EUGENE -- Tyrell Crosby got an impromptu day trip to the Oregon coast for his birthday Tuesday, the result of the poor air quality in the Willamette Valley leading the Ducks to move their practice to Florence.

But really, his best gift arrived last Saturday.

That's when Crosby, the starting left tackle who declined to enter the NFL draft in December and instead return for his senior season, played in Autzen Stadium for the first time in nearly one year.

After UO's home win against Virginia on Sept. 10, 2016, Crosby reaggravated a foot injury against Nebraska one week later and missed the rest of UO's 4-8 season. Crosby was limited in his participation during spring practices while continuing his rehab and fully rejoined full-contact drills during the first weeks of preseason camp last month.

Crosby tried to approach his return to Autzen like "any other game" while acknowledging "there was a little pressure on myself" during UO's 77-21 win against Southern Utah. Crosby earned an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty but otherwise played cleanly.

"I expect us to get better," said Mario Cristobal, Oregon's co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach. "We keep the process nameless and faceless, don't look at the scoreboard and stay process-oriented. That's not a tagline and that's not a cliche. It's really been the model we've adopted and it keeps us on-point and in line with chasing the goals that we have -- and they're pretty high.

"We really want to elevate the standard, the physicality and production of the offensive line. Game one was a very positive step in that direction."

Game two will be another big step forward for Crosby, emotionally.

When Crosby put pressure on his foot early in last season's 35-32 loss at Nebraska, he felt a bone break and immediately "knew something was wrong." To make matters worse for UO, Crosby was soon joined on the sideline by running back Royce Freeman, who'd suffered a lower-leg injury and also sat out much of the loss, and Devon Allen, who suffered a season-ending knee injury.

"Emotionally that was really hard on me," Crosby said. "It was the first time I'd broken any bones or got injured to the point where I can't play.

"... I could kind of see the decline kind of hit during that game of the overall performance of the team. They didn't give up, but it seemed like a different team a little bit. It was really hard on me."

Crosby is looking forward to this game for other reasons, too.

Oregon on Saturday will wear uniforms specially designed by three cancer survivors who were patients at Portland's Doernbecher Children's Hospital, and Crosby was one of three Ducks players involved in the design process from the early stages alongside the survivors.

Since his injury, Crosby has attempted to make the Oregon offensive line a hard matchup for opponents, motivated by the end of UO's 10-year streak of leading the Pac-12 in rushing. Oregon rushed for 348 yards in the win against Southern Utah, the 11th-highest total so far during college football's young season, and allowed just one sack.

Freeman ran for 150 yards and four touchdowns, and fellow backs Kani Benoit (three touchdowns, 107 yards) and Tony Brooks-James (157 all-purpose yards) had big days.

"I love run blocking, and I love having Royce, Tony and Kani all look good," Crosby said. "I just want to see us rush for 400 yards, pretty much."

Mark that down, then, as something else Crosby wants for a belated birthday gift.

-- Andrew Greif

agreif@oregonian.com

@andrewgreif