Ducks look to get back on runway for Vikings.

Byline: Bob Clark The Register-Guard

As if Oregon's season didn't get detoured enough during Saturday's loss to Washington State, the return home ran into a delay that caused the Ducks to arrive back in Eugene shortly after 3 a.m. Sunday, nearly six hours later than scheduled.

`Now this week is a very difficult week because we start it with no sleep,' UO coach Mike Bellotti said on his teleconference Sunday evening.

Everything went on as scheduled Sunday despite the delays on the return. Players who needed treatment received it. The coaches who got to bed around 4 a.m. were at work before noon, their normal start time on Sundays.

If a game against Portland State at 4 p.m. Saturday in Autzen Stadium might look like less than the usual challenge of a Pac-10 opponent at this time of the year for the 25th-ranked Ducks (5-2 overall, 3-2 in the Pac-10), Bellotti would hear none of it.

`We'll have to play well to win. This is not a game to play everybody, so don't even go there,' Bellotti said. `When you watch (the Vikings) play, they're very impressive. They didn't fare well against (California) but not many teams have.'

Portland State is 5-3 overall and 4-2 in the Big Sky after a 34-0 blanking of Eastern Washington. The defeats have come against Cal by 42-16, to Montana 26-20 and to Montana State 14-0. The Vikings were ranked 23rd among Division I-AA teams last week, with the new poll out today. One of their victories was over New Mexico.

Bellotti made note of the numerous players on the PSU roster who were `talked to' by Oregon or considered for recruitment by Division I-A schools, and some significant transfers, including former UCLA defensive lineman C.J. Niusulu.

The roster also lists six players who attended Midwestern League high schools. Linebacker D.J. Robinson, a senior who graduated from Willamette High School, is second in tackles with 63, including 8.5 for lost yardage. Bobby McClintock, a freshman who graduated from Marshfield High School, has rushed 29 times for 147 yards and caught four passes for 55 yards.

`We're going to have to play good football to win this game,' Bellotti said.

After a video evaluation of Oregon's performance in dropping a 34-23 decision to WSU, Bellotti stayed with what he said after the defeat: `We played very poorly.

`We played hard, we didn't always execute,' he added.

One cure would be increased practice time spent on certain elements of Oregon's game, but Bellotti has been wary of adding any injuries from too much contact, or aggravating any strains or sprains from overwork.

`We have practiced less and with less gear with mixed results,' he said of recent weeks. `We need to play a complete game, offense, defense and special teams. In order to do that, you have to practice that.

`If you don't practice long, you have to practice well while you're out there. I'm going to demand greater intensity for that time we are out there.'

Workouts this week will include `scrutiny' of the quarterback position, Bellotti said Sunday. That doesn't change the coach's view that Dennis Dixon remains the starter, but backup Brady Leaf may be inserted for certain plays or a random series earlier in the game than he has played this season.

Leaf was inserted Saturday against WSU after Dixon threw two interceptions in the third quarter.

`It wasn't his best game. In fact it was probably the opposite of that,' Bellotti said of Dixon. `There are some things that are very fixable. He's still a young quarterback and learning.'

Bellotti said the Ducks came out of the WSU game with only one notable additional injury, bruised ribs for cornerback Jairus Byrd. He has started the past five games since replacing injured Jackie Bates.

What the Ducks also had to deal with Sunday was some increased soreness, Bellotti said, after the players spent more than seven hours stuck on their charter aircraft, with the delay in Lewiston, Idaho, and the flight home.

`They handled it very well,' Bellotti said. `That was seven hours of their life, at this time of the year, that they'll never get back.'

The Ducks were scheduled to depart from Lewiston on their charter flight at about 8:30 p.m. but arrived at the airport early and were on track for a departure shortly after 8 p.m. As the aircraft was making its final turn to the runway for takeoff, the front landing gear went off the paved tarmac and into an adjoining field where the tires became stuck.

The pilots were unable to free the airplane by attempting to back up, and because the Lewiston airport doesn't normally handle aircraft the size of a 757 that Oregon was using for a charter, equipment had to be requested from the Spokane airport to tow the aircraft back onto pavement.

Two movies were played on the aircraft during the extended delay.

Some members of the traveling party did disembark, to lighten the load as the aircraft was towed to the pavement.

Departure was delayed until about 2 a.m. Sunday for the flight to Eugene that took about an hour.

OREGON VS. PORTLAND STATE

4 p.m. Saturday at Autzen Stadium. TV: KEZI. Radio: KUGN-AM (590). Web updates: www.registerguard.com.