Week off has been good for Oregon.

Byline: Rob Moseley The Register-Guard

A question was misunderstood, and so UO coach Mike Bellotti thought he had been asked Tuesday morning about being 11-0 at Oregon in games following bye weeks.

"I'm not 11-0," he said. "I remember one we lost after a bye week."

Leave it to a coach to recall the one blemish. The Ducks did indeed lose 33-14 to Washington at home on Oct. 26, 1996. That was Bellotti's second season as UO head coach, and made him 1-1 in games following byes.

Oregon took another bye week after the loss to UW, then came back and beat Arizona 49-31. That began a streak of 11 straight wins after byes by the Ducks, which Bellotti was actually being asked about Tuesday morning in advance of that streak being put on the line against Washington State on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. in Autzen Stadium.

The Ducks, currently ranked ninth in the country, have beaten every Pac-10 team but UCLA during that streak. They've beaten the Wildcats three times and Southern California twice. And they've beaten the same Cougars who enter Autzen Stadium this week, albeit way back in 1998.

With an extra week to prepare for an opponent, it's fair to expect teams to be particularly successful out of bye weeks. But 12-1 is beyond particularly successful. Bellotti guessed his secret mostly stemmed from anticipation.

"I don't know," he said. "I think part of it's luck, part of it's skill, part of it's just getting excited about playing. You don't get to play, and the next opportunity is that much greater for you."

Every season the Ducks have had a bye week, they've won after taking time off. The Washington loss was the first of two byes in 1996, so Oregon was able to redeem itself the following game. In 2004, the schedule didn't include a bye; a break might have been welcome as the Ducks endured a 5-6 season.

Last week was typical of Oregon's bye weeks, in that most of the practice repetitions went to underclassmen while veterans took whatever time they needed off to get healthy.

That meant the team didn't focus on learning new concepts, which would have been difficult, given that all three coordinators were out recruiting most of the week.

While new plays weren't introduced, some augmentation took place, Bellotti said.

"There are things that you do over the period of a season that build on some of the plays you're running," the coach said. "That look like certain plays but are actually different plays. Looks like a run but is actually a play-action pass. It looks like a screen but it's actually a draw. That's a natural consequence of building an offensive attack over the course of the season."

Climbing the charts

Dennis Dixon will more than likely enter Oregon's career passing list on Saturday. He is at 4,238 yards for his career, 59 behind Bob Berry, who is 10th all-time for the Ducks. With 261 yards against Washington State, Dixon would jump all the way to eighth, past Tony Graziani (4,498) and Jack Henderson (4,360).

Akili Smith is seventh in passing yards with 5,148. Smith is also seventh in career total offense with 5,515 yards, directly ahead of Dixon's 5,166.

Jonathan Stewart can also make some headway on UO top-10 lists against the Cougars. He is currently 10th in all-purpose yards with 3,399. Both Terry Obee (3,530) and Don Reynolds (3,468) could be passed Saturday.

Stewart is still 236 yards shy of tying Saladin McCullough (2,028) for 10th in Oregon career rushing yards. But with two touchdowns Saturday, Stewart would tie McCullough for 10th in career scoring with 162 points.

Odds and ends

Oregon's third helmet, a pearl white model, is available for the first time this week, Bellotti said. ... Freshman running back Charles Neal, who is redshirting this season, sprained his ankle late in Monday's practice. It will be several weeks before he returns, Bellotti said Tuesday. ... With co-captain A.J. Tuitele out due to a broken foot, the coaching staff will elect a weekly captain to replace him until his return. This week it's Kwame Agyeman, who is replacing Tuitele at weak-side linebacker.