It's called the Autzen Zoo.
"If they get ahead and start causing chaos, it can be a wild zoo full of animals and rabies," defensive end Lawrence Jackson said. "They get crazy up there."
Couldn't have said it better myself, Lawrence.
Don't let the seating capacity of 54,000 fool you. The home of the Ducks packs one of the biggest punches in all of college football.
In a time when stadiums are nearly able to house the entire Baldwin family, holding upwards of 100,000 people, Autzen
Stadium remains an enigma on the list of college football's loudest places to play.
Booty, Sanchez, your mom or Napoleon Dynamite. It won't matter who is playing quarterback if he can't hear the playcall.
"The Autzen Bounce causes deafness in laboratory rats," CBS SportsLine's Dennis Dodd said.
"That's the loudest stadium I've ever been in," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said after visiting Autzen in 2003.
"Autzen's 59,000 strong make the Big House collectively sound like a pathetic whimper," The Michigan Daily wrote. "It's louder than any place I've ever been, and that includes 'The Swamp' at Florida, 'The Shoe' in Columbus and 'Death Valley' at Louisiana State. Autzen Stadium is where great teams go to die."
Still not convinced?
Saturday, in what might be one of the biggest games in Oregon's history, the Zoo will be going crazy once again and might prove to be just as big of a factor as who's playing quarterback for the Trojans.
The Autzen crowd cannot be ignored.
How the Trojans handle the deafening roar will prove to be one of the deciding factors in the game. This season, the Trojans have traveled to loud stadiums in Nebraska and Washington, and despite leaving those places with victories, they struggled at times, committing multiple false start penalties.
Against Notre Dame last Saturday, the team was forced to burn two early timeouts to account for that wild 1-7 Irish crowd. Think a crowd cheering on a 6-1 and top-five team might get a little louder?
"It's definitely a difficult environment, but I think as long as we communicate and not be distracted by the sound, I think we'll be fine," senior offensive tackle Sam Baker said.
Easier said than done.
Baker remains questionable for the game Saturday because of a sore hamstring, yet the All-American is the only remaining offensive lineman that started against Oregon in 2005, the last time the Trojans visited Eugene.
That leaves the potential of starting five offensive lineman that haven't started in a game at Autzen.
Unless any of them have spent significant time standing near jet engines and Gilbert Gottfried at the same time, the group will have its hands full.
The fans in Oregon flock to Autzen to make it the eighth-largest city in the state of Oregon every Saturday and take on an alter ego for game days.
"They make the weirdest signs and bring the weirdest things into the stadium to try to distract you, but it's the ideal setting for college football," Jackson said. "Hatred. They hate us with a passion. The boos are louder than any other stadium."
The dipping bowl rolls like your favorite carnival ride, peaking on the sides and dipping low in the endzones, creating a dizzying feeling for opposing teams. From the field, it looks like the stadium's coming down right onto you.
In the 2005 game, Baker and Jackson were among only five current Trojans to start. That means 17 players will be starting in Autzen for the first time.
The first-timers already have expectations for the environment on Saturday.
"Just a hostile crowd," said junior linebacker Brian Cushing, who missed the game his freshman year due to injury. "It's going to be a battle football-wise with the crowd also. We're just looking forward to a great matchup and a crazy environment to play in."
Cushing says these are the challenges that he and other players embrace when playing on the road.
"Personally, I like going to a place and getting booed more," Cushing said. "That just fires me up even more. It's just a great opportunity to go up there and play great football and get a great experience going up there."
It's good to look at the positive side of things sometimes.
As the team runs out from the tunnel into the sea of green and yellow at the Zoo, the game will be decided on the field, but the X-factor might just come from the stands.
- To comment on this story, visit www.dailytrojan.com or e-mail Joe at jsturner@usc.edu.
