EUGENE, Ore. (AP) -- Last week Oregon visited a team that was coming off a demoralizing loss. Now it's the Ducks who are wounded and looking for retribution.

Oregon (4-2, 2-1 Pacific-10 Conference), which got routed by USC 44-10 last Saturday, hosts UCLA Saturday night.

With the victory over the Ducks, the No. 8 Trojans rebounded from an upset loss to the Oregon State Beavers that derailed the team's widely anticipated dash to a national championship.

Now that the Trojans are back on track, something the Ducks can learn from.

"We move on and regroup and answer the wake-up call we just got," Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said. "We are in the same position 'SC was a week ago. We got beat and we gotta dig ourselves out of the hole."

The Ducks started the week on a positive note with the return of quarterback Justin Roper, who has been out with a knee injury and a lingering illness.

Roper, named the starter just before the opener after Nate Costa had season-ending knee surgery, was injured late in Oregon's 32-26 victory over Purdue, and missed the next four games.

Third-string quarterback Jeremiah Masoli, a junior college transfer, took over for the Ducks, with backup from freshman Chris Harper and Darron Thomas.

Roper's return puts Oregon in a more stable position at quarterback. But whether he could regain his starting job from Masoli in time for the Bruins was still up in the air, and probably unlikely.

"I like the fact that we have both of them back and competing now," Bellotti said. "It gives us a little more flexibility and freedom with a guy like Chris Harper, who we might use elsewhere."

Last week Harper had asked to play more at receiver, but given the quarterback situation at the time, it wasn't a good idea, Bellotti said.

Despite the loss to the Trojans, Oregon's offense should challenge the Bruins. The Ducks are ranked seventh nationally with an average of 267.17 rushing yards a game, thanks mostly to the tandem of LeGarrette Blount and Jeremiah Johnson.

The duo has rushed for a combined 966 yards and 15 touchdowns for Oregon.

"Every game you've got to stop the run to do anything on defense. We know their ground game is very important for them, so we must stop their running game and force the pass," UCLA defensive tackle Brigham Harwell said. "We know they're going to try to run the ball."

The Bruins (2-3, 1-1) were coming off a 28-3 victory over Washington State, which snapped a three-game losing streak. Even though the Cougars are not very good in a rebuilding year, UCLA showed progress.

The defense allowed a season-low 177 yards, and just 26 yards rushing, the fewest since allowing minus-13 yards against Arizona two years ago. The Bruins didn't turn the ball over for the first time in nearly a year.

On offense, UCLA has tallied 57 points in its last two games after scoring just 23 in the first three. Kevin Craft, called to duty after Patrick Cowan and Ben Olson were injured, threw for 225 yards and two touchdowns against the Cougars, with no interceptions.

Coach Rick Neuheisel said improvement will come with experience.

"That's how you get better, keep throwing to the same guys, the offensive line talking to the same people. Those things are huge as you mature as a team," he said.

The game is just the second on the road for the Bruins this season. They were blanked 59-0 by BYU — the school's worst defeat in 79 years — in the other.

Oregon and UCLA have split their last four games overall. Last year the Bruins won 16-0 at the Rose Bowl late in the season.

UCLA is 14-6 in Eugene, and lead the overall series 39-22.

Neuheisel, in his first year as head coach at his alma mater, is 4-1 against the Ducks.

(Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.)