When I found out that the Ducks football team had made it in to the College Football Playoff, I knew I had to be there. I tried my luck in the Rose Bowl student lottery, but all I got was a heart crushing email telling me I had not been selected to receive tickets. I’m sure most of you are familiar with this feeling.
There was only one other way I could make it to the bowl game: beg my parents. As soon as I got home for winter break, the begging began, and when Christmas came around I opened a gift containing three beautiful Rose Bowl tickets.
My parents and I thought about trying to book a hotel in Pasadena, but instead we decided we were going to drive in that morning and drive back to Las Vegas that same night. After cutting our New Year’s Eve partying short, we hit the road on game day at 6 a.m.
Luckily, I got to sleep most of the way to California and before I knew it, we were stuck in traffic trying to get into the Rose Bowl. There were cars from all across the country showing their support for the Ducks and the Seminoles.
Walking to the stadium I saw that the Oregon fans largely outnumbered the Florida State fans. There was green and yellow everywhere and, being in Duck gear, I never went 10 minutes without a high five from a stranger.
As we got closer to the stadium, it started getting a lot louder as fans tried to pile their way into the gates. Even an hour before game time, the lines were crazy not only to get into the stadium, but just to get into our section. I guess that is just what happens when 90,000 people jam into a stadium that was built in 1922.
Finding our seats was not too difficult, but squeezing into them was. Each row is packed so close together that there is barely enough room to sit without your knees hitting the person in front of you. Each time anybody needed to get out of their row it meant that everybody in the row had to get up to make room, which annoyed some of the less enthusiastic patrons.
Before the game started, Oregon’s marching band played a wonderful rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner, which included fireworks, a stealth aircraft and smoke skywriting spelling “happy New Year” in the scenic blue sky.
After the national anthem, the fans roared and kept the stadium loud throughout the entire game. Looking around the stadium Oregon definitely had more support, but with so many fans so spread out they could not really get any cheers going like the Florida State fans could.
The first half of the game was pretty evenly matched, but ended with Oregon in the lead at 18-13. As the second half started, the Ducks pulled away from the Seminoles, slowly shattering their dreams of another national championship.
Watching Marcus Mariota and Thomas Tyner run the last two touchdowns to help the Oregon offense break the record for most points scored in a Rose Bowl was one of my greatest experiences of college thus far.
Although I had imagined the Ducks winning over and over again in my head it felt way better in real life. By the time the game ended, many of the FSU fans were already long gone and the Seminole football team immediately packed up their stuff and got out of there. I guess if my team lost by 39 points after a 29-game winning-streak, I would be a sore loser too.
After cheering on the newly crowned Rose Bowl champions the Oregon fans finally cleared the stadium and made their way back to their cars celebrating the whole way. Many fans were stumbling around and slurring their words, but they all were having a grand old time. Some people were even continuing to tailgate as long as they could before the lot closed.
Since my parents and I still had to drive home to Las Vegas, we were not part of that group. We got out of that crazy parking lot, onto the open road and made it home by midnight. Now I am on to my next mission: begging my parents to take me to Dallas on Jan. 12 to watch as Oregon takes on Ohio State in hopes of winning their first national championship in school history.
Follow Tanner Owens on Twitter @T_Owens21
