The bye week:

“”I thought it was good to get rested, thought it was a good off week for us. We had a lot of guys kind of nicked up to get healthy and rest mentally and physically, so I thought it was a productive week. We should have everyone back (at practice this week).””

Early preparations for Oregon State:

“”Had some good work last week on Oregon State and the variety of things they do offensively. It was good to be able to go back and research some of our past games (against the Beavers) and know what hurt us. They haven’t changed a whole lot in what they do on either side. Having (wide receiver James) Rodgers back will give them even more firepower, and we anticipate him playing.””

What Oregon State is all about:

“”Their quarterback looks like he’s starting to get comfortable in what they’re doing. They’ve played probably the top schedule in the country so it’s been a tough five games, but that seems to be philosophy and they seem to get much stronger as the season goes on. It’ll be a tough contest with them. It always is when we play them.””

Being ranked No. 9 despite not playing this weekend:

“”It’s good to be, from a media perception and recruiting and all that, recognized. There’s a lot of hard work that’s gone in from a lot of people into all of this. But it’s very premature. Watching the games and seeing the quality of teams we have to play, we just have to keep our nose pointed straight ahead. Just looking at Oregon State we realize we have to play better than we did the last time we were on the field. It’s a great position to be in, but 2-0 in the Pac-10 is a lot better than 1-1.””

The state of the Pac-10:

“”It’s going to be a rigorous and very taxing season. There isn’t a big separation in talent across the board. Certainly we feel just as talented as a lot of teams and worked hard to get in this position, and hopefully our players want more than this because, like I said, this is just four games. We’ll see where we’re at at the end of all 12. We’re not talented enough not to play well and win games.””

Being able to watch games on TV during the bye

“”(The bye week) was good for our coaches to have the weekend off, and I thought it was kind of fun to watch other people out there.  I liked how (Stanford head coach Jim) Harbaugh and (Oregon head coach Chip) Kelly were yelling (at the officials). I wonder if they’ll get a memo.””