Unbeaten Ducks ready to get real.

Byline: BOB CLARK The Register-Guard

It's like a new season is about to begin for Oregon.

Actually, it is, with the Pac-10 opener for the eighth-ranked Ducks on Saturday night at Arizona.

`Not that the other games didn't count, but these are for all the marbles,' Oregon defensive end Seth McEwen said. `There's added excitement to that.'

`The competition level is so much higher and there's so much more at stake,' UO linebacker David Moretti said. `The way everyone in the Pac-10 is playing right now, it's as tough as it's ever been, and it's going to make for a lot more intense games this season.'

As if it hasn't been that way in recent conference seasons. In sharing a Pac-10 title in 2000 and winning it outright in 2001, Oregon was a combined 14-2, but nine of those victories came by eight points or fewer. Another win was by 11 points when the Ducks scored on a fourth-down play with a minute left.

Even as two-time champions, the Ducks can attest to the difficulty of playing in the Pac-10.

`It's always been the most competitive,' senior receiver Keenan Howry said. `Every game is competitive, and you can't say that about any other conference in the nation.

`No other conference is going to stack the table with 10 good teams. In other conferences, there are always three or four teams not competitive with the top teams. In this one, each team is just as competitive.'

Arizona (3-1) might be hoping it can live up to that billing, as the Wildcats have suffered some major losses to injuries in recent weeks, with a list of 15 `missed starts due to injury' recorded in the latest publicity release.

That number will also grow, and significantly, with Monday's announcement that Clarence Farmer, the Pac-10 rushing champion in 2001, will be out three to six weeks with torn cartilage in his left knee. Farmer is scheduled for surgery today.

Also questionable for Saturday's game is linebacker Lance Briggs, who suffered an ankle injury against North Texas. Briggs had been leading the Wildcats in tackles. All this comes after the loss of all-league cornerback Michael Jolivette to partially torn knee ligaments.

Does it only seem as though the Ducks have had a recent run of good fortune on opponents missing the Oregon game?

Last year, it was Wisconsin quarterback Brooks Bollinger absent when the Ducks hosted the Badgers. This year, it was Fresno State's starting quarterback and best receiver sidelined for the Oregon game.

And that doesn't include the trio of opposing players sidelined for NCAA infractions, all on the eve of a game against the Ducks in recent years: Arizona State's J.R. Redmond in 1999, UCLA's DeShaun Foster in 2000 and Mississippi State's Kevin Fant this season.

Arizona's replacement for Farmer at tailback will be familiar to the Ducks, redshirt freshman Mike Bell. Heavily recruited by Oregon when he was the Arizona high school player of the year in 2000, Bell has rushed 35 times for 124 yards this season, including 50 yards on 14 carries in the win over North Texas.

`The coaches got a chance to see how I can play,' the 6-foot, 210-pound Bell said.

Bell is faster than Farmer and seen as a possible boost to a running game that ranks 99th in the nation, averaging 105.3 yards.

`As far as a drop between Clarence and Mike Bell, they are both great backs,' Arizona receiver Bobby Wade told the Tucson Citizen newspaper. `Mike Bell is a great back, and if you haven't seen that yet, I'm sure the more carries he gets, it will show.

`As far as depth and being able to pound the ball in the Pac-10, it is going to hurt us.'

Mackovic said Arizona's weakness `is we haven't been able to run with power. When you get (in the red zone) the defenses stack. You have to be able to pound it right at 'em. You can't pass all the time. ... We just haven't been strong enough, physical enough to run that ball in.'

Oregon has won its last three games against Arizona, the latest a 63-28 thumping on the Wildcats last season in Tucson. That was a 14-14 game in the second quarter before the Ducks scored the next 49 points.

A repeat of that isn't likely, but a win in the conference opener, and in a road game, would be an early boost to Oregon's bid to contend for another Pac-10 title.

`There's no question that to have a successful season you've to win several games on the road,' UO coach Mike Bellotti said. `Every game we win on the road, we're one up in the plus column.'

As Pac-10 coaches previewed the season, that was one of the recurring themes.

`If a guy can steal a couple on the road, he's got a great chance' at a championship, Oregon State coach Dennis Erickson said.

But also common was the warning to be wary of any thoughts that there will be an easy Saturday over the next couple of months.

Or as UCLA coach Bob Toledo put it: `The bottom team can beat the top team - whoever that is - on any day in this league.'

It figures that every team will have to deal with a loss. In the 24 years since the league expanded to 10 teams, only six champions have finished unbeaten, and two of those had a tie, which is no longer possible.

And in the past 10 years, the Pac-10 title has been shared five times, with two-loss multiple champions in both 1992 and 1993.

`I don't think anybody with one loss is out of it,' Bellotti said. `I don't even think two losses will put you out, but it will make it tougher because you have to depend on other people.'

OREGON UPDATE

ADDED DUCKS: Wide receiver Kellen Taylor and defensive end Quinn Dorsey joined the Ducks on Monday, though both are expected to redshirt this season.

Taylor is a transfer from City College of San Francisco. His arrival was delayed until he finished his junior college degree, and then while the NCAA completed processing of his eligibility.

Dorsey, who was second in quarterback sacks for the Ducks in 2001 while sharing a starting role, has one season of eligibility remaining. It was earlier announced he wouldn't play this season because of personal reasons.

CLIMATE CONTROL: Oregon worked out Monday inside the Moshofsky Center, its first trip into the indoor facility this season, both to avoid the wet conditions outdoors and to turn up the heat to prepare the Ducks for playing Saturday night in Tucson.

UO coach Mike Bellotti also said the artificial surface in the Moshofsky Center closely approximates the footing the Ducks will have on the natural grass in Arizona Stadium.

TV'S CHOICE: Oregon's game at UCLA on Oct. 12 has been selected by ABC for a regional telecast, with a 12:30 p.m. kickoff.

NEXT GAME: Saturday at Arizona at 7:15 p.m. TV: Live on Fox Sports Network; delayed on Oregon Sports Network at 11:30 p.m.

CAPTION(S):

Arizona will be without Clarence Farmer, its best running back, because of a knee injury.