EUGENE – 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.