Jason Fife doesn’t know what lies ahead for the Oregon football team. He just wants to get back on the field.
“I don’t care who we play. I don’t care when we play. I just want another shot at somebody,” the junior quarterback said after Oregon’s 45-24 Civil War loss in Corvallis.
He’ll likely get his chance next month in a bowl game, but the Ducks won’t find out where they’ll end up until this weekend at the earliest. Oregon (7-5 overall, 3-5 Pacific-10 Conference), which finished eighth in the Pac-10, will probably have to wait until the final Bowl Championship Series poll is released on Dec. 8 before making its travel agenda for the bowl game.
“I haven’t given it a lot of thought,” Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said of his preferred bowl game. “We want to go to the best bowl game possible and compete against the best team available.”
Because of an NCAA suspension, California (7-5, 4-4), which tied for fifth in the conference standings, cannot compete in a bowl game, leaving the Pac-10 with seven bowl-eligible teams, including Oregon at No. 7.
If they played in a bowl this week, the Ducks would likely be headed to Seahawks Stadium on Dec. 30 for the Seattle Bowl, which made a one-year agreement with the Pac-10 last week. A team from the Atlantic Coast Conference — right now, either Georgia Tech (7-4) or Clemson (7-5) — is also slated for a Seattle Bowl bid.
The Pac-10, however, could have two teams eligible for one of four BCS bowls. Washington State (9-2, 6-1) and USC (9-2, 7-1) are both in the running for the Rose Bowl, but if USC beats Notre Dame this Saturday, the Trojans would likely be in the running for one of the three remaining BCS bowls — the Fiesta, Oregon and Sugar bowls.
If USC does get a BCS bid, all the other Pac-10 teams would move up in the bowl standings. That would put the Ducks in the Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, Calif., on Dec. 31. Fresno State, which lost to Oregon on Sept. 7, has already accepted an invitation to the Silicon Valley Classic, and bowl officials usually don’t like to pair teams that have already played each other.
The inaugural San Francisco Bowl, scheduled for Dec. 31 at Pac Bell Park, is also a possibility for the Ducks, but only if the Mountain West Conference doesn’t have a third bowl-eligible team. Air Force and Colorado State are the only two Mountain West teams currently bowl-eligible.
While they wait to hear about their bowl fate, the Ducks will take this Thanksgiving week off and reflect on a disappointing season, which saw the Ducks climb to No. 6 in the country after a 6-0 start.
“It’s been a tough year,” senior tailback Allan Amundson said. “We’ve been spoiled. We have an off year, and it seems a lot worse than it really is. It’s not that bad.”
When practices resume next week, Bellotti said it will be like spring practices. It will also give the team a chance to end a sour season on a positive note.
“I think we all have high expectations for this program,” Bellotti said. “This was not a year we could live up to those expectations. We could not overcome our inexperience and youth.
“We put forth everything we had. We need to get better.”

Athletic Department completes ticket-for-rent investigation
The Oregon Athletic Department disassociated itself from former state legislator George Wingard Sr. for one year after a department investigation revealed that Wingard was involved in a football tickets-for-rent scam.
The department released its report from the three-month investigation Friday, and concluded that two Oregon football players had received reduction in rent from Wingard and three employees at EDCO, a Eugene property management firm. Oregon will forward its report to the Pac-10, which could approve or add sanctions to the findings.