EUGENE -- Two days after throwing for six touchdown passes in his second career start, Justin Herbert unwound Sunday and took his mind off of football.



Meaning that he dug into homework for his calculus and chemistry classes.



Herbert is fine with keeping a low-profile. The 6-foot-5 Eugene native keeps his answers short and polite, his voice quiet and eyes down and his public display of expressions to a minimum.



When he walks through UO's tree-lined campus, fellow students don't often point and gawk at the first true freshman quarterback to start for the Oregon Ducks since 1983.



"I haven't been stopped too many times," said Herbert, who this weekend faces Arizona State (5-3, 2-3 Pac-12) in Autzen Stadium. "I think I slide by pretty well."



Not for long. If his performance against Cal was an indication of his potential, Herbert could be bound for the spotlight.



Herbert completed 22-of-40 passes for 258 yards and those six touchdowns, and rushed for 56 yards on a mixture of designed runs on which he looked very comfortable.



Herbert said he began to settle into the flow of the game late in the second quarter and his increased comfort showed. As Oregon mounted a 21-point comeback in the second half in Berkeley, Herbert completed 7-of-8 passes for 76 yards and two touchdowns in the third quarter, then added two more touchdown passes in the fourth quarter. Herbert also was 4-of-7 on third down, with two completions resulting in first downs.



"His future is very bright," UO coach Mark Helfrich said.



Of course, Herbert also threw the game-ending interception in the second overtime to seal Cal's 52-49 win and Oregon's fifth consecutive loss, matching its longest such streak of misery since 1996.



The Ducks (2-5, 0-4) have failed to score on their opening possession in 10 straight games. Herbert also overthrew Darren Carrington, among others, on long incomplete passes. Then there was the pick, a pass Cal linebacker Jordan Kunasyzk knew was coming based on UO's tendency to throw at the hashmark to the near side of the field.



Herbert dropped to a knee after throwing the game-ending interception, and Helfrich was the first to reach and lift Herbert by his shoulder pads. Two days after the loss, he was similarly quick to praise Herbert's performance that put UO in the position to win at all, after trailing 21-0 in the second quarter.

"You have to 'flush' that and attack the next play with a great frame of mind and he will," Helfrich said. "I'm very excited again about his short-term and long-term development."





The interception came on a play similar to those that delivered touchdown passes to Charles Nelson and Jalen Brown early in the game, "so I think (Herbert) kind of pre-determined he was going to go to that side and there was another route that was in the progression and the first guy was open," Helfrich said. "That's one of those things where you're hoping for what's going to happen instead of attacking and reacting to what you see. Again, we run the same exact play over again and I would trust him to execute it if we did it again tomorrow."



So would his teammates.



"J. Herbert is the future of Oregon, better get with it!" tweeted teammate, and fellow true freshman receiver, Dillon Mitchell.



Cornerback Ugo Amadi, who played heavily as a true freshman last season, understands what Herbert is currently going through as he adjusts not only to the college game but as a young player expected to hold a major role within a locker room of (mostly) older peers.



"You're gonna mess up, it's your freshman year, it's a learning curve," Amadi said. "But anything you mess up now you will know in the future so the things he messed up this year I'm telling you it won't happen after this year. He's going to learn through it. He's really competitive, threw six touchdown passes as a true freshman in an away game; what more could you ask from him?"



A lot, actually. With All-American running back Royce Freeman still recovering from a bruised sternum suffered against Washington, a receiving corps missing Dwayne Stanford and Devon Allen due to injuries and a young offensive line enduring its own learning curve, the load on Herbert's skinny shoulders is heavy.



"Maybe his biggest strength and his biggest weakness is he's extremely hard on himself," Helfrich said. "And an extreme perfectionist, which is great but it can also be a liability at some points. So that's just where you need to keep talking to him and the team couldn't be more behind him in terms of their support for him and how hard he takes it."



If Oregon doesn't win four of its final five games, it will miss the postseason for the first time since 2004, when Herbert was in elementary school and Helfrich was Arizona State's quarterbacks coach.



If the young quarterback is feeling the nerves, he rarely betrays them.



"I was nervous" starting his first game on the road, Herbert said, "but it wasn't too much different than playing here. It felt a little better than last game and every game just getting more comfortable."



His homework this week: Solving Arizona State's defense.



-- Andrew Greif

agreif@oregonian.com

@andrewgreif