Following the University of Oregon Duck’s 21 to 41 loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, students on campus reflect on the historic football season that started in August and ended in the new year.
Freshman Ellie Pappas enjoyed her first football season as a duck.
“I thought it was fun. It was really nice to have a winning season for the first time I’m in college. I thought the Rose Bowl sucked though,” Pappas said.
Pappas said she attended all but one home game and bought the Ducks Sports Pass for tickets to all sporting events. Although the student section was fun, she said it was frustrating when people snuck in without a ticket.
“I wish people would stop sneaking in (when) you spend hours trying to claim seats. For the Ohio State game, I had to go to the bathroom and I ended up waiting for 30 minutes to get back to the seats that I had, which was preposterous,” Pappas said.
Senior Brandon Fisher said he was happy with how the regular season went.
“Obviously it was a really, really good season. It’s unfortunate the way it ended. I was at the Rose Bowl, so it’s unfortunate with the new format, we got unlucky, but otherwise I think it was a good season,” Fisher said.
Fisher, who said he drove five hours to the Rose Bowl, described the atmosphere of the stadium.
“It was (a) cool pre-game, but obviously with the game, people were kind of shell-shocked. It was a cool place,” Fisher said.
Freshman Morgan Steel said that despite the loss to Ohio State, she’s trying to look on the bright side with the Big Ten Championship win.
Steel, who attended all but one home football game, said she enjoyed the student section but felt bad for people who were unable to get tickets to games.
“I really liked the (Ducks Sports Pass) but I did feel bad for students who didn’t get it and they have to pay a lot of money because people with the pass would sell them for a lot of money,” Steel said.
Responses to a Daily Emerald poll on Instagram showed frustration with the student section and the layout of the Ducks Sports Pass.
“Overcrowding was sad as I felt unsafe at times as people threatened to rush the field,” one user responded.
One poll with 120 responses showed that 75% of respondents attended a football game this year and of those respondents, 22% attended an away game.
Junior Natalia Baezea said she didn’t travel to any away games but might consider traveling in the future for a rivalry game.
“I would want to go to the (University of) Washington (game) or like (Oregon State University),” Baeza said.
