Last Friday, Duck fans stayed in Eugene to witness the last Rivalry Series game on home turf. One week later, Oregon football fanatics will take flight to Las Vegas to witness the final Pac-12 Championship contest in history.

This time, instead of a 20-minute walk over the bridge and through the woods to Autzen Stadium, UO senior Simon Eckel will spend two hours in the air from takeoff to touch down in Nevada. His plane will land three miles from Allegiant Stadium, the neutral site where kick off will commence at 5 p.m. on Friday Dec. 1.

“I’m going to this game because, one, it’s the Ducks, and two, I’ve tried to go to as many away games as I can this year,” Eckel said. “So, this contest would complete the gauntlet.” The advertising major and sports business minor has attended every away matchup this season, except for the one against Stanford University on Sept. 30.

Eckel’s roommate, fellow UO senior Jackson Nevin, said “[Simon’s] dedication to get to Oregon games is unmatched.” Subjectively, this may be true. However, Eckel is not the only devoted Duck in the nation; he will fly out of the Eugene airport on Thursday morning in what he expects to be a full flight of fans outfitted in green and yellow.

“All year the Ducks have traveled really well; even for the game in Lubbock, Texas, where the Ducks played Texas Tech,” Eckel said. Unlike lonesome Lubbock, which still attracted a surprisingly decent-sized crowd, he believes the lively and vibrant Las Vegas will give fans more of an incentive to invest in this travel itinerary.

Oregon fans will need to fill a majority of the stadium’s 60,000 seats if they want to seize the momentum and out-support the University of Washington’s entourage. In order to do this, some students are skipping their final day of classes, while UO alumni are cutting their work week short. The postseason matchup is pulling people from their responsibilities in a communal effort to seek revenge against an unbeaten Pac-12 rival.

Among the alumni attending the title game is 2020 UO graduate Andrew Tennant. The 26-year-old will make the four-hour drive from his apartment in Los Angeles to his hotel on the Las Vegas strip Friday morning. By the evening, Tennant will be reunited with his senior year roommates in the stands — all supporting their alma mater.

This will be Tennant’s first time attending a Pac-12 Championship game in-person, but his second time watching the Ducks live this season. The former public relations major cheered on Oregon at home on Nov. 11 when the Ducks defeated the University of Southern California. He managed to sneak into the student section to sing “Shout” one more time, yet he did so in front of a drastically different Oregon football team.

Tennant went to college during the famous Justin Herbert era, but despite witnessing the hometown hero at the helm, he and his friends all say that Bo Nix is their favorite Oregon quarterback of all time.

“I feel like I have a better relationship with this team than any other team during my time as a Duck,” Tennant said. “The way that Nix and Dan Lanning came into Eugene, transformed this team in two seasons and ignited a special spirit makes me feel really engaged and excited about Oregon football.”

From a football standpoint, Eckel and Tennant both agree that the Ducks do not have to do anything differently to defeat the Huskies. If they play the same game that they have been all season and let Nix and Lanning dictate the style of play, the Ducks can come out victorious.

From a fan standpoint, Tennant shared a similar sentiment. He said, “For everyone that’s going, let’s be as loud as possible and bring the same Eugene energy to Vegas.”

Although the game is outside of Oregon — and only a short trip southbound — there is a lot at stake.

“A win will give Oregon warranted credit as it enters the Big 10 Conference next season,” Eckel said. “A win would cement ourselves in history.”