By Rob Moseley

Editor, GoDucks.com

Venue: Outdoor practice fields

Format: Full pads

At this point in the season, the Ducks are creatures of routine. For the last two months, Oregon generally has practiced at about the same time each day, with the same format depending on the day of the week, and had a similar schedule the rest of the day for meals and meetings and such.

This week is different, in a couple of ways. First off, No. 2 Oregon plays Thursday, against Arizona in Autzen Stadium (7:30 p.m. PT, ESPN). Thus, the practice week began on Saturday, and while today was Monday, it was a “Wednesday” practice, the last prior to the game in pads and with a modicum of hitting.

Also, today is the first day of school at the university. So practice was moved up to an earlier start time, in keeping with Oregon’s efforts the last few years to have players devote mornings to football and have afternoons on campus, rather than shuttling back and forth for classes both before and after a midday practice.

The start of school also meant another round of walk-on tryouts after practice, one of a handful of times a year the program invites potential practice players to show their stuff. Candidates ran the 40-yard dash, and then split off to run through position drills.

If any make the team, they’ll truly be diamonds in the rough, but a hard-working walk-on who’s willing to swallow his ego and pay his dues on the scout team has tremendous value, and usually it seems like a guy or two makes the team out of these tryouts. We’ll pass along word if any do so from this one.

Highlights: As was the case Saturday, the defense was in control when the Ducks held their “clutch” period to start practice. Arik Armstead and Tyson Coleman teamed up for a sack on the last play for the ones, and Christian French had a sack with the twos. ... Coleman also forced and recovered a fumble during the first full team period. On the offensive field, Royce Freeman took a short pass to the house; cornerback Arrion Springs did a great job of defeating a receiver’s block on the play, chucking him aside, but in the time it took to do so Freeman was by him. ...

Entertaining stuff during 1-on-1 passing drills in the red zone. Troy Hill had a couple of breakups in the end zone, and Dior Mathis and Johnny Ragin III each had one. Dwayne Stanford and Ifo Ekpre-Olomu turned it into a mano y mano situation, going head to head at least three times and each scoring victories. Tony James had a leaping, twisting touchdown grab despite tight coverage from Juwaan Williams, while Charles Nelson both caught a touchdown and took a couple of reps in coverage.

Other observations: As usual, James managed to stand out for his work with the scout team. Today, it was covering punts. Special teams coordinator Tom Osborne put the challenge to his punt return team, “Can anybody block Tony James?” ... For a minute late in practice, it looked like the defense had used up its allotment of interceptions for the week with Sunday’s flurry, as Erick Dargan and Derrick Malone Jr. had balls slip through their hands on back-to-back plays today. But Hill made a pick on the very next rep, and later on T.J. Daniel tipped a ball at the line that Tui Talia hauled in. Dargan then redeemed himself with an interception. ... Eddie Heard jumped out a couple times, both on defense and special teams.

Based purely on feedback overheard from coaches in practice, Williams is one of the team’s more sound guys in terms of handling his assignments. ... Kenny Bassett probably doesn’t get mentioned enough in these reports. Always good for solid gains with the No. 2 offense. ... Haniteli Lousi has begun cross-training. A guard since the spring, he got some reps at tackle today. Lousi played some tackle in junior college as well.

In case you missed it: Oregon’s game Oct. 11 at UCLA was set for a 12:30 p.m. kickoff on FOX.