Take One: The Atmosphere matters
In 2018 Kayvon Thibodeaux made a trip to Eugene to watch Oregon take on the Washington Huskies. Following his visit he told Rivals that he “wasn’t really big on Oregon until I went… It was probably the best college game I’ve been to.”
We have long talked about the reality that most elite prospects do not pick a team based on one win or one loss, they are pretty sharp and understand that a single win or loss does not (nor should it) define what a program is and what it will be. But the one thing a great game does is create a great atmosphere.
What matters is trajectory, culture, academics, and atmosphere. Trajectory, culture, and academics are mostly out of the control of fans – but the gameday atmosphere is entirely within their hands. For a couple of decades Pac-12 fans kept hearing ‘it just means more’ from the SEC – and the best sign of that concept was the environment created for big games. Oregon has been one of those places where the atmosphere for big games has always been big and it matters. It mattered to Thibodeaux and you can be sure that the raucous nature of the fans this weekend will leave an impression on the elite recruits scheduled to be in town.
The difference between 2019 and 2024 is massive. In the 2019 class Oregon signed 26 recruits – Thibodeaux was the only five star. The Ducks already have four five-start players committed to the class of 2025 and will be hosting another elite difference maker on the DL with Jahkeem Stewart having reclassified to the class of 2025. This feels like one of those moments where the Ducks could make that next step and I don’t even think that winning the game matters as much as being in that spotlight. This is one of the primary benefits of moving to the Big 10 – these matchups are more likely than they would have been in a depleted Pac-10. While there could have been value of being the big fish in the little pond, I don’t know that a model like that is sustainable in the long run.
Will Oregon land Stewart? No one would really say it is going to happen, but Oregon is in a better position now than they were six months ago and that is thanks in large part to the relentless effort of the staff on the recruiting trail.
Stewart will not be the only five star in town as Na’Eem Offord is also slated to be there. Getting another five-star defensive back could be another game changing pickup for the Ducks. I have said for quite some time that I am not sure that Oregon flips Offord from Ohio State, but just know that this is not just for a free trip.
For the rest of our thoughts on this weekend check out our early thoughts on the week on our Weekend Recruiting Wrap and our Updated Visitor List.
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Take Two: Tailgating remembered
In 2008 some may remember that I took a sojourn to South Dakota to work as an assistant strength coach for the University of South Dakota as they transitioned from Division II to FCS level in all sports. Interestingly, I did not pay much attention on the drive out there as to the time of year – the first weekend in August. I had no idea why a Super 8 would cost almost $200 for a night until someone mentioned that the Sturgis rally was happening soon and that I was caught in a classic supply & demand trap. A lot of people heading to Sturgis and not that many rooms in Missoula.
It was after I returned in October, though, that I learned a tradition I had grown accustomed to had died while I was gone: Duck Sports Authority tailgates. They had been hosted by my friend Daryl for several years but had seemed to fade away for a variety of reasons. It was kind of too late to do much about it that season, but I spoke with AJ, and he said he would love to have someone start hosting them again.
As a kid and even when I first bought season tickets and would walk through with my brother on gamedays, we always wondered about doing our own tailgates. This was my chance. It was rather fortuitous timing that the season I began is when Oregon football really started to take off. Slowly I started to add things to the tailgates until there were points where we needed two spots. For those first two seasons of hosting, it seemed we were never short of people willing to share space with us as we tailgated inside the Autzen parking lot.
There are a couple of very interesting memories from those first two seasons. The first was the Stanford game in 2010. GameDay was there and I drove down with two of our sons and my wife getting to Eugene at like 4:00 AM. She mostly napped in the Blazer while I went to the GameDay set with Braden. The university allowed us to park in the lot at 7:00 AM so I began a slow cooked fresh made jambalaya which turned out really good. That was a fun day.
The other memory was the same season as a drunk fan saw my hood up (I was using a battery charged inverter to run my electric stuff including the television) and decided to slam it – even though the prop rod was holding it up. Destroyed the hood but my quick-thinking brother chased him down and got his information. He ended up paying back the damages.
In 2011 we got displaced as the ‘General Admission’ Autzen parking went away. The tailgates still held on really strong – until 2016 and they were decomated following that season. We still did them in 2017 – and took the 2018 season off as I traveled across the country to work in South Carolina. In some ways, we have never seemed to be able to return tot hose glory days when 25-30 people would come by – so we evolved again to use our RV as the host spot. We still don’t get a ton of people by there, but it does allow us to get much better coverage – and a good night’s sleep after the game.
While I call this a DSA tailgate, pretty much everyone is welcome to come and join the festivities. Even if you do not want to eat the food or have a beer, feel free to stop by and say hello. I get the feeling that we will see plenty of people this weekend – and that will be one of those reminders of why I love doing all of this so much.
