Oregon Notes

If this were Major League Baseball and George Steinbrenner owned the team, the Ducks would have acquired a high-priced defensive back this week.
But there’s no immediate addition that can be made to bolster a defensive secondary that was burned for 536 yards by Arizona State’s Andrew Walter in a 45-42 Oregon loss Saturday.
“We can’t draft or pull someone off the waiver wire,” Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said Monday. “We have to go with the kids that got us here. I think they’re good kids, and they’re learning.”
That doesn’t mean changes won’t be made. True freshman Aaron Gipson, who, at age 18, has started all seven games for the Ducks this season, will be challenged by a host of other young corners this week.
True freshman Marques Binns — who replaced Gipson in the fourth quarter against ASU — along with redshirt sophomore Charles Favroth and redshirt freshman Justin Phinisee, will have an opportunity to start against USC.

“Just about every corner and every secondary person is involved in that decision-making process,” Bellotti said. “We need to have a good week of practice so that we can improve our understanding of the schemes and execution of technique.”
At the earliest, Bellotti said he would name the starting corner Thursday. He said a decision may not be made until game-time Saturday.
At the other corner spot, junior Steven Moore said the secondary is ready to forget Arizona State.
“We just got to get back to the fundamentals,” the 19-year-old Moore said. “We’re still young. People don’t realize that. We’re going to make some mistakes, but we’re going to get better. I’m learning, (Gipson’s) learning. I’m not worried about it. We’re going to move on.”
While Oregon’s pass defense is ranked last in the Pacific-10 Conference, the No. 14 Ducks (6-1 overall, 2-1 Pacific-10 Conference) aren’t using that as an excuse for their first loss in 12 games.
“You can’t point fingers at our corners,” linebacker Kevin Mitchell said. “There’s 11 of us on the field. If you’re pointing fingers at the corners, you don’t know a whole lot about football.”
“It’s very easy for people to want to place blame,” Bellotti said. “But in a team game, it falls on the team.”

Back to work
The focus this week, Bellotti said, is USC. Not Arizona State. Not the Rose Bowl. Not the Bowl Championship Series.
“The faster we get off the last game and get focused on USC, the better,” Bellotti said. “I’ve challenged them to emphasize the fun aspect and the competitive aspect in practice to make us better so the games are easier.”
Junior quarterback Jason Fife, who suffered his first loss as a starter, said the team has a good attitude as it prepares for No. 15 USC, a team the Ducks have defeated in four-straight years.
“I’m glad (the loss) happened so that we have a game afterwards where we can take out our aggression,” Fife said. “I think we’re going to see a good week of practice. We have a general good attitude about this loss and how we’re going to come back.”
The loss to ASU, however, does bring to mind Oregon’s 2001 loss to Stanford. Both losses occurred during the third week of October when Oregon was 6-0 and ranked in the top-10.
Of course, after the 2001 loss, the Ducks went undefeated en route to a Pac-10 championship and Fiesta Bowl win.
“We were saying, ‘Try not to let history repeat itself,’ and it did,” Mitchell said of the loss to ASU. “So hopefully we can say, ‘Let history repeat itself,’ and we’ll keep going.”
Fife was not so cynical about the similarities to last season.
“There are so many parallels to last year that I’d just rather not think about it entirely,” Fife said. “I want to try to break away from the eerie things that are similar to last year. With that in mind, I’m just going to worry about the offensive game plan and beating SC.”

Run stoppers
The Oregon run defense is the best in the Pac-10.
The Ducks allow only 75.4 yards per game on the ground and have given up just four rushing touchdowns this season.
Arizona State netted 31 yards rushing in a win Saturday, the first time in Bellotti’s career that he has lost when an opponent was held to less than 100 yards rushing. Prior to Saturday, Bellotti was 27-0 at Oregon when an opponent was held to less than 100 yards rushing.

All hail Howry
With a catch against USC, Keenan Howry could have his name engraved in the Pac-10 record books.
The senior wide receiver has caught a pass in 42 straight games — dating back to his second game as a freshman in 1999 — a mark that ties the Pac-10 record. Dennis Northcutt of Arizona set the record for consecutive games with a catch from 1996 to 1999.
Coincidentally, USC senior receiver Kareem Kelly has matched Howry. Both could make history at Autzen Stadium on Saturday.
The NCAA record for consecutive games with a reception is 46, set by New Mexico’s Carl Winston in the early ’90s.