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FACTS & STATS: Husky Stadium (72,500) -- Seattle, Washington. Television: FSN. Home Record: California 1-0, Washington 2-0. Away Record: California 1-0, Washington 0-1. Neutral Record: California 1-0, Washington 0-0. Conference Record: California 0-0, Washington 0-0. Series Record: Washington leads, 48-38-4.

GAME NOTES: The California Golden Bears will invade Seattle this weekend in a Pac-12 tussle with the Washington Huskies, in the league opener for both teams.

This is an old-school matchup between the only two programs that have been with the conference since its inception 96 years ago, but both are coming off different results from last weekend.

Washington hung with Nebraska early last weekend in Lincoln, but the Huskers were dominant in the second half, handing UW a 51-38 loss. The key for the Huskies will be staying healthy as they enter the Pac-12 schedule, which gradually gets tougher as the year wears on.

California handled Presbyterian last weekend 63-12 following two quality wins to open the season over Fresno State and Colorado, respectively. Last weekend's win moved head coach Jeff Tedford past Andy Smith as the winningest coach in school history, with 75 wins. It was the first home win at AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants, which is currently serving as the temporary home for Cal until Memorial Stadium's renovations are finished. It didn't matter where the Bears played the game, as they overpowered the Blue Hose and allowed Tedford (75-42) to break a record that had been held by Smith since 1925. The competition gets a lot stiffer this weekend in Seattle for the Pac-12 opener.

Washington leads the all-time series 48-38-4, including a thrilling 16-13 win over Cal last November.

Washington quarterback Keith Price has been impressive through three games, throwing for 11 touchdowns, which is tied for the national lead. That included four touchdown passes against Nebraska, but there was growing pains as well, as he threw two picks and was sacked twice. His current pass efficiency rating is 165.91, and he has a reliable counterpart on the ground in Chris Polk, who ran for 130 yards and a score against Nebraska and is second in the Pac-12 with 125 yards rushing per game. Polk has rushed for over 100 yards in each game, which gives him 14 for his career. Washington is averaging 378.7 yards of total offense a game, and has scored an average of 36 points, which is slightly lower than its opponents (36.7 average) following last weeks high scoring game in Lincoln.

The Huskies' defense gave up 17 points in the third quarter in Lincoln, which was not good timing considering the Washington offense stalled. That proved to be the difference in the game. Washington is giving up 131.7 yards per game on the ground (seven rushing touchdowns have been scored on the Huskies defense) and are surrendering 452 yards of total offense through three contests.

The good news is that Washington is plus-three in the turnover margin, which ranks 17th nationally. Cornerback Desmond Trufant has continued to impress through the first three weeks of the season, posting two interceptions (five passes defended), a fumble recovery and is third in Washington tackles with 20.

Cal's offense has been led by a durable runner in Isi Sofele, who has gotten the call for 62 carries and is averaging 94 yards rushing per game, in addition to four touchdowns. What is evident is that the Bears are a balanced offensive teams, and they have spread out the 456 total yard per game average so far this year. Quarterback Zach Maynard hasn't been a standout with accuracy (51.6 percent) but he has a 140.54 passing efficiency rating, 724 yards and a solid touchdown to interception ratio (9-3) through three games.

He has two really productive receivers who have proven themselves through the first three weeks of the season in Keenan Allen and Marvin Jones, who have combined for 37 catches and 597 yards with five touchdowns (Jones has a 17.4 yard per catch average).

Price will pose the toughest challenge to the Cal defense yet, but the unit has performed well in three wins, giving up just 282.7 of total offense. Those numbers were obviously padded in the win over Presbyterian, when the Blue Hose gained just 48 yards of total offense. The week before, the Huskies gave up 582 yards to Colorado's attack. The number will likely be somewhere in between against Washington, which executed well against Nebraska last weekend. The unit has just four takeaways, but is only allowing 2.4 yards per rush through three games. Should that statistic hold up against a running attack led by Polk, the Bears should be in great shape.

Washington is more battle-tested heading into this game following its road trip to Nebraska last weekend, and Price can flat out play. He must avoid the costly turnovers that hurt his team a week ago however, and look for Cal to try and disrupt the run and force him to make reads quickly. This game will be a gritty conference battle, but California's secondary is suspect and its offense won't have enough to march into a hostile environment and beat a quality Washington club.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Washington 34, California 24