SEATTLE -- The center of the NFL scouting universe will be Husky Stadium this weekend, when No. 8 Oregon visits No. 7 Washington in a game that will determine the inside track for the Pac-12's first College Football Playoff bid since 2016.
While nothing is promised, the Pac-12 currently features seven AP top 20 teams. With that has come a playoff expectation for whoever wins the league, and the Ducks and Huskies loom as the definitive favorites.
There will be 32 NFL scouts in Seattle from 20 teams, with Washington officials saying it's by far the biggest NFL contingent to scout a game there. Multiple scouts will be on hand from Cleveland, New York Giants, San Francisco, Arizona, Tampa Bay, New England, Seattle and the Washington Commanders.
The top 10 collision with the highest stakes raises two fascinating questions, which ESPN posed to 10 coaches and scouts this week.
The first is obvious: Who will win between two similarly talented teams that can be billed as pairing Washington's explosive pass game (400 yards per game) against Oregon's clinical efficiency (6.99 yards per carry)?
But the greater thought as the college football world recalibrates to the West Coast being relevant at the highest levels again: Can these teams hang with teams like Georgia, Michigan and Florida State that have established themselves as playoff favorites so far this season?
There was no conviction on a winner for this game, with many scouts and coaches defaulting to Washington because of the home-field advantage and a slight talent edge. A rainy day would seemingly favor Oregon's ground game and could erase any small edge that comes with likely having more draft eligible talent.
One NFL scout summed up Washington's ethos under Kalen DeBoer this way: "I walked away from Washington as impressed as I've been anywhere. They do a good job. Have good players. Have good kids. It's impressive. There's been places like Duke and Ohio State where you just walk away and say, 'Wow, this is a good program.'"
There's plenty of buzz about what Oregon is building under Dan Lanning as well. QB Bo Nix has transformed himself from a whirling dervish of sporadic reliability at Auburn into one of the country's most efficient and effective passers. He's just the third quarterback in the last 20 years to complete 80% of his passes through five games, joining West Virginia's Geno Smith (2012) and Baylor's Robert Griffin III (2011)
"When you look at championship teams, you look at quarterbacks first," said an opposing assistant coach. "And [Lanning] and his staff have done a really good job putting him in situations to be successful. They have good skill, and Dan has done a good job getting both the offensive and defensive line up to SEC standards."
Here are the eight biggest questions heading into one of the biggest games of the season.