Eugene, OR (Sports Network) - Pac-10 Conference rivals square off in Eugene on Saturday night, as the Arizona State Sun Devils come calling on the 14th- ranked Oregon Ducks.

Dennis Erickson's Sun Devils are coming off a 14-9 home loss to USC, and the team is in the midst of a three-game losing streak. At 2-4 in conference, Arizona State is tied for seventh place in the Pac-10 with Washington. With bouts against Oregon, UCLA and Arizona left on the schedule, it will be difficult for ASU to gain the requisite six wins needed to earn bowl eligibility.

As for Oregon, it opened the season with a tough 19-8 loss to Boise State, but then reeled off seven straight wins to take control in the Pac-10. Unfortunately for head coach Chip Kelly and his team, the Ducks had their wings clipped in last week's clash with Stanford, falling to the Cardinal in a wild 51-42 final. The loss snapped a seven-game win streak for Oregon over Stanford. Still, with a 5-1 league ledger, UO controls its own destiny with regard to the Pac-10 title. The Ducks will play at second-place Arizona next week.

Coach Kelly this week reinstated suspended RB LeGarrette Blount, who missed eight games after punching a Boise State player in the season opener. Blount is eligible to play this week, and he expressed his gratitude to the coach for allowing him to finish the season. "I'm grateful to Coach Kelly that he cares enough to offer me this second chance. Now it is up to me to prove to people that their lasting impressions of me are not what they saw in Boise."

ASU's Erickson was even happy to see Blount's suspension lifted, "I'm happy for him, I really am. I don't obviously know the whole situation, but I do know that he seems like a good kid who made a mistake and I think they're handling it the right way."

That said, Erickson would probably have preferred the suspension come to an end after this game. "As far as we're concerned I'm not really happy about it [laughs], but as far as he is concerned I am. That gives them a one, two, three, four, five, six punch, I guess. They've got so many punches I don't know where the heck they're at, but obviously with his addition it will make a difference."

Arizona State leads the all-time series with Oregon, 16-13, and the Sun Devils have won eight of the 14 meetings between the two at Autzen Stadium. Oregon has, however, won the last four meetings regardless of venue by a combined score of 168-73.

The Sun Devils haven't found a whole lot of success on the ground this season as they are averaging 127 rushing ypg. Conversely, they are airing it out to the tune of 226.8 ypg, and they have scored an equal number of TDs both rushing (12) and passing (12). Dimitri Nance has picked up 593 yards and scored five TDs in averaging 4.2 ypc, while QB Danny Sullivan has completed 54.2 percent of his passes for 1,771 yards, eight TDs and nine INTs. Chris McGaha is the team's top pass catcher with 48 grabs for 596 yards and four scores.

The run game produced just 81 yards is last week's narrow loss to USC, so it was up to the passing attack to keep the Sun Devils in the contest. The QB duo of Sullivan and Brock Osweiler combined to throw for 266 yards and a TD, and McGaha had a monster game with nine catches for 118 yards and a score.

Erickson was noncommittal when it came to naming his starting QB for this clash. "I haven't made a decision on what I am going to do yet. We've talked about it and there are things you've got to think about going in there. We'll probably make that decision in the next couple of days. I'm waiting to see what transpires in practice and so forth."

Defensively, Arizona State is giving up 18.4 ppg on typical outputs of 87.4 ypg rushing (lowest yield in the conference) and 204.3 ypg passing. The Sun Devils have registered 22 sacks and 22 turnovers through nine games, and Mike Nixon leads the club in tackles with 53, and he is tied with two others for the team lead in INTs with three.

ASU stood its ground against a good USC team last week, limiting the Trojans to 258 total yards and only one offensive TD. The Sun Devils were particularly stingy when it came to allowing yards through the air, yielding just 112 on seven completions. The unit had just one sack and only one turnover, but USC converted just 2-of-13 third-down tries and never reached the red zone.

Getting Blount back is big for the Ducks, although with the team averaging a league-leading 233.6 ypg on the ground, just where the former 1,000-yard rusher fits in is unclear at the moment. LaMichael James has been the team's workhorse through the first nine games, churning out 1,043 yards and scoring eight TDs. James is the first freshman in UO history to rush for 1,000 yards in a season. Add QB Jeremiah Masoli's 491 yards and nine scores to the mix, and the Ducks have had little trouble establishing the run against most foes. In the passing game, Masoli is hitting the mark on nearly 60 percent of his passes for an average of 182.6 ypg with nine TDs against only two INTs, and while no player has more than 34 receptions (Ed Dickson), a total of seven guys have logged double-digit catches.

Oregon and Stanford combined for 1,070 yards last week, finishing with near equal stats in both rushing and passing. The Ducks ran the ball for 236 yards and three TDs, averaging 6.9 ypc along the way. James toted the ball 18 times and gained 125 yards with a score, while Masoli tallied 55 yards and a TD on 10 attempts. The signal-caller had a stellar game through the air with a career-high 334 yards and three TDs without an INT. James wasn't only effective in the run game, but he also hauled in four balls for a career-high 89 yards.

The Oregon defense was gashed for 223 yards and three TDs by Stanford RB Toby Gerhart, while the Cardinal passing attack accounted for 251 yards and two scores. The last time the Ducks allowed a player to rush for more than 200 yards was in 2007 (Houston's Anthony Alridge), and the last time it happened against a Pac-10 opponent was in 1996 (Washington's Corey Dillon).

A total of four Ducks finished with double-digit tackles, led by T.J. Ward and Javes Lewis who had 12 stops apiece. The UO defense was credited with just one sack and only one turnover, spelling doom for a team that has 21 takeaways and 25 sacks on the season.

John Boyett and Lewis currently rank one-two on the team's tackles list with 61 and 60 stops, respectively, while Kenny Rowe leads the club with seven sacks. As a team, the Ducks are giving up just 20.9 ppg and typical outputs of 136.2 ypg rushing and 187.3 ypg passing. Their scoring yield drops to 18.2 ppg in Pac-10 affairs -- the lowest figure in the conference.

The first and fourth quarters of games have proven to be when the Oregon defense stands the tallest, as foes have a scored a combined 71 points in those two quarters for an average of just under four points per period.