Venue: Outdoor practice fields
Format: Helmets and shorts

Royce Freeman is generally a man of few words, but he knew just what to say Saturday night in Oregon's locker room, after being presented with a game ball by head coach Willie Taggart for his four-touchdown performance in the win over Arizona.

"We're going bowling," Freeman said, eliciting whoops from his jubilant teammates.

Later, in the postgame press conference, Taggart humorously wonder whether Nike "makes bowling shoes." On a more serious note, senior defensive end Henry Mondeaux closed Oregon's press conference by noting that "it means a lot to the seniors to be bowl-eligible."

There was time, not too long ago, when making a bowl wasn't a cause for celebration by the Ducks. But the 2016 season was a wake-up call, as the UO football team missed the postseason for the first time in over a decade.

And so, nobody is taking for granted what the Ducks achieved by winning Saturday, to reach 6-5 entering this week's Civil War, and wrapping up a bowl bid.

"We'd like a couple more extra games, if you know what I mean," Taggart said in an interview following Sunday's practice, referring to the two postseason games for College Football Playoff finalists, which the Ducks achieved in 2014. "But we've got to work toward that. And that's what we're doing."

After practice Sunday night, Taggart passed along to the Ducks that the most likely bowl destinations are the Cactus Bowl, on Dec. 26 in Phoenix, or the Las Vegas Bowl, on Dec. 16.

"It'll be one of those," Taggart told the Ducks. "But we've got one more bowl before that."

That would be the Civil War, in Autzen Stadium against Oregon State on Saturday (4 p.m., ESPN2). The Ducks are looking to avenge last year's loss in Corvallis, while the Beavers have just one more chance to finally earn a Pac-12 victory this season.

And then, it'll be on to the postseason for the Ducks, in their first season under Taggart. The UO head coach has a reputation for turnarounds – he took Western Kentucky to its first ever bowl, and got South Florida into back-to-back bowls after going 2-10 his first season there. So he knows the value of a postseason bid.

"It's a lot," Taggart said Sunday. "You get practice time, so you can continue to develop. It helps with recruiting – the name brand of Oregon being out there. Alumni is excited to see the program back bowling. It helps in a lot of different ways.

"Again, we all want bigger and better. But we're going to climb. And climbing is easier than hanging on."

Practice highlights: The 7-on-7 period was highlighted by two beautiful passes from Justin Herbert to Darrian McNeal. Both went for 40-yard touchdowns, with Herbert dropping passes over the coverage and into McNeal's arms down the sideline on the first rep, and over the middle on the second. … It looked for a moment like Braxton Burmeister was going to have a completion to Daewood Davis, but Ty Griffin came up and ripped the ball out before Davis could secure it. … A couple of fifth-year senior walk-ons connected when Taylor Alie zipped a pass over the middle and Taylor Stinson reached high to haul it in.

Other observations: With the Ducks no longer preparing to play Arizona dual-threat QB Khalil Tate, Mike Irwin was back running the scout-team offense. Demetri Burch, who also was awarded a game ball for the job he did emulating Tate last week, was back over on the offensive field. … Alie and Burmeister continued to split No. 2 reps behind Herbert. Sure would be cool to see the senior Alie get a chance for some run in his final game in Autzen on Saturday. … There was some good football on the practice fields Sunday, but some bad dancing, when Michael Jackson's "Beat It" came over the PA.