The betting line lists Oregon as a three-point underdog this week.
In a season in which the Ducks have played with a bulls-eye on their chests in every game, they will enter Pullman, Wash., on Saturday aiming to knock off the undefeated Cougars a week after losing to Stanford.
“If our kids are hungry and anxious as the underdog, that’s great,” Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said. “Even had we won, there’s the potential that going up there, we could have been the underdog. I don’t think (being a target) was a burden. I think it was something the kids were proud of.
“It certainly added pressure.”
As the Ducks walked onto the practice field Tuesday, they appeared loose and ready to go. Joey Harrington joked with reporters about the weather. Some of his teammates got a chuckle out of hearing a girl yell, “We love you Joey!” while leaning her head out a moving car on nearby Centennial Avenue.
But it was still evident that it had been a rough couple of days since seeing their season take a major setback with the 49-42 loss to the Cardinal.
“We were mad and upset from Saturday night to Sunday,” linebacker Kevin Mitchell said. “It’s kind of a big shock. But we just decided to move on.”
“It’s gone,” defensive tackle Chris Tetterton said. “Stanford was a good team, but everyone’s focus right now is on Washington State. We’re not too down right now. Nobody’s thinking about it a lot.”
Bellotti was curious to see how his team would respond in Monday’s practice and came away pleased with the emotion and intensity that was exhibited.
“They had a great practice; very spirited, very enthusiastic and very focused,” Bellotti said. “And we got better.”
Upon further review
While Bellotti would much rather be looking ahead to the Cougars, there was still one or two things he wanted to iron out from the Cardinal game.
Namely, the play surrounding Harrington’s second interception with four minutes left in the game. The official scorebook and Autzen Stadium scoreboard listed the play as a third-and-one, prompting the media to question afterwards the play selection of a pass rather than trying to gain the first down by rushing.
Bellotti, though, stressed the point at Tuesday’s practice to reporters that the Ducks were actually two or three yards from the first down during the play in question.
“It was not a third-and-one, it was a third-and-two-and-a-half,” Bellotti said. “So you guys need to go back and look at the films. I’m tired of answering the question. If it was third-and-one, we probably would have run the football.
“It was third-and-two-and-a-half, so obviously we chose an alternate play, which would have worked had we executed.”
Miscues on all sides of the ball were what really got under Bellotti’s skin when reviewing the film of the loss.
“Our own mistakes contributed to our own demise,” Bellotti said. “There were elements on offense, defense and special teams that we’ll look at and say, ‘Wow, that was awesome.’ And there were elements on offense, defense and special teams that we’ll look at and say, ‘Wow, that was horrible.’
“And unfortunately, it was the mix of the two, and we came out on the short end.”
Injury update
Bellotti said that everybody will be cleared to play Saturday, which means the Ducks will have the services of defensive tackle Zack Freiter (concussion, Stanford), safety Keith Lewis (ankle, California) and tailback Allan Amundson (ankle, Utah State).
