Autzen Stadium poses challenge to visiting teams
By GUERIN EMIG World Sports Writer
9/12/2006
Oregon is 24-1 in its last 25 nonconference games at home.
NORMAN -- For Oklahoma to survive its first trip to Oregon's Autzen Stadium on Saturday, it will need Adrian Peterson, better tackling and lots and lots of nerve.
Just ask those who found out the hard way.
"When I coached in the Big 12, Oklahoma and Nebraska were the loudest places we played," said Montana head coach Bobby Hauck, whose Grizzlies lost 47-14 at Oregon last year. "But this was louder. Autzen Stadium is the real deal."
"We've played in some bigger venues in terms of size," said Pat Hill, whose Fresno State Bulldogs are 0-3 at Autzen since 1997. "But the in tensity and the way the stadium is built is a little different. You're down inside a pit."
"Realize that one side has a roof," said Tim Walsh, whose Portland State Vikings left Autzen 41-0 losers in 2002. "The sound bounces off of it, and instead of going off into yonder, it comes right back at you. It's extremely loud."
How loud?
It is the loudest stadium Lloyd Carr has ever experienced. At least that's what Carr said after his then-No. 3 Michigan Wolverines were ambushed at Oregon in 2003.
So loud that voice of college football Keith Jackson once
said he couldn't hear his phone ring for two days after calling a game at Autzen.
It's a zoo, literally -- the Autzen Zoo, otherwise known as the Oregon student section.
"They keep the pace up through the whole game," Hill said, "every down."
It's no wonder the Ducks are 24-1 in nonconference home games since thrashing Iowa 40-18 on Sept. 24, 1994.
Not that playing inside the conference guarantees anything.
The 2000 Washington Huskies finished No. 3 in the nation and won a Rose Bowl. They went 11-1, the 1 coming at Oregon.
"In retrospect, we made an error in judgment," said Hauck, the Huskies' secondary coach that year. "We thought we could play a (quarterback) check game based on their defensive formations, but we flat couldn't get it done. It was loud from 10 minutes before the game to 10 minutes after, and we just couldn't communicate."
Autzen's noise penetrates the ear and silences the mouth.
"You have to be on top of your cadence," said Tyrone Willingham, who has experienced Oregon as coach at Washington and Stanford.
"Silent counts and hand signals will be important," Hill said.
"We had the quarterback walk between the guards and tackles on both sides (before taking snaps)," Walsh said.
The coaches' advice to OU? Get a grip.
Senior quarterback Paul Thompson has a handle on things, but the five false starts Thompson's line committed against Washington is a troubling sign.
Also, get a lead. In 2004, Indiana snapped Oregon's 21-game nonconference home winning streak by jumping ahead 23-0 before hanging on 30-24.
"As Oregon goes, their crowd goes," Walsh said.
"You get behind at that place, you have a big problem."
As Jackie Sherrill, Mississippi State's coach during a 2002 loss at Oregon, said: "It helps to have a good football team, and (the Sooners) do."
Just in case, the Sooners might want to pack ear plugs.
"They'd better be ready for people to get as loud as they can," Walsh warned. "Oregon fans are a special breed."
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Guerin Emig 581-8355
[email protected].