National marquee matchup: Oregon @ Washington

#15 Oregon visits #3 Washington tonight, and there’s a good argument that it’s the marquee matchup of the weekend.

• Both teams are 11-1; both losses were to Top Ten teams (Oregon to #10 Minnesota; Washington to #5 USC)

• Both teams have wins against top ten teams (Oregon over #9 Penn St.; Washington over #2 UCLA)

• If Oregon wins, it will retain undisputed first place in the Pac-12; If Washington wins, there will likely be a four way tie at the top between Washington, Oregon, UCLA and USC (with Cal and Stanford likely one game back.) Oregon State is still hanging around, too.

My pick: Washington over Oregon, 3-1.

Other Pac-12 matchups:

#6 Stanford and #4 Cal should cruise against Arizona and Arizona State. Ditto for #2 UCLA and #5 USC as they travel to Utah and Colorado. Anything other than 3-0 for all these matches will be a surprise, unless Arizona steals a set from Stanford.

The contest to watch is Oregon State at Washington State. The Beavers are 11-3 overall and 3-1 in conference play, though their league wins are against teams at the bottom of the standings. WSU is 9-5 overall and 1-3 in the Pac-12, but could match up well at home with the Beavers. I’m guessing OSU over WSU, 3-2.

In the Top 20:

The other argument for national marquee match is Saturday’s contest between #1 Illinois at #12 Purdue. Illinois is ranked too high, and neither team has played Penn State or Nebraska. A toss-up.

Earlier this week, #25 Oklahoma beat #8 Texas; the Longhorns already have four losses this season.