The Associated Press


It’s another week of competition at quarterback for the Oregon Ducks.

Justin Roper is healthy and will share duties with Jeremiah Masoli during practice, while coach Mike Bellotti considers which one will start Saturday night at Arizona State.

“We’ll probably make some determination on Friday or Saturday on who will play and how much, whether we’ll use one quarterback or two, whether we will use two in a series rotation or we will use two within a series, or we’ll use one quarterback,” Bellotti told reporters during his weekly press conference. “Obviously I’m being as vague as I possibly can be.”

The Ducks are coming off a bye. Masoli ran for 170 yards on 24 carries, including a touchdown, in Oregon’s 31-24 victory over UCLA on Oct. 11. He passed for 42 yards and a score.

Roper, who had missed three games because of a knee injury and illness, could have played if needed, but UCLA’s attack was more suited for Masoli and his scrambling ability.

And Bellotti wanted to give him a bit more time for the knee to heal.

Roper was named starter just before the opener after Nate Costa had knee surgery. Masoli moved into the job when Roper was out.

The Ducks have also played Chris Harper and Darron Thomas in the position. Now that Roper’s back, Harper will play more at slot receiver, while Thomas will be third on the QB depth chart.

Sun Devils slumping

ASU has lost four straight with a record of 2-4 overall and 1-2 in the Pac-10. So how are the Sun Devils dealing with their slump as they prepare to face Oregon (5-2, 3-1)? It’s all about snapping the streak.

“The bottom line with us is just taking it one at a time, and getting that first win,”‘ Arizona State coach Dennis Erickson said. “It’s pretty hard to look past anything other than that, but we do have a lot of games left and I’d like to carry it over to our football team.”

Like the Ducks, ASU is coming off a bye week. It lost 28-0 at USC on Oct. 11.

A key to Arizona State’s second half will be the health of quarterback Rudy Carpenter, who has had an ankle injury and left the USC game in the second half. Erickson said he was encouraged by what he saw in practice from Carpenter earlier this week.

“I don’t know if he will be 100 percent, or if he will ever be 100 percent this year, but he will be better than he was against USC, unless something happens this week,” Erickson said.

Carpenter has started in 37 straight games and has 73 career touchdown passes.

The Ducks have a three-game winning streak against the Sun Devils.

Pritchett suspended

Llinebacker Terrance Pritchett has been suspended for Saturday for violating team rules.

The redshirt freshman has three tackles and broke up one pass attempt in three appearances this season. The Ducks did not release details.

Extra points

Running back Remene Alston broke his foot in practice on Monday. He is expected to be out 6-to-12 weeks, which means he is likely out for the regular season. Alston has 21 carries for 161 yards this season. -. Oregon leads the Pac-10 with an average of 3.6 quarterback sacks per game. -. The Ducks also lead the league in rushing with 275.1 yards a game, which is sixth best in the nation. The team’s 25 rushing touchdowns lead the conference.