 In the days leading up to the game, Steve Rudman of the "Seattle Post-Intelligencer" compared Oregon State to Barney Fife and called the Beavers a "blight" and an "embarrassment".The Seattle media had called a Husky victory a sure thing.David Whitley of the "Orlando Sentinel" said that the game pitted "David versus Goliath if David had two broken legs and had chickenpox."