, everyone.
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