Oregon coach Mike Bellotti just had his turn on the Pac-10 coaches conference call. Here's some of what he said:

On Justin Roper and whether the offense is different with him there as opposed to Nate Costa: "Basically he and Nate Costa have been working out with the ones, splitting time the last week and a half to two weeks. Really, we run the same offense. The basic plays of the offense you must run regardless of who the quarterback is. .... Somem of the secondary or tertiary plays may be more of a fit to Justin now.''

On how the QB fits into the system and facing the Huskies: "We're trying to spread the field, create the play, create the matchups, and our QB has to be mobile enough to make some yardage, make some plays on his own. I think every year is a new year and you have to prepare your team. I think you look at what happened in the past you are really wasting your time. It's about right now. This Oregon Duck football team and the Washington team we are going to play Saturday.''

On opening with a Pac-10 team: "It wasn't my idea to be honest with you. Generally those things happen for a reason, probably beause of TV or an adjustment of the schedule that both teams seem to favor. In some respects it is good .... it's got our players' attention that we are opening up with a league game against Washington. We start with a rival and we end with a rival so there is a great chance for us to be very excited from the get-go and certainly to put our best foot forward.''

On trying to replace Dennis Dixon and Jonathan Stewart: "The realty is I don’t know that you replace either one of those guys. They were both tremendous athletes. Dennis did some magic in our offense and it was a perfect fit for him. I think certainly we have some really good quarterbacks and they are going to need some help from the people around them. ...I do think Jeremiah Johnson and LaGarrette Blount ease the pain of (Stewart's) loss. Jeremiah is a complete football player, he can run, block and catch the ball. LaGarrette is a more physical, big back, 238, 240 pounds and as such, he brings it and those two complement each other very well. ... Our offensive line is solid, we've got an improved Jaison Williams on the flank, an improved Ed Dickson on the inside as the tight end, and that's going to help whoever is the QB is, and that's Justin Roper right now.''

On backup QB Jeremiah Masoli: "He's a little older than the normal JC transfer because he sat out a year out of high school, redshirted at City College of San Francisco. He has probably as good an arm as anybody I have seen. As quick a release and as good an arm as anybody I have had the pleasure to coach. He has all the attributes to run this offense and I'm really excited, and he's healthy. He came to camp not quite healthy, dealing with a wrist injury from last season. But he's healthy now and he has a real knack for football. He's going to push Justin Roper and that's good. He's a very viable number two who has three years of eiligibility.''

On trying to devise a plan to defend Jake Locker: "I'm glad we've had the entire fall camp to do it. Jake Locker is a tremendous athlete and a tremendous quarterback and he's going to be that much better this year with a year of experience under his belt. He's probably in my opinion the biggest, fastest and most dangerous weapon in Division-I football,l and I'm sure that this year they are going to put some things around him in terms of plays and schemes that highlight that ability. You just have to try to slow him down, keep him in the pocket and force him into obvious passing situations, the same thing we would do with any great quarterback. But the reality is he can beat you with his feet, so we have to be very alert, very vigilant and play with great intensity.''

Will Patrick Chung be the guy keying on Locker? "Well, everybody has a responisbility to keep an eye on Jake Locker. He's a very competitive young man, a great competitor, and so is Patrick Chung. So I think that Patrick will take it personally. Obviously, every single person on our defense has to be aware of Jake Locker. It's 11 guys making sure about that one guy.''