Seventeen days, four hours, 12 minutes and 34 seconds — let the countdown begin.
Saturday’s dizzying 21-20 victory over UCLA at the Rose Bowl was Oregon’s last game until its Dec. 1 bout with Oregon State. And after eight consecutive games, dating back to Sept. 22, the Ducks are going to savor the time off.
“We needed a break,” senior quarterback Joey Harrington said. “This is our bye week. We’ve been playing for eight straight weeks now and this is a well-deserved break. We’re just going to relax and try to get healthy.”
The Ducks — 9-1 overall and ranked seventh in both the coaches and media polls and, more importantly, fourth in the Bowl Championship Series — will use the extra time to heal some wounds and prepare for the nationally televised Civil War game at Autzen Stadium. Head coach Mike Bellotti gave the team two days off from practice this week and said the team will probably take four days off for the Thanksgiving break next week.
“It will be exactly like a bowl game,” Bellotti said of the break. “We’ll alternate between days off, weight training, practicing, recruiting. We’ve never had something like this for a regular season game.”
Getting healthy will be their No. 1 goal before facing Oregon State, the team that ended the Ducks’ hopes of a Rose Bowl with a 23-13 win in Corvallis last year.
“I’ve got a list of eight or nine names that are banged up that might be questionable if we had to play next week,” Bellotti said after Saturday’s game. “But the fact that we have three weeks right now is good for us, as long as we can keep our edge and keep the emotional intensity.”

Exhale
The life of a kicker is never easy, and Chris Griffith showed why Saturday. A potential game-winning, 50-yard field goal would have sealed a victory for UCLA, but Griffith came up wide right and short.
Thus, the Ducks took a step closer to securing a bid to the Fiesta Bowl and a second-straight Pacific-10 Conference championship.
Oregon has won four games this year by seven points or less.
“It was just an awesome college football game. There’s no other way to describe it,” senior tight end Justin Peelle said at Monday’s practice. “It was two great teams going back and forth. It was fun to be a part of, and obviously a lot funner because we won.”

On second thought …
UCLA head coach Bob Toledo was heavily criticized in Los Angeles after two questionable calls — rather, non-calls — against the Ducks.
After the Bruins scored early in the fourth quarter to take a 19-14 lead, instead of going for two, Toledo opted to kick the extra point.
“We were prepared for them to go for two,” Bellotti said, “and I was sort of pleased they didn’t, although again there is certain risk depending on where the game is that dictates those things for you, so I never second-guess other coaches.”
Toledo said it was “too early” to go for two at the time.
Later, in the final drive of the game, on a third-and-five, Toledo decided to run the ball, but to no avail.
The Bruins could not get past the Oregon 33-yard line, forcing Griffith to attempt the 50-yard kick.
“At the end, after the interception, I didn’t feel like we wanted to throw on that last drive,” Toledo said after the game, alluding to quarterback Cory Paus’ two interceptions.

By the numbers
Despite facing UCLA’s top-ranked defense, Oregon remains No. 1 this week in the Pac-10 in total offense (452.3 yards per game) and rushing yards (205.7) per game.
The Oregon defense is ninth overall in the conference, but is fourth in scoring defense (allowing 22.6 points per game) and third in rushing defense (122.7 yards per game).
Harrington is second in the conference with a 145 pass efficiency rating, while tailbacks Onterrio Smith (97.7 yards per game) and Maurice Morris (95.3) are fourth and fifth, respectively, in rushing.
Senior linebacker Wesly Mallard is third in the Pac-10 with 8.9 tackles per game. Senior defensive back Steve Smith is No. 1 with 24 passes defended, including six interceptions.