The calendar has shifted and Oregon has entered the end of season stretch. The coaching staff and quarterback Marcus Mariota has echoed the feeling that this team is prepared to avoid a slip-up in November. The first test comes this weekend on the road against the No. 17 Utah Utes.

The Ducks haven’t made the trek to Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah since 2003, when they lost to future No. 1 draft pick Alex Smith and company 17-13.

This time, Oregon has the possible No. 1 overall draft pick quarterback in Mariota. Utah, on the other hand, has one of the best pass rush duos in college football. Defensive linemen Nate Orchard and Hunter Dimick have combined for 21 sacks through the first eight games of the season.

Here’s a look at the match-ups and players to watch:

Hunter Dimick vs. Tyrell Crosby/Matt Pierson

Utah’s Nate Orchard is one of the top pass rushers in the country. Orchard enters the game against Oregon with 12 sacks on the season. Across from him on the Ute defensive line, it doesn’t get any easier for the Oregon offense. Hunter Dimick has established that he is a good pass rushing combo opposite Orchard with nine sacks of his own this year. Offensive lineman Jake Fisher will be in charge of protecting Marcus Mariota from Orchard on the blindside.

On the other side of the offensive line, Matt Pierson is listed on the depth chart as the starter at right tackle. Pierson started at the position against Stanford, but left the game with a knee injury. True freshman Tyrell Crosby is listed as the backup. Crosby has had experience this season at both left and right tackle. Regardless, whoever starts at right tackle will be tested against Dimick this weekend.

Devontae Booker vs. the Oregon front seven

It’s no secret that the Utah offense runs through running back Devontae Booker. The junior running back has rushed for 811 yards and six touchdowns over the course of the last five games. With the flip flopping between Travis Wilson and Kendal Thompson at quarterback, Booker has been the consistency that the Utes offense has needed.

The Oregon defense is giving up an average of 167.4 yards per game this year. Taking away the Utes’ offensive bloodline in Booker has to be at the top of Oregon’s list for this game.

Players to Watch

Oregon:

Charles Nelson

Charles Nelson has become a focal point in the Oregon offense. He has lined up in every skill position imaginable. Head coach Mark Helfrich has said that Nelson is too good to have his skills limited. His speed is elite and it’s a factor of his game that should payoff on special teams. Former Duck, De’Anthony Thomas, had a key 86-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against the Utes last year. Nelson has the ability to have that kind of impact against the Utes on Saturday. Expect him to be all over the field on offense and on special teams.

Utah:

Kenneth Scott

The Utes lost leading wide receiver Dres Anderson for the season due to a knee injury that he suffered against USC two weekends ago. In their first game without him, the Utes passing attack struggled. The second leading receiver, Kenneth Scott, finished with one catch for six yards in their overtime loss to Arizona State. Scott, and fellow receiver Tim Patrick, need to add something to the offense for Utah to have a shot.

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Redshirt Junior Oregon defensive lineman Sam Kamp gained approximately 30 pounds over the offseason. The 290 pound lineman from Mesa, Arizona ate about 7,000 calories per day while working with strength and conditioning coach Jim Radcliffe. In his fourth year with the Ducks, Kamp has been making the best of his opportunity to play in the defensive lineman rotation.

“I’ve been working since I got here,” Kamp said. “I just finally got an opportunity.”

Kamp has recorded 16 tackles — which ranks him third among the defensive line group — and a sack this season.

With fast paced offenses ruling the majority of Oregon’s schedule, the defensive line can’t be thin. There needs to be depth in order to create a rotation that works.

“The key thing I want to see — no matter who’s in the ballgame — is that we’re all doing the same thing and we’re getting the same result,” defensive line coach Ron Aiken said.

The depth has been on display over the last four weeks. Starting defensive end Arik Armstead has missed two of the last four games for the Ducks. Armstead also left last weekend’s 45-16 victory over Stanford early. In his place, the combination of Kamp and junior college transfer Tui Talia have benefited the most.

“They’ve been asked to have a bigger role on the defensive line, and they’ve played big in the big games down the stretch,” Armstead said. “They’re doing an excellent job.”

From the sideline, Aiken expects the production to stay the same from the players replacing Armstead.

“If they go in, they know the same expectations are set for them, as they were for Arik,” Aiken said. “They know they have to get it done.”

When talking about his defensive line, Aiken is quick to note that Talia, a 6-foot-5 transfer from Diablo Valley College, is one of the most talented in the bunch. Adjusting to the Oregon system has been a step-by-step process.

“He’s only been in our system for nine months and so he’s getting better everyday,” Aiken said. “He’s a very talented young man.”

Along with Talia, freshman Henry Mondeaux has garnered experience and made an impact for the Ducks. Mondeaux has had nine tackles and a half a sack for the Ducks.

Mondeaux set himself apart from other newcomers early. He showed a relentless need to never stop moving his feet and to always play the defensive end position at full throttle. For that, Kamp nicknamed him the “Tasmanian Devil” earlier this year.

“It’s just awesome to watch,” Kamp said. “He loves the game so much and he loves working hard.”

Aiken describes Mondeuax’s best asset as an “unbelievable motor.” He said it’s a key element to a successful defensive lineman’s repertoire. On many occasions, Aiken has seen Mondeaux run from the backside of a play and make the tackle on a running back going away from him.

“He’s got the ability to get off a block and burst,” Aiken said. “He can run guys down.”

Overall, the entire defensive line group has worked to improve its consistency in fundamentals. Part of that involves taking what has been learned in practice to the game.

“We can drill it over and over again in individual drills,” Aiken said . “But then you have to transfer it to game day.”

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After practice on Tuesday, Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota was quick to acknowledge the Utah Utes’ pass rushing prowess. The Utes’ stout defense is led by the duo of Nate Orchard and Hunter Dimick, who have 12 and nine sacks this season, respectively.

Mariota met with members of the media after practice to preview Utah’s aggressive defense.

Can you give us an idea of how it’s been going the last couple days and what you have been working on?

The last couple days – Monday was kind of a recovery day for us, but we were able to get some good work. We dived into the game plan a little bit today. Execution wise, it was a little bit sloppy but for the most part the effort was there. In the game plan we can kind of fix that so as long as the effort is there we can get better at it.

Is sloppiness a regular thing, or a common thing for you guys?

Yeah, definitely. Early in the week, you’re just starting to learn the game plan. So, we kind of expect a couple, not really a couple, but a day where guys are still trying to figure it out. So yeah, we kind of expect that.

There has been a lot of talk from the coaches about the Arizona loss and focusing things and preparation. Mark (Helfrich) said on Sunday that the preparation has been way better since that loss. Do you agree and in what ways has it been better?

Yeah, definitely. Guys have really taken it upon themselves to provide the effort, keep the intensity high and to make sure that whatever the game plan is, they’re executing it to the best of their abilities in practice.

Marcus, kind of along that same line, you guys have had difficult Novembers in the past. What makes this team different in that respect from last year?

I think we’ve learned a lot in terms of having that loss earlier in the year. Having experienced failure a little bit and now that we kind of have our backs against the wall, guys feel the need to continue to fight and play loose and play with high intensity and if we continue to play like that we’ll be successful.

Another strong defensive team, can you talk about what you expect from Utah and playing on the road there?

Yeah. The atmosphere is going to be unbelievable and we’re going to have to be prepared for that. Up front, defensively, they’re very good. They have a couple of the best pass rushers in the country so we have to be ready for that. We have to be ready for many types of man (coverage), because they do play a lot of man free (coverage). In terms of that, they’re a very aggressive defense, they like to bring pressure and we just have to make sure that we’re all on the same page.

How do you manage to stay upright against one of the best defenses?

Just continue to harp on our keys. There’s tells that the defense will give you in terms of when they’re bringing the pressure. If we’re all on the same page, in that sense we can make sure our protection slides the right way. If our tight ends or running backs are staying in to block, just making sure they know who they’re blocking and that they really just provide the best protection they can.

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– A Las Vegas sports book has a new odds on favorite to win the national championship. According to the Westgate Superbook, The Oregon Ducks are favorited at 9-2 odds followed by Alabama (5-1), Florida State (7-1), Michigan State (7-1), Mississippi State (7-1) and TCU (8-1). The Ducks beat Stanford 45-16 this past Saturday to improve to 8-1 on the year. Oregon is the sixth team to be named the favorite in the first year of the College Football Playoffs. Oregon faces off against No. 17 Utah this weekend. The Ducks will finish off the regular season at home against Colorado and on the road against Oregon State.

– Here are the Emerald’s photos from Oregon’s 45-16 victory over Stanford on Saturday.

– Oregon flexes its muscles in win over the Cardinal.

– And by doing so, the Ducks flipped the script and solved the Stanford problem.

– Oregon linebacker Derrick Malone thought that Oregon’s win against Stanford highlighted the team’s best defensive performance.

– The Oregon women’s tennis team finished 20-8 in a tournament over the weekend.

– The Oregon volleyball team fell at home to No. 1 Stanford on Sunday. The Ducks beat Cal on Friday.

– Over the weekend, the Oregon hockey team swept Portland State.

– The Oregon women cross country team won the Pac-12 championship on Friday. Men’s runner Edward Cheserek won his seventh straight race and his second Pac-12 conference title.

– Oregon men’s club soccer player Andrew Wohl achieves success despite having dyslexia.

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In the history of the University of Oregon’s club rowing team, coaching continuity hasn’t been a trend. Normally, coaches would spend around one to two years with the program before leaving. That changed in 2011 when Marlene Kindorf was appointed as the head coach of the Oregon rowing team.

Kindorf, a former rower at the University of California, Berkeley, has the Oregon rowing program on an upwards trajectory. Last year, the women’s novice eight-boat took home silver at the American Collegiate Rowing Association championships – the national championship for non-varsity Division I rowing teams.

With one race into the fall season, Kindorf discussed with the Emerald the current status of the Oregon rowing team and what to expect in the future.

The Oregon rowing club is also seeking new recruits.

At the end of last year, it seemed that your program was making strides towards success. Would you agree with that?

Overall for the team, it was very much a rising year. The team really stepped up to a new level of training and a new level of competition and we’re hoping to do the same this year. We’re really going for it this year, too.

What goes into this change? How does a rowing team improve?

There are a couple things. Number one: I would say a very organized training plan. Not just working out, but building a training plan that will take us all the way to nationals. I would say that’s number one. Number two is a cultural shift in the team. When I mean cultural, I mean them perceiving themselves as a recreational activity through club sports. We’re making a change to “We are a competitive program and we’re going to run ourselves like a (Division I) varsity program.” The fact that we’re under the club sports offices is simply semantics. We’re going to train, race and perform like a varsity program. Number three, I would say, is recruitment. We’re trying to get our name out on campus a lot more and get more people aware of the rowing team and that we’re a competitive program, not just an extracurricular activity. Number four is coaching consistency.

Do you have a specific goal for your team this upcoming year?

That first year women’s boat, seven of those girls returned to the team this year. So for that varsity women’s boat, I want to see them start pushing up against Division III, II and even I teams. They beat Division I teams last spring. The goal is for us to continue to go up against those kind of teams and be competitive with them, but we want to go to ACRAs and medal in the varsity eight women’s boat this year. On the men’s side, the recruits we have this year, it’s a small group of guys, but I have to say it’s probably the most athletic looking group of guys I’ve seen here in my four years. They very well might be able to do what the women did last year.

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Nick Aliotti has seen his fair share of the Stanford Cardinal.

He saw Toby Gerhart run for 223 yards and three touchdowns in 2009, Zach Ertz catch a 1-yard touchdown in the back corner of the end zone in 2012 and he witnessed Tyler Gaffney and the Stanford offensive line ran all over Oregon in 2013.

Those three are just a few of the Cardinal that have been a thorn in the Ducks’ side. Stanford has won three of the last five matchups against Oregon. This year, Aliotti, now an analyst with Pac-12 Networks, sees a different Cardinal squad.

Aliotti appeared Monday on John Canzano’s radio show, The Bald Faced Truth, to discuss his opinion on the current status of the Stanford team.

“They don’t line up in two backs and smash-mouth you like they used to,” Aliotti said. “They are a totally different offense and this is not the same Stanford team we’re accustomed to seeing on offense. They’re the same on defense, but they’re a completely different offensive team in my opinion.”

Statistically, Aliotti’s comments are right on the money. Stanford, the same team that ran the ball 66 times against Oregon last year, is ranked 93rd in the nation in rushing with an average of 143 yards per game. Senior running back Remound Wright leads the Cardinal with 69 carries this season.

However, like Aliotti mentioned, the stout Stanford defense is still as good as ever. The Cardinal are giving up an average of 12.5 points per game.

For offensive coordinator Scott Frost, the most important thing for the Oregon offense against Stanford is taking advantage of every drive it has.

“I think we only had eight or nine drives against them last year,” Frost said after practice on Monday. “They kept us off the field by controlling the ball and we’re not going to give up that many chances in a game like that. We can’t make mistakes and we turned (the ball) over a bunch last year and we can’t do that.”

Frost also pointed out that Oregon made a mistake psychologically against Stanford last season.

“I think one mistake we might have made last year was putting a little too much focus on this game,” Frost said. “We had the game —  in my mind —  it was circled from the beginning of the year and I think a lot of the players had it circled at the beginning of the year and we didn’t play our best. I think the key to having success this week is playing well. We haven’t played our best game against them two years in a row.”

Still, even if Stanford was circled by players and coaches in the preseason, the matchup has lost a bit of its media-hyped luster. The Cardinal fell out of the top-25 last week for the first time in 72 weeks and have three losses on the year. That doesn’t mean Oregon is taking them lightly.

“We’ll be very excited to play an excellent program in Stanford,” head coach Mark Helfrich said. “We have a ton of respect for those guys and they’ve gotten the best out of us the last couple of years.”

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Down 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh to the visiting Washington Huskies, Oregon softball first baseman Kailee Cuico drilled a deep fly ball 25-feet from the foul pole in left field for her second strike of the at bat.

Softball play-by-play voice and current KWVA sports director Ryan Rouillard made an unintentional prediction from the press box at Howe Field.

“Boy if that one’s fair, this game is over,” Rouillard said live on the radio.

On the next pitch, Cuico sent a Bryana Walker pitch to deep center for a walk-off 4-3 win and a sweep of No. 5 Washington. At the time, Rouillard and his color commentary partner Joey McMurry delivered in the moment, an emotion-driven walk-off call for the game.

“Ryan’s call of the walk-off was perfect,” said McMurry, now a sports broadcaster with the Oregon IMG Network. “It was really good. He and I, I think in the game especially, had great chemistry. We generally do have good chemistry and in that game in particular we had great chemistry.”

Seven months later, the commentating duo was rewarded for its two-inning broadcasting performance.

This past Saturday, Rouillard and McMurray, representing KWVA’s sports department, took home the best sports play-by-play broadcasting at the 2014 National Student Production Awards, part of the 2014 College Broadcasters, Inc. National Student Electronic Media Convention in Seattle, Washington.

“On a personal level it is great,” Rouillard said. “It’s fun to see your work admired and respected, especially to be ale to win it along with one of my closest friends and mentors in Joey, that really made it all the more sweeter.”

The CBI convention usually takes place on the east coast. However, this year, since it was on the west coast, KWVA general manager Charlotte Nisser decided to enter specific clips into the contest.

“This one is really the biggest one on the east coast and they’ve never really done a convention out here, which is why we even applied,” McMurry said. “So our general manager just said ‘why not? Just go for it.’”

Growing up, Rouillard knew he always wanted to be a sports broadcaster. He used to listen to the late Mariners broadcaster Dave Niehaus make his trademark “fly away” call on home runs. For Cuico’s home run, Rouillard decided to stray away from a formalized home run call and rely on the emotion of the moment.

“You can’t really script your call,” Rouillard said. “I’ve always been a believer that there is no such thing as a home run call. Every call is different and that one was certainly fun. It was kind of a let it go, in the moment type of thing.”

The sports department also finished as a finalist in several other categories. Rouillard hopes that the award is a testament to the department’s growth over the past few years.

“These are some of the best college radio stations in the nation that are applying,” Rouillard said. “So for us, one of our goals has always been to continually expand, continually grow and that at the same time we want to become one of those top college sports departments in the country. I think this weekend was a big step forward for us.”

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Freshman walk-on place kicker Aidan Schneider has garnered more experience in his first season with Oregon than he ever expected.

Schneider, a centerback on the soccer pitch turned kicker during his junior year at Grant High School in Portland, Oregon, made six-of-seven PATs against South Dakota in week one. At Levi’s Stadium against California last Friday, Schneider replaced injured starter Matt Wogan and converted every field goal and PAT he attempted.

With the timetable for Wogan’s absence unknown, Schneider is preparing like he normally does. He knows how he can improve — specifically on getting more distance on kickoffs — and he knows that getting consistency is a must for success moving forward.

Schneider talked with the Emerald earlier this week.

What was going through your head when you found out you were going to start against Cal?

I was pretty much just trusting all my preparation and knowing that I played earlier in the season, that kind of gave me a lot confidence because even though I hadn’t played on the road yet, I knew kind of what to expect going in to the game. I wasn’t starry-eyed.

What feedback did you get from your coaches after Cal?

Well, basically I didn’t miss any PATs or field goals, which is good. On kickoffs I didn’t get a ton of direct feedback, but pretty much what I noticed is that I need to be more consistent. I know I’m capable of putting a really big ball on a kickoff, like the last kick of the game. That one felt like it was a long time coming. I just hadn’t been hitting the ball right and I finally got a hold of that one.

Did the fact you were kicking in a professional stadium go through your head at all?

It did a little bit. It’s definitely a different feel to it, but when I’m out there playing, it’s not something I think about. I just focus on the kick.

Do you remember your first kick ever?

I do. I actually missed my first kick. It was a PAT right off the crossbar.

Off the crossbar, was that your soccer mentality playing out?

(Laughs) A little bit of that, maybe. Just the whole thing hadn’t really hit me until I was out there. I was like, ‘This feels so wrong to me.’ It was different than what I had done my whole life in soccer and I wasn’t ready when the snap came.

Are kickoffs something like golf where you try to use muscle memory and replicate a good kick?

Yes. Staying consistent, it’s almost exactly like golf where one little thing you miss up in your swing can completely change the result of the kick.

Did you ever think you’d be a college kicker when you hit the crossbar on your first kick in high school?

I was not even vaguely considering it.

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After Oregon’s 38-31 road victory over Washington State, wide receiver Dwayne Stanford was upset.

The redshirt sophomore from Cincinnati, Ohio was held without a catch for the first time this season. After reflecting on the game, Stanford decided he needed to make a change in his practice preparation.

“I wasn’t playing as much, so I kind of came with the attitude that they’re going to have to play me,” Stanford said. “I’m going to work so hard that they’re going to have to. I may not get the ball, but I’m going to be there on the field. That’s just how I attacked every rep, just trying to be the best I can be, whether it was in the blocking game or just running good routes.”

The switch to a harder practice ethic has paid immediate dividends for Stanford. He’s caught 18 passes in his last four games for 260 yards and three touchdowns,  a dramatic increase from his first four game totals of five catches, 107 yards and one touchdown.

These days, there’s no sign of any dismay on the face of Stanford. He’s quick to flash a smile and a laugh now that he seems to have found his place in the Ducks’ air attack.

****

It didn’t take long for Stanford to earn the nickname “Too Tall”.

As a 4-year-old growing up in southwest Ohio, Stanford got involved with sports. He towered over the rest of the kids and when he played Little League Football, his coach couldn’t remember his name. He resorted to calling him by his most distinct feature.

“Everyone back in Cincinnati started calling me that (Too Tall),” Stanford said. “It just stuck with me.”

Now, Stanford remains as one of the taller receivers in the country. During his days at Taft High School, however, Stanford saw basketball as his main focus. He helped lead the Taft Senators to a 26-1 record and a Division III Ohio State Championship in 2011.

Even though he played football his entire life, Stanford never looked at it as something he wanted to focus on and pursue in college. He viewed the game as something he could share with his friends.

Before his junior football season, that changed. In high school, Stanford was teammates with Adolphus Washington, a highly sought after defensive tackle recruit.

In the fall of 2011, Stanford accompanied Washington on a recruiting trip to Ohio State and was blown away. Fans were screaming Washington’s name all throughout the town of Columbus. Stanford was blown away.

“I was like ‘Dang that’s crazy,’ fans already know his name,” Stanford said. “That kind of made me amp up my work ethic. This could be me if I take this seriously.”

Soon after, when college scouts would come to visit Washington at Taft, they would ask to talk with Stanford also. Whenever a college scout talked with Stanford, it was alongside Washington. But as his junior season progressed, Stanford started making a name for himself.

The University of Cincinnati was the first school to pull Stanford aside and talk to him on his own. They made the conversation solely about him. Eventually, the Bearcats were the first school to offer Stanford a full-time scholarship.

****

Stanford transferred to Taft High School his sophomore year. Before he made the decision to move, one of the coaches asked him where he wanted to go to college. Mistakenly, Stanford thought the coach asked for his name. He responded by saying Dwayne Stanford. The coach, shocked, told Stanford that Palo Alto, California was far away.

When his recruiting started picking up, Stanford told himself that if he was going to go to a school on the west coast, more than 2,000 miles away from his home in Cincinnati, that it had to be a perfect fit. His visit to the University of Oregon accomplished exactly that.

“When I came out here I was just impressed with everything as far as the tradition, the facilities, how they maximize what they get out of players,” Stanford said. “I also wanted the chance to play early and I could do that here.”

Stanford played as a true freshman, catching 11 passes and showing a promising glimpse into what his future in Eugene held. However, a preseason injury in 2013 forced him to miss the entire year. When this season rolled around, frustration was eminent. And his zero catch performance against Washington State earlier this year sparked his decision to change his practice mentality.

Wide receiver coach Matt Lubick thinks that there are six to seven guys that he could trust in his talented wideout corps to play the position. He believes that this naturally creates a healthy brand of competition between the teammates.

“When you’ve got a whole bunch of guys, and your teammates are pushing you in a healthy way, it makes you better,” Lubick said.

Stanford concurs with Lubick’s thinking. It’s the little things he sees from his teammates that motivates him to be better.

“I see them making plays in practice and I want to do the same thing,” Stanford said. “I see them run a 60-yard route then sprint back to the line for the next play. It’s little stuff like that where I see the work and it raises the level for me. It’s that competition within our receiver group that raises each and every one of our games.”

Oregon offensive coordinator Scott Forst has witnessed the hard working competitiveness from the receivers group. In his opinion, it starts at the top with senior Keanon Lowe.

“There’s no position group in the country that runs as much as our receivers here at Oregon,” Frost said. “Those guys all do a great job and they have a great example. All they have to do is watch Keanon Lowe practice to figure out the standard. A lot of those guys have kind of adopted that strategy.”

The element of Lowe’s personality that sticks out to Stanford is Lowe’s ability to stay even keel and hardworking. He notices when Lowe sits in front of the room during film sessions and he’s hard pressed to find a time where Lowe doesn’t have a smile on his face.

The past two weeks, Lowe has been sidelined with an injury. In his place, Stanford has shown up. He has 158 yards and three touchdowns over that span, becoming a staple of the offensive production.

“He’s made big play after big play,” Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota said after Oregon’s 59-41 win over California.

Despite his recent success, Stanford is trying to stray away from being complacent. He wants to build off each game to continue improving. He wants to make the upcoming game on the schedule the best one ever.

“To go from not playing, to being in the position I’m in, I just want to keep maintaining what I’m doing and stay out there on the field and keep getting better,” Stanford said.

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Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich was dishing out the standard postgame comments in regard to Marcus Mariota. After watching his team cruise to a 59-41 victory over Cal, Helfrich called his quarterback a “stud” and continued to ramble on about how unique Mariota is to the rest of the college football world.

But at the end of his statement, Helfrich snuck in a hopeful, blindsiding quip.

“Marcus is such a stud and it’s great that he has another year and a half left,” Helfrich said with a serious demeanor.

The contingent of media personnel in the press conference at Levi’s Stadium let out a collective chuckle.

“What?” Helfrich questioned in response.

The humor in Helfrich’s statement is blatantly obvious. After electing to return to college instead of entering the draft, Mariota has managed to avoid the potential problems associated with returning to Oregon under a Heisman microscope. He’s been consistent, efficient and arguably better than he’s ever been. With scouts representing 12 different NFL organizations in the press box watching him, Mariota’s draft stock might be the highest its ever been.

On Friday night, Mariota stepped onto the field at Levi’s Stadium — The home of the San Francisco 49ers — and turned in another successful performance. Before Mariota could focus on playing, he had to spend some time taking in the stadium and being a photographer. He took plenty of pictures for his father and his brother, both of whom are huge 49ers fans.

After he sent the photos to his family, Mariota switched his mindset and focused on the game.

“You can’t let these moments get too big for you,” Mariota said.

“It’s just another game.”

Mariota turned in another day at the office, completing 18-of-30 passes for 326 yards and five touchdowns.

Shockingly to Helfrich, Mariota also reminded his coach of his human nature: The redshirt junior quarterback made a mistake.  Most notably, Mariota was intercepted for the first time this season on a tipped ball from Cal outside linebacker Hamilton Anoa’i that landed in the awaiting hands of safety Stefan McClure.

“It’s almost funny,” Helfrich said. “You just expect him to be perfect.”

Mariota added, “I was upset with myself. I’m definitely going to learn from it. It’s one of those things. During the game obviously it’s kind of frustrating. Coach kind of joked with me and got me to kind of relax a little bit and forget about it.”

Right now, it’s all smiles and laughs for Oregon. The Ducks are averaging 49 points a game in their last three contests. Even with a mistake against the Golden Bears, Mariota and the offense appears to be hitting its fastest stride.

“It’s fun because this entire offense is starting to click,” Mariota said.

Follow Joseph Hoyt on Twitter @JoeJHoyt