On the road, Oregon has outscored its opponents this season 173-73.
In the friendly confines of Autzen Stadium, though, that mark is only 121-109.
The eighth-ranked Ducks are aware of this and want to treat their fans to a more enjoyable contest Saturday night when they host the Arizona State Sun Devils at 7:15 p.m.
It has been two weeks since a sold-out Homecoming crowd witnessed the end of Oregon’s 23-game home winning streak. And while Stanford proved its worth in its 49-42 victory, Oregon tight end Justin Peelle admits that his team might have been a tad complacent.
“We were a little bit arrogant going into the Stanford game, like we felt like we couldn’t be beat,” Peelle said. “So we got humbled. But now after the win at Washington State, we’ve got our confidence back and are ready to give our fans a show.
“We felt that we let them down last time.”
Speaking of a letdown, Oregon (7-1 overall, 4-1 Pacific-10 Conference) can’t afford to have one against Arizona State (4-3, 1-3 ). With UCLA losing to Stanford and the Cougars falling to the Ducks on Saturday, five teams are neck-and-neck on top of the Pac-10 with one loss each.
Oregon’s 24-17 win at Washington State was impressive, but it won’t mean anything if the home team can’t take care of business Saturday night. Only three games remain on the schedule and each one requires the Ducks’ full attention.

“We’ve talked a lot about focus, and our focus has to be very near-sighted, very short term,” Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said. “If you look too far forward or too far back, you get in trouble.”
With the Ducks and Sun Devils meeting on the gridiron, though, it’s hard not to look back at their last two meetings. In 1999, then-sophomore quarterback Joey Harrington led a dramatic last-minute scoring drive that ended with a 29-yard touchdown pass to Marshaun Tucker with nine seconds remaining to cap the 20-17 win.
And then last year’s game was pure “Tempe-rary” insanity as Oregon and Arizona State produced the game of the year in the desert heat of Tempe, Ariz. With big plays aplenty, the two teams put forth an offensive performance that took two overtimes to complete.
When it was all said and done, the Ducks were left with a dizzying 56-55 victory that kept their Rose Bowl dreams alive for another week.
“That game itself is just sort of a blur, but I remember the positives of it,” Bellotti said. “Really amazing football games in terms of the finish (the last two years). It’s hard to even describe it.”
While it’d be tough to top 111 combined points in one game, the two offenses on the Autzen Stadium turf Saturday night have the firepower to produce another shootout. Arizona State, led by quarterback Jeff Krohn and tailback Delvon Flowers, are third in the Pac-10 in total offense, while Oregon is just above them in the second spot.
“Arizona State has a winning record and they are one of the top scoring teams in the conference. They’re scary,” Bellotti said. “Arizona State will give you 10 or 15 different looks, and we have to be prepared to not lose sight of what’s happening.”
New Sun Devils head coach Dirk Koetter, a former Oregon assistant under Bellotti, knows all about the Autzen Stadium atmosphere and the challenges that the noise presents to the opposition.
“Anybody who has ever been there knows it is one of the loudest stadiums in the country,” Koetter said.
And Oregon hopes to give its crowd reasons to be even more rowdy than usual. Against Washington State, the Ducks’ running game was unstoppable and their defense was top-notch for the most part. Should the Ducks continue with their goal of a Pac-10 title, they’ll need both facets of their game to again be clicking.
And as for that former home-winning streak of theirs?
“We’d like to start another one,” Peelle said.