Things would be much easier for the Ducks if there were no halftime.
“We’re not going to go in (the locker room), we’re going to stay out. Rain, snow, sleet — we’re going to scrimmage right through halftime,” Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said jokingly. “We’re not going to have a halftime. The third quarter is going to be an extension of the second quarter.”
One can dream.
No. 15 Oregon (7-2 overall, 3-2 Pacific-10 Conference) has not trailed at halftime this season, but has been outscored 59-21 in the third quarter during conference play. In the last three games, the Ducks have allowed seven touchdowns in the third quarter.
“We may do bull-in-the-ring in the locker room, the coaches may do something crazy, I really am not sure,” Bellotti said. “It’s probably way overblown. I think it’s still something we’ll consider and look at the alternatives to improve our performance. I don’t know that we can do more motivationally than what we’ve done.
“The bottom line is, we have to play better.”
To the Ducks’ credit, they had just two possessions in the third quarter against Stanford (after the Cardinal put together a 10-minute touchdown drive), though both of those drives ended with punts.
In the decisive third quarter against USC two weeks ago, Oregon managed just nine total yards on four possessions, including an interception, while the Trojans scored three touchdowns.
“The third quarter is definitely an area we need to improve in. We can’t trade touchdowns for field goals,” Oregon safety Keith Lewis said. “If we played four straight quarters, we could beat a lot of teams.”
But Lewis said the Ducks start to feel their aches and pains during halftime and begin to lose adrenaline.
“It’s just a matter of finding a solution,” Lewis said.
Easier said than done.

Onterrio’s

“85 percent” healthy
O-man, Onterrio’s back.
Washington State must be shaking. And it’s not because of snow.
Onterrio Smith, the Pac-10 rushing leader with 126.9 yards per game, wore a brace during practices on Monday and Tuesday after sitting out Oregon’s win
over Stanford with a minor left knee injury.
Smith said he will play Saturday against the No. 5 Cougars (8-1, 5-0), a team he torched for 342 all-purpose yards and 285 rushing yards, both school records, in Oregon’s win in Pullman last year.
“Right now, I’m about 85 percent,” Smith said Monday. “The percentage should rise as the week progresses. Hopefully, by Saturday I’ll be 100 percent.”
Although he did not practice last week, Smith was cleared to play against Stanford. But Bellotti held him out as a precaution.
“I feel like he’ll be ready, and the trainers feel like he’ll be ready (for WSU),” Bellotti said.
And considering the dreary weather conditions in Pullman, Smith could be set for another
big game.
“I heard it’s going to rain, so that calls for the running game,” Smith said.
In Smith’s place, freshman Terrence Whitehead rushed for 132 yards on 29 carries against Stanford. Bellotti said Whitehead will give Smith some relief in Pullman.

The sensation

continues
Oregon sophomore Jared Siegel was named a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award, given to the nation’s top kicker.
Siegel, the Pac-10 special teams Player of the Week, has converted 18-of-19 field goals this season; his only miss was blocked in the first game of the season against Mississippi State. He has since converted a school-record 15 consecutive field goals.
Cal’s Mark Jensen is the only other Pac-10 semifinalist for the award. The list will be narrowed to three on Nov. 18.

Ducks in the NFL
Vicious.
That’s the only way to describe former Oregon cornerback Rashad Bauman’s greeting of former Oregon teammate Maurice Morris at Seahawks Stadium on Sunday.
Bauman, who plays for the NFL’s Washington team, made a brutal clothesline tackle of Morris, a return specialist for the Seattle Seahawks, during a kickoff in a 14-3 Washington victory.
In Detroit, Mr. Oregon, er, Joey Harrington improved his record to 3-3 as the starting quarterback for the Lions, although it wasn’t pretty. Harrington was 14-for-33 for 104 yards as the Lions won 9-6 on three field goals.
But a win’s a win, right Joey?
“You can call it ugly, you can call it whatever you want to. I don’t care,” Harrington said after the game. “We won, we won, we won, we won. That’s a win in the record; that’s a step in the right direction, that showed the kind of guts this team has.”
Also of the 2001 graduating class, tight end Justin Peelle has seen action for the San Diego Chargers as a starter and on special teams. Former Oregon linebacker Peter Sirmon (1996-99), now a starter for the Tennessee Titans, recorded his first NFL interception Sunday.