Avoiding spring breaks.

Byline: Rob Moseley The Register-Guard

As unsettled as Oregon's quarterback situation was this month, at least the Ducks' leading contender for the starting job last underwent surgery in the fall, rather than this spring.

Quarterbacks at UCLA and Arizona State aren't so lucky. Another at California didn't make it through spring practices.

The bad news for the league? The one quarterback controversy that was definitively decided came at Southern California, which once again projects as the favorite to capture the Pac-10 Conference title come fall.

A look at major spring developments for Oregon's opponents around the league:

Arizona

With Bill Doba out at Washington State and Karl Dorrell finished with UCLA, the Pac-10 coaching hot seat is shared by Washington's Ty Willingham and Arizona's Mike Stoops this year. And if the Wildcats are going to save their defensive-minded coach's job, they'll have to do it, ironically, with offense.

Antoine Cason, Spencer Larsen and company are gone from the defense, leaving linebacker Ronnie Palmer to lead the unit. Luckily the Wildcats should have no trouble scoring points in their second year under offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes, who has the most precious of Pac-10 gems, a senior quarterback, in Willie Tuitama.

Perhaps the biggest question in Tucson, however, is this: How will Stoops and his over-caffeinated staff comply with new rules designed to keep coaches within their designated sideline area during games, rather than straying onto the field as they so often do?

The Ducks find out in a visit from the Wildcats on Nov. 15.

Arizona State

The Sun Devils have a senior quarterback, but he's dinged up. Rudy Carpenter had thumb surgery following spring camp to clean up scar tissue remaining from an injury suffered in October. He's expected to begin throwing again in June.

When he comes back, he'll be aided by a stable of running backs that includes Keegan Herring and Dmitri Nance. And another back, Shaun DeWitty, opened some eyes this spring. He finished with 13 carries for 71 yards and a touchdown in the spring game.

Speaking of the ASU spring game, which matched the No. 1 offense and No. 2 defense against the No. 2 offense and No. 1 defense, could coaches have asked for anything better than the 17-17 tie they saw?

Oregon hopes for a more one-sided affair in Tempe on Oct. 25.

California

Kevin Riley continues to push Nate Longshore at quarterback, after unseating the veteran last fall. This spring, Longshore was redeeming himself until he pulled a pectoral muscle and missed the final three weeks of drills.

Cal coach Jeff Tedford said the job remains open entering the fall.

The offense was without electric tailback Jahvid Best for contact drills because of a hip injury. But he impressed onlookers in non-contact drills and is reportedly on track to be 100 percent in August.

On defense, coordinator Bob Gregory moved to a 3-4 this spring, taking advantage of a deep linebacker corps led by Zack Follett and Worrell Williams. It's a look uncommon to the Pac-10, though Oregon runs it enough that the UO offense should be prepared when the Ducks travel to Cal on Nov. 1.

Oregon State

Reports out of Corvallis are incomplete, as the Beavers spread their spring drills out over five weeks and will hold their spring game this Saturday.

The best news was the return of receiver Sammie Stroughter. Lyle Moevao took most of the reps at quarterback with Sean Canfield recovering from shoulder surgery, while the search for running back Yvenson Bernard's replacement still seems unsettled.

And was anybody outside of Benton County surprised to read about late hits by Beaver defenders? The Ducks will try to avoid any of those in a Civil War road game on Nov. 29.

Stanford

Despite leading the Cardinal's epic upset of USC last season, Tavita Pritchard wasn't just handed the quarterback job this spring. He faced stiff competition from Jason Forcier and Alex Loukas.

The No. 1 running back job was open, but veteran Anthony Kimble is on hand, and Toby Gerhart is in the mix despite spending his spring as an outfielder with the baseball team.

The defense got a boost from new co-coordinator Ron Lynn.

He's "new" only in terms of his Stanford tenure; Lynn was on the Cal sideline for "The Play" in 1982, then moved on to the professional ranks, where has was an NFL assistant from 1986-2004.

The Ducks will take on Lynn and the Cardinal on Nov. 8 in Eugene.

UCLA

No spring camp in the Pac-10 this year saw more drama than the one Rick Neuheisel oversaw in his first year back with the Bruins. For one thing, he had one less practice to run than the 15 the other conference coaches got, because his players decided to continue a tradition of going "over the wall" to ditch a workout one day.

Of more significance, UCLA saw each of its top two quarterbacks get hurt. Patrick Cowan appeared from a distance to be leading the battle until aggravating a knee injury that forced him to undergo season-ending surgery.

Ben Olson broke his foot but is expected to be healthy this summer.

Honestly, though, with Neuheisel back in the Pac-10, some drama was probably to be expected. Oregon fans will get a chance to see their favorite "Golden Boy" back in Autzen Stadium on Oct. 11.

USC

Southern California nipped its quarterback controversy in the bud early, declaring Mark Sanchez the starter midway through camp.

The Trojans went with the guy who filled in for an injured John David Booty last fall, rather than new faces Mitch Mustain and Aaron Corp.

As usual, there were a bunch of running backs to sift through. But the most talented of the bunch, Joe McKnight, was banished from practice for the final week to concentrate on his academics. The issue isn't expected to linger into the fall.

Oh, there's also the matter of USC's defense, which remains one of the best in the nation thanks to talent like middle linebacker Rey Maualuga, who passed up the chance to be a first-round NFL draft pick this season in order to compete for a national title.

The Ducks will try to derail that plan on Oct. 4 in Los Angeles.

Washington

Jake Locker continued his development from dynamic runner whose passing didn't need to be respected into a complete quarterback. But he may be on the run quite a bit in the fall after a foot injury to center Juan Garcia, which looks like it will end Garcia's UW career.

Also in question is the status of tailback J.R. Hasty, who was suspended this spring.

His former prep teammate, linebacker E.J. Savannah, was also held out to open camp but worked his way back into the coaches' good graces.

Like the Ducks with Chris Harper and Darron Thomas, the Huskies saw encouraging signs from an early high school graduate who participated in spring drills, all-purpose back Chris Polk. He could make his college debut when the Ducks and Huskies open the season Aug. 30 in Autzen Stadium.

Washington State

As if things aren't already dire for the Cougars in the wake of Alex Brink's graduation, now they'll be short-handed for the coming season.

Because their APR score dropped too low, the school paper reported, WSU will have just 79 of a possible 85 scholarships to allocate this year.

At least there's a senior available at quarterback, Gary Rogers, who was 23-of-36 for 255 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions in his final two scrimmages.

Junior backup Kevin Lopina also didn't throw an interception in that span.

They had some help from receiver Michael Willis, who sat out last season because of academics but caught six passes for 129 yards and a touchdown in the final scrimmage of spring.

Willis and the Cougars face Oregon on Sept. 27 in Pullman.