Quack Fix: Ducks enter "improvement week" and pick up another verbal commitment

With Oregon's bye, there was no practice on Monday.  So, no practice highlights.  Enjoy the rest of your quack below.

Quote of the day (from Rob Moseley's post on Marcus Mariota's response to Jordan Zumwalt's questionable sideline hit):

I don't know.  I just try to keep my head, and my guys did an awesome job keeping their heads. They did come after us a couple times, and for our guys to hold their character really says a lot about this team.

-- Marcus Mariota on whether his "Let us play" plea to officials had a subsequent effect on Zumwalt.

Links:

• The Ducks kick off "improvement week" today, with game preparations for next week's Thursday showdown with Stanford to begin on Saturday.
• Ifo Ekpre-Olomu was named one of 15 semi-finalists for the Jim Thorpe Award, which is given to the top defensive back in the country.
• Over at the Pac-12 blog, Ted Miller offers his look back at week 9, Kevin Gemmell names Byron Marshall and Avery Patterson as his players of the week, and Gemmell has a video segment talking about Oregon and Stanford both taking care of business in preparation of Nov. 7th.
• As Noah noted yesterday evening, the Ducks picked up another verbal commitment as Justin Hollins, a prep DE/LB prospect from Texas announced his plans to become a Duck.  Here's Noah's post from yesterday.
• The women's soccer team came up with a huge 1-0 upset of #12 California at home yesterday.  It was Oregon's first win against a ranked opponent since 2011.
• Finally, don't forget to make your picks in the jersey contest by Friday evening this week.

Go Ducks!