Oregon Register-Guard:Onto every football, a little rain will fall

By Bob Clark

The Register-Guard

A reporter from a Bay Area newspaper asked Oregon coach Mike Bellotti about a weather forecast in the vicinity of Autzen Stadium on Saturday.  "Just wet," Bellotti said on his weekly teleconference with the media. "A lot of wet."  The National Weather Service agrees, with a forecast of "showers" for Saturday, when there's a 60 percent chance of precipitation in the area where the Ducks will be playing host to California.  There's no question that as the 15th-ranked Ducks continue to practice in the elements - they were outside again Tuesday and plan to be there the rest of the week - there's a definite desire to gain an advantage over the 23rd-ranked Golden Bears, who worked out in 60-degree temperatures Tuesday under partly cloudy skies. There's a chance of showers this morning in the Berkeley area, but clearing by the afternoon when the Bears practice.  The Ducks? They'll be handing off wet footballs, and new starting quarterback Dennis Dixon will be throwing ones that gain weight throughout the practice, with each drop of rain that falls and soaks in.  "The balls we end up using in practice, if it rains, are much worse than any we'd ever use during the game," UO coach Mike Bellotti said. "They get heavier, they get slicker ..."  The football managers use towels to dry the footballs, but there aren't as many rotated into use during a practice as there are during a game. And there's not a manager holding a towel over the football prior to each snap, as the umpire does during a game, to keep the rain away as long as possible.  It's November, it's raining and footballs are going to get wet. So the Ducks practice for what they'll play in Saturday.  "We'd like to make sure it's about the same. It always tends to be worse" in practice, Bellotti said of using wet footballs.  The Ducks have played once this year in damp conditions, on Oct. 15 against Washington, though it was a relatively light precipitation.

Preparing Dixon

Along with the weather conditions approximating what they might be Saturday, the Ducks have attempted to make practice as close to what Dixon will face in the game as possible.  The first offense is going against the No. 1 defense more than usual. The Ducks were in full pads Monday, a day earlier than normal since Oregon was coming off a bye week.  "We don't want to practice at one speed and then jump that up for the game," Bellotti said. "It's good vs. good, as much as we can this week."  Bellotti said that beyond the increased practice repetitions for Dixon and backup Brady Leaf, the sophomore quarterbacks are seeing more of themselves on video to review their practice performances, which also aids the learning process.  "The mental confidence comes from doing it, doing it at full speed, seeing it on film and then doing it the next day" to correct mistakes, Bellotti said.  There is also, Bellotti said, an attempt to work with Dixon on what plays he is "comfortable" running, or what he might not feel so good about using. That was true with injured senior Kellen Clemens, and most of the quarterbacks he has coached, Bellotti said.  Some quarterbacks have said more about which plays should be used in games, others take whatever the coaches want to call. Bellotti said the Ducks want Dixon to speak his mind about plays he likes or doesn't before they're called in a game. "My goal right now is to exude confidence with Dennis, tell him to go for it," Bellotti said.

Familiar faces

The Bears not only have a former UO offensive coordinator in as their head coach in Jeff Tedford, but he continues to have a staff filled with Oregon connections.  In recent months, the Bears hired Ed Garland to be their equipment manager after he'd been on the UO equipment staff for 16 seasons. And then Todd McKim, who had a long and popular tenure as a sports television announcer in Eugene, showed up on the Cal sidelines as part of the radio broadcast team for the Bears.

The actual Cal coaching staff includes two former UO players, Ron Gould and Justin Wilcox.  Gould coaches running backs and Wilcox tutors linebackers. The Cal defensive coordinator is Bob Gregory, who previously coached at Oregon.  With Oregon's change in offenses this season, the teams are more similar defensively. Gregory worked for the past two defensive coordinators at Oregon, Bob Foster and Nick Aliotti.  "The roots of both defenses are similar, the philosophies and the implementation are similar," Bellotti said. "When you get to certain issues, each (coordinator) goes his own way and creates the environment for the (players) involved."  In the two games that Tedford has coached against Oregon, both teams had concerns about the other being too familiar with what it wanted to do. There was worry, and with good reason, about signals from coaches to players being read on opposite sidelines.  "I'm sure some of that will still go on," Bellotti said. "We'll still try to steal signals ... or (give) fake signals."

OREGON FOOTBALL UPDATE

Defensive numbers: If all the focus this week seems to be on the offensive units at California and Oregon, the two teams do have some of the top individuals in conference defensive statistics.  Oregon's Anthony Trucks, with eight sacks, shares the Pac-10 lead in that category with Mkristo Bruce of Washington State. California cornerbacks Daymeion Hughes and Tim Mixon lead the conference in "passes defended" with 13 and 11, respectively. That category combines interceptions and passes broken up.  

Up the charts: Two Oregon seniors should climb another spot on career lists against California. Senior tailback Terrence Whitehead is only four yards behind Ricky Whittle (2,545) for third on the UO rushing list while senior receiver Demetrius Williams is two yards from catching Cristin McLemore (2,498) for fourth on the receiving yardage list.  Next game: Saturday against California at Autzen Stadium at 12:30 p.m. TV: Live telecast on ABC.