With No. 1 Oregon’s off-season shift to the Big Ten, it meant that the Ducks would start taking road trips to some of the most historic playing fields in the sport.
Two weeks ago, Oregon traveled east to arguably the most historic of the conference’s various cathedrals of college football — Michigan Stadium, better known as “The Big House.”
The Ducks handily took care of business in the Wolverine State in a dominating 38-17 rout of the home team. That performance kept Oregon’s perfect record on the season, furthered its record on the road to 4-0 and increased its away point differential to 156-44 so far this season.
Oregon’s upcoming matchup, one in Wisconsin against the Badgers, carries a lot of the same mystique.
Wisconsin’s home, Camp Randall Stadium, holds the title as the oldest stadium in the Big Ten, which is the original college football conference. Camp Randall gets its namesake from the site’s use as a base during the American Civil War, and the stadium was built on its site in 1917.
There’s one part of the original camp still intact, the arch, which stadium goers walk through upon entering Camp Randall Memorial Park just outside the stadium. In its time playing its games at the camp, Wisconsin has dominated.
That domination over the years has resulted in one (unclaimed) national championship and 14 Big Ten titles — fifth-most all time. The Badgers also maintain a home record of 483-221-30 throughout their history, which is a winning percentage of .658. Even though the Badgers sit at 3-2 while playing in Madison this season, Camp Randall’s crowd of 80,321 will be riled up trying to play spoiler to the surging Ducks.
But, that’s simply not important to the 2024 Oregon Ducks.
“No matter what happens, we stick to the plan, we don’t get rattled. We’re an older team and there’s really good leadership on this team and things like that. We just don’t get rattled, no matter what the arena is, what the stadium is, we know we’re coming there to win ball games,” senior Ducks cornerback Jabbar Muhammad said.
This team fields 21 seniors or redshirt-seniors regularly, which speaks to this team’s ability to fight off hostile crowds and the negative effects of blaring noise. The Ducks also boast a plethora of players who transferred in, so the team’s experience isn’t limited to the West Coast.
Oregon’s composure also speaks to the preparation it takes each week for the nation’s most earth-shaking environments, as each practice the staff blasts crowd noise to mimic the sensation of playing on a Camp Randall-esque stage.
Not even that makes the Ducks feel anything special heading into the oldest stadium in the conference — it’s all just another game, another week for them.
“Any of these games are the same, we try to go into each game and prepare to the best of our ability, and just win that game, one week at a time,” senior defensive tackle Derrick Harmon said last Tuesday before the Michigan game.
Much has been made about Oregon, a more recent program in the annals of college football, walking into some of the most historic and daunting atmospheres in the sport and dominating teams with incredibly rich history relative to that of the Ducks. What has remained consistent is the team’s commitment to drowning all that noise out with its presence on the field.
No one has been able to hang with Oregon this season, and even the oldest atmosphere in the conference could fail to stop it.
