Oregon Ducks vs. Arizona Wildcats

Oregon coach Mark Helfrich watches Saturday's loss in Tucson, Ariz.

(Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian)

EUGENE -- A day after his Oregon team was routed in stunning fashion on the road by Arizona, UO coach Mark Helfrich spoke about Marcus Mariota's health, his team's psyche and preparations for Friday's Civil War against Oregon State at Autzen Stadium.

What was your team's workload like today?

Mark Helfrich: Pretty much just treatment. They did a light workout and meetings, all from a position meetings standpoint, special teams standpoint and a team meeting and we'll hit full fledged practice tomorrow.

What does this Civil War rivalry mean to you?

Yeah I think that is a neat aspect to this deal and I have a lot of respect for (Oregon State) coach (Mike) Riley and what he's done and I grew up definitely in a divided area. I think there's pockets of the state that are close to 100 percent one way or the other but definitely where I grew up was an area divided so the banter going back and forth was always constant.

Did you have an allegiance one way or another?

I was a Duck fan, yep.

Did you also like the Beavers, too? One of those people who rooted for both teams to do well?

You know I don't remember. I'd be lying if I gave you an answer on that one.

How did team respond after losing yesterday and having a short week?

I thought for what you can gauge today they were good. They were attentive. We had some very very good conversations and we talked about accountability you know starting with me and ending with me and everything in between. I had some really good conversations with leaders and those guys did a nice job today and then I guess the proof will be in how we come out from an urgency standpoint and attitude standpoint tomorrow and I look forward to the response.

With this loss you took on more responsibility than before. Did you feel that way?

I guess that's just my belief that the good things are because of what they do and if things don't work out we could have helped them do something better. That's always been my deal.

Have you run Marcus Mariota through any concussion tests?

We don't talk about stuff like that, just as a policy.

This has always been a huge game but because the Rose Bowl isn't on the line does that change anything for Oregon?

I think there's definitely an element of redemption in terms of playing our style and coming out and playing with our best foot forward and again I think missing in this is Arizona played really well and they beat us yesterday. There's a lot of stuff that we contributed to that that we'd like to control differently. From that standpoint it doesn't matter who we're playing. Is there added fire to that around the state, sure.

Any thoughts on Oregon State?

Not anything from a global perspective in terms of that. We've been watching their defensive film starting last night through now, and a lot of familiar faces and a lot of experience. Their linebackers 46 is new but the rest of the crew is a bunch of experienced guys that we've seen a lot of. We know they're going to bring it.

What are your Thanksgiving plans?

We're going to have kind of an earlier practice so our guys can, we're going to have a big meal on Wednesday night with the team and then Thursday we'll have a morning practice and have guys out with either different families they're with or pair them up with guys with family in town to give them a little time and then we'll go into our normal meeting structure at night.

When's the last time you had a family meal with you and your family?

Um, I guess we have a family deal every Sunday night, we didn't do it tonight with the weird turnaround but usually every Sunday usually we have a brief one, not a full-fledged one, but a brief one.

Can you briefly talk about Marcus and what he's meant to this program this season?

Well he's been awesome. He's been an absolute warrior in every regard. He's a tough, tough, tough dude. He's just a phenomenal talent. He's a one of a kind type of guy. He expects so much of yourself in practice and play. Everybody knows what you're going to get when he shows up every single day.

Ron Aiken's son (Joshua) was named a Rhodes Scholar yesterday, do you know him well?

I don't know him very well, we might have to bring him in for some insight. … That doesn't surprise me. I hope it rubs off on us a little bit.

Can you talk about coach Riley?

I wish I got to match up with him; we'd have a good chance if that was solely the matchup. He's a guy we have a ton of respect for him and their entire staff. There are a lot of guys on that staff I've known for years. We know they're going to give us their best shot and we need to give them our best shot and the part about us both being from Oregon and growing up close to our current places of business, I don't know if that's completely unique in college football but it's close.