When it comes to the Oregon football team, it’s the little things that add up to big victories.

So it was last week as the Ducks arrived to practice on Monday to prepare for Washington. As the kickoff coverage team ran through its assignments, head coach Mark Helfrich smiled as he watched Ifo Ekpre-Olomu beat everyone down the field.

Ekpre-Olomu is one of the team’s stars -- a returning first team All-Conference selection -- and there he was in one of the first drills of the week, busting his tail, setting a tone.

“That’s a big deal when your marquee guys are your best practice guys,’’ Helfrich said.

As the Ducks continue to play like one of the nation’s best teams, many of the players attribute their success to the way the team practices. Of course, every college team practices, but the players say nobody practices like the Ducks.

“I guarantee you, our practices are harder than the games,’’ center Hroniss Grasu said. “I’m more tired after a practice than a game.’’

Helfrich said he uses the practices to get his players “out of their comfort zone,” so the roughly two hour sessions are fast, loud, and intense ... the same elements and distractions that test a player on Saturdays.

And that practice intensity starts from the minute they arrive.

Linebacker Derrick Malone says when a player arrives, he reports to his position group and they undergo “pre-practice” drills which stress the fundamentals. For linebackers, that includes drills on stripping the ball, recovering fumbles, developing foot speed by stepping quickly over a bag. All of it is done quickly and sharply before a brisk switch to the next drill.

“Practice hasn’t even started yet, and I’m tired,’’ Malone said while laughing.

When practice is underway, there is non-stop running, non-stop music, and the expectation that focus is maintained.

“The game, that’s the easy part,’’ linebacker Boseko Lokombo said. “We put in so much work, so much time, that by the time Saturday comes, it’s almost like a party. We get to celebrate and play on Saturday.’’

The small things -- like Ekpre-Olomu being the first down on kickoff coverage -- establish expectations. It’s part of what many of the players call the “Oregon Way,” which essentially is a code of how to conduct yourself inside the Duck football program.

“When you see the leaders come out, and they are ready and strapped up, it’s motivating,’’ Lokombo said. “It makes everyone else want to put in all that work.’’

Malone remembers coming in as a freshman in 2010 and having his eyes opened by the way Casey Matthews and Spencer Paysinger practiced.

“I had no choice but to adapt,’’ Malone said. “They were practicing so hard, running to the ball like crazy every time, so that’s all I know. There is no other way.’’

Helfrich said when Oregon recruits, it takes into account the type of player who will” buy into” the Ducks’ practice habits. And Malone said when he interacts with recruits, he makes sure they know it takes a special player to accept “the Oregon Way.’’

“I tell them it’s hard and that if you are not ready for it, don’t come here,’’ Malone said. “I tell them it’s the hardest thing you will ever experience and you will never experience anything else like it. I’m not going to lie to them. But I’m also going to tell them it’s the reason we are successful.’’

There are tricks Helfrich uses to keep the players engaged. He says he tries to mix up the format to eliminate the monotony. And he stresses competition, or “green” sessions, when the offense goes against the defense. Helfrich said this is an especially competitive group, and those sessions feed that edge. Malone says it also creates camaraderie because it stimulates locker room debates and the desire for a rematch in the next practice.

“The competing, and the talking mess in the locker room, that’s what makes it fun,’’ Malone said. “It makes the practices energized, competitive, more realistic.’’

And that tone Ekpre-Olomu set on Monday? The players said it carried on throughout the week. When Saturday rolled around, the Ducks played like one of the nation’s elite, handling the No. 16 Huskies 45-24 in Seattle. Throughout the postgame interviews, nearly every player credited their preparation in practice for their performance.

Check the stories from that game -- nationally and locally -- and few if any mention the players’ comments about their practice preparation, no quotes ignored as too cliche, too boring, too insignificant.

But to the Ducks, who are striving for perfection, they mean it. After all, practice makes perfect.

“We just have a culture here and we try to live by that,’’ receiver Keanon Lowe said. “It starts Monday, and goes to Tuesday, Wednesday ... all throughout the week, we try to practice hard, try to have a great week of practice. And we try to fall back on that on Saturday.’’

--Jason Quick