Willie Tuitama is eighth in the nation with an average of 314.5 passing yards per game.

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This season in the Pac-10, an injured quarterback has been like the flu in December.

Half the teams have a hobbled quarterback. The rest are afraid of getting one.

It is easy to see why. Teams forced to play backups because of injuries have disappointed:

● UCLA has played four quarterbacks, and its 5-4 record might cost coach Karl Dorrell his job.

● USC lost two games, one when starter John David Booty played Stanford with a broken finger and another when backup Mark Sanchez faced Oregon.

● Cal backup Kevin Riley might have cost his team a win against Oregon State by letting the clock expire when the team needed a tying field goal.

Stanford experienced success when backup Tavita Pritchard was forced into action — he defeated then-No. 2 USC in his first college start. Oregon State will start backup Lyle Moevao today against Washington.

The conference's five healthy quarterbacks have been dominant. Oregon's Dennis Dixon, Arizona State's Rudy Carpenter, Arizona's Willie Tuitama, Washington State's Alex Brink and Washington's Jake Locker are the Pac-10's five leaders in total yards per game.

Not surprisingly, the Pac-10's top two teams, Oregon and ASU, have had healthy signal-callers all year. Dixon injured his knee last Saturday but is expected to start against the UA on Thursday.

The Sun Devils are in ninth place in the conference with 37 sacks allowed, yet Carpenter has not yet missed an important snap.

"As many times that Rudy's been hit, we've been fortunate that he hasn't been hurt," ASU coach Dennis Erickson said. "A lot of it is what you do and how you protect, but a lot of it's luck."

But is there more to it?

Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh, who has started both T.C. Ostrander and Pritchard, blames conditioning rules.

"One thing that's been on my brain lately is that when you're not in season, you're not in spring practice, the players are limited to how much they can train," he said. "It goes down to eight hours a week. For the kind of level these players are playing at, very close to a professional level, the kind of impact they incur on Saturday afternoons, I feel like they need more training in the off-season."

Erickson cited the popularity of the spread offense, where more quarterbacks have the responsibility of throwing and running.

"I believe that people are spreading things out, the edges are shorter," he said. "Quarterbacks are running a little bit more than they have in the past. I believe that gives you more of a chance to get hurt at that particular position. Then, a lot of it is luck."

As a coach in the NFL, Erickson believed each team needed at least two accomplished quarterbacks, assuming one would get hurt during the course of the season.

The same is true of college football, he said.

"You better have two," he said, "and you better have three."

Oregon State coach Mike Riley does have two; at the beginning of the season, he rotated starter Sean Canfield and backup Moevao, looking for one to establish himself.

Canfield eventually won the job but injured his throwing shoulder Saturday against USC. Moevao will likely start this week against Washington.

Riley, who usually does not rotate quarterbacks, might be glad he did.

"This year was a little different, and maybe a residual benefit will be his experience to get ready to play for this game Saturday against the Huskies," he said.

Washington coach Tyrone Willingham has gone out of his way to protect Locker, his dual-threat freshman who ranks fourth in the conference with 274.6 total yards per game.

In addition to wise play-calling, the Huskies have tried to teach Locker to be prudent — an admittedly tough thing to do during the game.

"You try to make sure you're constantly aware of his contact," Willingham said. "You try to educate the young man about when you should take a hit and when you shouldn't take a hit."

But the day will come, more than likely, when Locker does take a head-rattler. It would not be out of place for this season.

Then again, maybe the amount of quarterback injuries in is in the eye of the beholder.

"I don't know if it's more than normal," Riley said. "You kind of look inward and see how you're affected more than the big picture.

"Quarterbacking is a tough spot, there's no doubt about it. You just hate to see anything happen; at the same time, it's football — because the preparation for the next guy is always a big factor. Because he's always one play from getting in the game."