I will begin with saying thanks to USC fans for the classy congratulations. Last night might have been the best night of my life. Win over USC, storming the field, great dinner with friends after, then home to shower and change, bars and Halloween parties, and a long night with an awesome girl to end the insanity that was Eugene last night. The streets were packed by the thousands by students dressed up in costumes, but no one was talking about anything unrelated to the game. Everyone was shocked and stoked...the only way to really describe it.
Here is a bit of a recap of my experience:
I got to the stadium on Friday afternoon at 3 PM and camped out all night. There were about 20 people sleeping at the student gates, but many more arrived starting at 2 AM for ESPN College Gameday. I was at the student gates with the more hardcore fans. We have done Gameday before and it’s not that special. We were more concerned about our seats. Around midnight, one of our friends, who had drank too much, began puking more than I’ve ever seen someone puke. We ended up calling the paramedics and they took her to the hospital. She had alcohol poisoning, but made it back in time for kick off. Oregon fans don’t let the hospital keep them from their Ducks Football, lol.
While camping out we talked to a lot of fans walking by; most in disbelief that we camped out in the cold and pouring rain. We met 5 guys from Texas (UT Alums) who came to enjoy the game and a new stadium. They said that they travel to a new place for a big game every year. We also met a guy from Louisiana who came for the game, but he was an LSU fan. He said that his son became a Duck fan when Dixon was running the show and loved the jerseys. His son was only 8, but for his son’s birthday, he bought them both tickets to come all the way to Euene for the game. I also talked with some USC fans. Most were pretty classy, although all of them were VERY confident to say the least.
Once we got inside the stadium, it was a party. The place was buzzing and the players were coming up to the student section and pumping us up. Even Chip Kelly gave the typical "arms waving-motion" to get us to be louder...this was with 80 minutes prior to kickoff. It wasn’t an official "blackout" that was promoted by the marketing department but the fans decided it was thanks to someone who started a Facebook group promoting the idea. The majority of the stadium did in fact wear black.
Once the first USC players came out onto the field they didn’t receive a very warm welcome. They came out in sweats and here were about 20 of them. The only player I recognized was Everson Griffen. They came out and immediately started taunting and yelling at the students, they even began jawing at the Oregon players. I say "at" because the Oregon players just nodded back, not responding vocally, as to say "bring it, let’s go." They then did a little prayer on the midfield "O" and then did a little dance, talked some more trash, and went back to the locker room, taunting the students again as they left. Matt Barkley also received an unfriendly welcome when he first came out onto the field.
The game itself was insane. It was the best game I’ve ever seen an Oregon team play since the Fiesta Bowl in 2001. I don’t think I need to break down the game, you all saw it. Let’s skip ahead to the end of the game. With 1 minute left, I jumped from my seat, walked down lower walk-way behind the Oregon bench, where there is very little security (it’s all in-front of the students), and hopped the wall, onto the field. I kicked it with Josh Kaddu (injured back-up LB) for a bit and then after T.J. Ward picked off a Matt Barkley pass to end the game, I stormed the field with the rest of the students. It was insane. I got to the middle and felt so squished that I forced my way out and hung out with some friends near the edges of the field, watching the rest of the students try to get on the field. It’s pretty dangerous, actually. Most students are getting crushed from the mass amount of students behind them and some jump a 15-foot high wall. One person fell at the gate, his leg was caught, and was being trampled, but someone pulled him out. It was a little scary. The last player left on the field was Masoli and he was crowd-surfed off the field. It was unbelievable.
I will say that Matt Barkley is the real deal. I was really impressed with him. The noise didn’t affect him, just like he said. However, it did affect his offensive line; they had a number of false starts. I know that they had at least 6. But that kid is going to be scary for years to come.
The rest of my night needs no details, because it isn’t football-related...except for the fact that wherever I partied, all anyone talked about was the game.
Here are some pictures that I think are relevant to this post:
Team heading out of the tunnel and onto the field
Matt Barkley getting sacked.
One of Jeremiah Masoli’s plays of evading the pass-rush and completing a pass
Joe McKnight getting stuffed
LaMichael James getting into the endzone
Fans storming the field. Notice how much black is in the stands.
Field after the storming
Jeremiah Masoli being crowd-surfed off the field
Stats
