How to Go to a Football Game In Oregon

College football season is upon us again. This past Saturday, the University of Oregon opened the season by defeating Bowling Green State of Ohio, 56-24, at home. Their next game, this Saturday night, will also be at home, against a cross-State rival.

No, not Oregon State University. That matchup, known as "The Civil War," happens at the end of the season, usually on Thanksgiving weekend -- as is the case this year, on Friday, November 23, a 1:00 PM Pacific Time start (4:00 Eastern), at Oregon State.

The Oregon Ducks will be playing an 11:00 AM (Pacific) start against Portland State University, which plays some its home games at Providence Park, groundsharing with MLS' Portland Timbers and the NWSL's Portland Thorns.

The Oregon State Beavers also opened on Saturday, traveling to Columbus to play Ohio State. This was a mistake, as the Buckeyes took a 42-7 lead on the way to walloping them 77-31.

Before You Go. Like the Pacific Northwest in general, Oregon is notorious for rain. Check the website for The Oregonian, Portland's major newspaper. You should have decent temperatures for September and early October. After that, it could dip significantly. And there will always be the threat of rain.

Most of Oregon is in the Pacific Time Zone, 3 hours behind New York. Adjust your timepieces accordingly. A small section of the eastern part of the State is in the Mountain Time Zone, but this does not apply to either UO or OSU.

Tickets. Autzen Stadium seats 54,000 people, putting it in the bottom half of Pac-12 capacities. The Ducks' lowest home attendance last season was 51,799. Getting tickets will be hard. In the lower level, midfield tickets are $54, sideline seats are $49, corners are $44, and end zones are $39. In the upper level, midfield is all club seating, so it's more expensive, $89. Upper corners are $34. Otherwise, the pricing is the same as in the lower level.

Reser Stadium seats even fewer, 43,363. In the Pac-12, only Washington State has a smaller stadium. But the Beavers were horrible last season. Their only win was 35-32 over Portland State, an FCS (the level formerly known as Division I-AA) team. Only 2 of their 11 losses were close, although they did nearly upset Stanford, ranked 20th in the nation at the time. Tickets will be easier for them than for the Ducks.

In the lower level, sideline seats are $35, and end zone seats are $25. They also have club seats taking up midfield in the upper deck, going for $69, while sideline seats are $35 or $20.

Of course, for the rivalry game, cliche alert, you'll have to know a guy -- or maybe know a guy who knows a guy. (UO is being charged $130 for tickets from their allotment.)

Getting There. It's 2,895 miles from Times Square to downtown Portland. In other words, if you're going, you're going to want to fly. But this gets a little problematic, since neither UO nor OSU is in Portland.

Autzen Stadium is 121 miles south of Portland International Airport (PDX), and Reser Stadium is 96 miles southwest. There is public transit available. You can leave PDX on the Oregon Express Shuttle bus and be on the OSU campus in under 2 1/2 hours. That same bus, going down Interstate 5, turns west onto State Route 34 to get to Corvallis. After dropping off there, it then gets back on Route 34, and heads back down I-5 to Eugene. Portland to Eugene is about 4 hours. Either way, you may be better off flying to Portland and renting a car. You could get a round-trip, non-stop flight for under $700.

Greyhound goes to both cities, in each case with a date of $446 and multiple transfers, the last, of course, being in Portland. The station is at 987 Pearl Street, downtown.

Amtrak doesn't go to Corvallis. It does go to Eugene, but it's pretty involved. You'd have to get on the Lake Shore Limited out of Penn Station at 3:40 PM Eastern Time on a Tuesday, arrive at Union Station in Chicago at 9:50 AM Central Time on Wednesday, take the California Zephyr at 2:00 PM on Wednesday, arrive in Sacramento at 2:13 PM Pacific Time on Friday, hang around Sacramento (some would consider such boredom a fate worse than death) until almost midnight, then take the Coast Starlight out at 11:59 PM, and arrive in Eugene at 12:29 PM. Round-trip fare is $677.

And if the game is a 1:00 start, you might not make it; if it's earlier, you certainly won't. So Amtrak doesn't work for this trip. Anyway, the station is at 433 Willamette Street, at the northern edge of downtown.

So driving all the way could be the most convenient option. However, even if you get someone to go with you, and you take turns, one drives while the other one sleeps, and you pack 2 days' worth of food, and you use the side of the Interstate as a toilet, and you don’t get pulled over for speeding, you'll still need over 2 full days to get there. One way.

But, for future reference, if you really, really want to drive... Get onto Interstate 80 West in New Jersey, and stay on that through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming and Utah. Outside Ogden, Utah, at Exit 168, switch to Interstate 84 West. Take that across Idaho. Just over the State Line, in Ontario, Oregon, take Exit 374 to State Route 201, taking that south to U.S. Route 26 West, soon switching to U.S. Route 20 West.

If you're going to OSU, you would stay on Route 20, all the way into Corvallis. If you're going to UO, you'd turn south on State Route 126 in Foster, then west as it curves at Belknap Springs, and then all the way into Eugene.

Not counting rest stops, you should be in New Jersey for an hour and a half, Pennsylvania for 5:15, Ohio for 4 hours, Indiana for 2:30, Illinois for 2:45, Iowa for 5 hours, Nebraska for 6:45, Wyoming for 6:30, Utah for 3:30, Idaho for 5:30, and Oregon for 6:15. In total, that's around 49 1/2 hours. Given rest stops, we're talking more like 60 hours -- 2 1/2 days.

Once In the City. The name "Oregon" comes from a Native word meaning "windstorm" or "hurricane," which certainly fits with the region's reputation for rainy weather. The Oregon Country had been disputed by America and Britain, and the situation was made worse by settlers taking the Oregon Trail to the Pacific Northwest starting in 1842.

A peaceful settlement was found in 1846: The Oregon Treaty essentially split the Country into north, which became the Canadian Province of British Columbia; and south, which became the States of Oregon and Washington. The Oregon Territory was organized in 1848, and Oregon was admitted to the Union as the 33rd State on February 15, 1859.

Eugene was founded in 1846, and named for an early settler, Eugene Skinner. A replica of his log cabin has been constructed at a historic site. Not counting students, it's home to about 165,000 permanent residents.  Lane Transit District runs buses, with a fare of $1.75. Willamette Street divides street addresses into East and West, and address numbers increase southward from the Willamette River.

Corvallis was founded in 1845, as was Portland, but under the name Marysville, after St. Mary. It was changed to Corvallis, meaning "Heart of the Valley," in 1853. It's home to about 62,000 people. In contrast to its east-west run through Eugene, the Willamette River runs north-south through Corvallis, and is the east-west divider for street addresses. Monroe Avenue is the north-south divider. And, like New York City, Corvallis has a Central Park, although it's small, running from SW 6th to SW 8th Streets, and from SW Madison to NW Monroe Avenue. Corvallis Transit Service (CTS) runs free buses. Yes, free.

Neither Portland nor Corvallis has a beltway, but State Route 569 forms a bypass for Eugene. ZIP Codes in Oregon begin with the digits 97. Corvallis uses 973, and Eugene uses 974. The Area Codes for both are 458 and 541. Utilities for both cities are run by the Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB).The State of Oregon has no sales tax, and this covers both Eugene and Corvallis.

The leading newspaper in the State is Portland's The Oregonian. For Eugene, it's The Register-Guard. For Corvallis, it's the Corvallis Gazette-Times.

Oregon has a reputation for being very white. In the 1968 Presidential campaign, it was the only State whose Primary that Robert F. Kennedy entered that he lost. When asked why, he said, "Not enough poor people, and too many hunters." Eugene is about 86 percent white, 8 percent Hispanic, 4 percent Asian, 1 percent Native American, and only 1 percent black. Corvallis is about 84 percent white, 7 percent Asian, 7 percent Hispanic, 1 percent Native American, and only 1 percent black.

Nevertheless, with its population base in Portland, tending toward social liberalism (particularly in the areas of the environmental, drugs and gay rights), Oregon has gone Democratic in every Presidential election from 1988 onward, and has had 2 Democratic Senators since 2008: Jeff Merkley (elected that year) and Ron Wyden (elected in 1996). Peter DeFazio has represented Eugene in the House of Representatives since 1986, and Kurt Schrader has represented Corvallis since 2008, and they're both Democrats.

Due to its status as a land-grant, formerly rural college, OSU has a reputation for being considerably more conservative than UO, which is known as one of the most liberal State universities in the country.

Animal House was filmed on the UO campus, after William Beaty Boyd, then UO's president, allowed it, not wanting to make the same mistake that was made a decade earlier, when he was an administrator at the University of California's main campus in Berkeley, and they refused to let The Graduate be filmed there, and it was filmed at USC instead. Boyd's office was used for Dean Wormer's office. (Boyd is still alive, 95 years old at this writing.)

The University of Oregon was founded in 1876, and has only the one campus in Eugene. It can count among its graduates:

* Baseball: Joe Gordon '39, Earl Averill Jr. '53 (son of Baseball Hall-of-Famer Earl Sr.).

* Basketball: Howard Hobson '26 who coached the 1st NCAA Champions in 1939, Lauren Gale of that team (never graduated), Golden State Warriors founding owner (buying them and moving them from Philadelphia) Frank Mieuli '44, Portland Trail Blazers founding owner Harry Glickman '48, 7-time Boston Celtic NBA Champion Jim Loscutoff '55 (never graduated), former Knicks head coach Stu Jackson '80 (never graduated), Gonzaga University head coach Mark Few '87, Terrell Brandon '91 (never graduated), and Jordan Bell '17 (never graduated) of the current NBA Champion Warriors.

* A whole slew of track & field stars, which is one of the reasons Nike got started in Eugene. These include Otis Davis, Gold Medalist in the 400 meters at the 1960 Olympics, and Ashton Eaton, winner of the decathlon at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics. In addition, UO students who didn't get their degree, or win an Olympic Gold Medal, included U.S. track legends Steve Prefontaine and Mary Decker.

* Entertainment: Screenwriter James Ivory '51, novelist Ken Kesey '57, TV writer Stephen J. Cannell '64, novelist Chuck Palahniuk '86, Cherry Poppin Daddies lead singer Steve Perry 2004 (no relation to the Journey lead singer of the same name).

* Journalism: Randy Shilts '75, Ann Curry '78, John Hockenberry '81.

* Business: Reader's Digest co-founder Lila Bell Wallace 1917, Nike founder Phil Knight '59.

* Science: Co-inventor of the transistor Walter Brattain '26.

* Politics (from Oregon unless otherwise noted): Governor Julius Meier 1895, Senator Frederick Mulkey 1896, Senator Frederick Steiwer 1906, Governor Paul Patterson '23, Governor of Idaho and Senator Leonard B. Jordan '23, Governor Robert D. Holmes '32, Senator Richard Neuberger '35 and his widow and successor Senator Maurine Neuberger '29, Governor Tom McCall '36, Senator William Roth of Delaware '44, Senator Paul Simon of Illinois '49, Secretary of the Interior Donald Hodel '60, Governor and Portland Mayor Neil Goldschmidt '63, Governor John Kitzhaber '73, current Senator Ron Wyden '74, current Congressman Peter DeFazio '77, and the current, massively corrupt Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke '84.

Oregon State University is a little older, founded in 1868, so this year marks its 150th Anniversary. It has a satellite campus in the Oregon city of Bend. Its graduates include:

* Baseball: Don Johnson '32 (a 2-time All-Star 2nd baseman with the Chicago Cubs), Ken Forsch '68, Steve "Psycho" Lyons '81, and Jacoby Ellsbury '05.

* Basketball: Lew Beck '47, Red Rocha '47, Swede Halbrook '56, Dave Gambee '58, Mel Counts '64, Lonnie Shelton '73, A.C. Green '85, Gary Payton '90, and Brent Barry '95, Of these, only Beck and Barry got degrees from OSU.

* Soccer: Alan Gordon '03 and Robbie Findley '06. Neither got his degree.

* Track: Forest Smithson 1908, 1908 Olympic Gold Medalist in the 110-meter high hurdles; and Dick Fosbury '72, 1968 Olympic Gold Medalist in the high jump, inventor of the Fosbury Flop.

* Mountaineering: Willi Unsoeld '51, who led the 1st U.S. expedition to the top of Mount Everest in 1963; and Stacy Allison '84, the 1st American woman at the Everest summit, in 1988.

* Science: Computer mouse inventor Douglas Engelbart '48, and Linus Pauling '22, the only man to receive Nobel Prizes in 2 different fields: Chemistry in 1954 and Peace in 1962.

* Politics (again, representing Oregon unless otherwise said): G Douglas MacKay 1917, Governor and U.S. Secretary of the Interior; overnor John Hubert Hall '23; Norris Poulson '23, Congressman and Mayor of Los Angeles in the 1950s; Cecil Andrus '52, Governor of Idaho and U.S. Secretary of the Interior; and Senator John Ensign of Nevada '81.

* Military: Rex Barber '40, the pilot who shot down the plane carrying Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto.

The capital of Oregon is Salem, about 40 miles northeast of downtown Corvallis, and 65 miles north of downtown Eugene. The 1st 2 State Houses were destroyed by fires in 1855 and 1935. The new State House opened in 1938, but it looks like a cross between an Art Deco church and a prison. Fortunately, the grounds are covered with examples of Oregon's natural beauty, but also include a pair of burned, broken pillars from its predecessor.

The State House in Salem

Going In. The official address of Autzen Stadium is 2700 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., about a mile north of the campus, across the Willamette River. LTD bus Route 990, the Autzen Express, runs to the stadium on home Saturdays. Round-trip fare is $5.00. Better to use that than to drive in, as parking is a whopping $40. That's right, for one game.

It opened in 1967, seating 41,000, before being expanded to 54,000 for the 2002 season. With standing room, it can exceed 60,000. Thomas E. Autzen, who ran the Autzen Foundation, donated $250,000 to the initial construction, on the condition that it be named for his father, lumber magnate Thomas J. Autzen. Ironically, the father was an Oregon State graduate, although the son went to UO, and put his father's name on the stadium. That's one heck of an act of rebellion.

Autzen Stadium

Unlike most American football stadiums, which are aligned north-to-south because of the sun, Autzen Stadium is laid out east-to-west. The field has been artificial turf since 1969. Its location in a natural bowl means much of the stadium is below street level, leading to it being one of the noisiest venues in college football. As a writer for the Michigan Daily wrote, after Michigan got upset there in 2003:

Autzen's 59,000 strong make the Big House collectively sound like a pathetic whimper. 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.

Lloyd Carr, then the head coach at Michigan, agreed. So did the late, great Keith Jackson of ABC: "Per square yard, the loudest stadium in the history of the planet." So does Lee Corso of ESPN: "Per person, Autzen Stadium is the loudest stadium that I have ever been in my entire life!" And in 2006, The Sporting News named it "the most intimidating college football stadium in the nation."

The placing of the scoreboard is odd.

The slope of the upper deck makes it look even odder.

On October 6, 2017, Thrillist compiled a list of their Best College Football Stadiums, the top 19 percent of college football, 25 out of 129. Autzen Stadium came in 9th: "The potato-chip shaped stadium famously funnels the crowd noise here back onto a field where players get more varied, dazzling uniforms than any other school in the sport." In other words, Thrillist likes the Ducks' uniforms. Well, there's no accounting for taste.

Autzen Stadium also hosts Oregon's high school State Championships. On July 24, 2016, it hosted a preseason soccer match in which Paris Saint-Germain beat Internazionale Milano 3-1.

Serge Aurier celebrates scoring for PSG at Autzen Stadium

The Grateful Dead played 10 concerts there between 1978 and 1994, with Bob Dylan appearing with them there in 1987. Journey played there in 1983. So did U2 in 1997, with Rage Against the Machine opening. And, as I said, Animal House was filmed on the UO campus, with Autzen filling in for Faber College's stadium: Banners of the teams in the league then known as the Pac-10 can be seen, even though Faber is said to be in New England. (It was based on Dartmouth College, in New Hampshire, but also with green as its main school color.)

Next-door, to the northeast, is PK Park, UO's baseball field, and also the home of the Eugene Emeralds of the Class A Northwest League. The Emeralds have won Pennants in 1955, 1974, 1975, 1980 and 2016, but only the last since they moved in, for the 2010 season.

OSU's Reser Stadium is at 660 SW 26th Street, about a mile southwest of downtown. Their basketball arena, Gill Coliseum, is to the north, across Ralph Miller Lane, named for their longtime basketball coach. The R8 is the bus that gets you closest to the stadium from downtown. If you drive in, parking is $15.

Reser Stadium, with Gill Coliseum behind it

It opened in 1953 as Parker Stadium, named for Portland businessman and OSU graduate Charles T. Parker, who led the fundraising for its construction, including with his own contributions. In 1999, it was renamed Reser Stadium, for Al and Pat Reser (pronounced REE-zer), who graduated from OSU in 1960, and owned Reser's Fine Foods. To keep the memory of Charles T. Parker alive, the area between the Stadium and the Coliseum has been renamed Parker Plaza.

"The Beaver Dam" seated 25,000 at its opening, rising to 33,000 in 1965, and 43,300 in 2005. The field runs northwest to southeast, and, like Autzen, has been artificial since 1969.

Food. Be warned: UO and OSU are among the few schools that allow alcohol to be sold at games in on-campus stadiums. I'm not saying this will make fans unbearable, only that it could happen.

GoDucks.com is not specific as to where in the stadium these items are, but Autzen certainly has plenty of options:

* Sandwiches: Oregon Marionberry Barbecue, Wild Pacific Salmon Sandwich with Chipotle Mayonnaise, Gridiron Cheeseburger with Natural Cheddar, Italian Sausage with Oven Roasted Red Peppers, Bratwurst with Butter Sauteed Onions and Beer, Red Hot Sausage with Fresh Cole Slaw, Half Pound Angus Hot Dog, Pulled Pork and Chicken Sliders, and (if hockey fans in Southern California don't mind, and even if they do, because UO had the Ducks name first) Mighty Duck Bacon Corn Dog.

* Soup: Roasted Red Pepper Bisque.

* Snacks: Pizza, Seasoned Curly Fries, Fresh Kettle Corn, Macaroni and Cheese, Cosmo's Premium Puffed Corn, Giant Churros, Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Nachos.

* Drinks: Dutch Bros. Coffee, and Fresh Squeezed Lemonade.

* Dessert: Duck Tracks Ice Cream.

You would think, being named after a food processing and distributing company, that Reser Stadium would have good food. They certainly leave that impression: There's "Cheesy Stuffed Burgers" (sounds like the Minnesota "Juicy Lucy") underneath Section 105, Qdoba at 123, Cibellis at 127, Planet Popcorn at 173, and Sideline BBQ at 176.

Team History Displays. Oregon is by far the more successful of the 2 programs, but even their successes were, until recently, sporadic. They had undefeated seasons in 1895, 1906 and 1916. They've won 11 Conference Championships, all in the league now known as the Pac-12: 1919, 1933, 1948, 1957, 1994, 2000, 2001, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2014. They won the Pac-12 Championship Game in 2011 and 2014. They shared the Pac-12 North title with Stanford in 2012 and 2013, but Stanford got the title game berth both times.

They won the 1917 Rose Bowl, then didn't win another bowl game for 46 seasons, until the 1963 Sun Bowl. Then, another 26 seasons, until the 1989 Independence Bowl. They won the 1997 Las Vegas Bowl, the 1999 and 2007 Sun Bowl, the 2000 and 2008 Holiday Bowl, the 2002 and 2013 Fiesta Bowl, the 2012 and 2015 Rose Bowl, and the 2013 Alamo Bowl.

So they've won the Rose Bowl in 1917 (beating the University of Pennsylvania), 2012 (Wisconsin) and 2015 (Florida State); but also lost it in 1920, 1958, 1995 and 2010. And they made the National Championship Game for the 2010-11 and 2014-15 seasons, but lost the former to Auburn and the latter to Ohio State.

Oregon has 5 players in the College Football Hall of Fame: Lineman John Beckett 1916, running back Johnny Kitzmiller '30, quarterback Norm Van Brocklin '49, safety Mel Renfro '63, and running back Bobby Moore '71 (who, shortly thereafter, changed his name to Ahmad Rashad).

They've actually got more players, 6, in the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Van Brocklin, Renfro, running back Alphonse "Tuffy" Leemans '32, linebacker Dave Wilcox '63, quarterback Dan Fouts '72, and offensive tackle Gary Zimmerman '83. Not yet in either Hall, because he's still an active NFL quarterback, is their only Heisman Trophy winner, 2014 honoree Marcus Mariota. None of their uniform numbers have been retired.

Great quarterback. Horrible uniform.

In addition, 3 of their coaches have been elected to the College Football Hall of Fame: Hugo Bezdek in the 1910s, Len Casanova in the 1950s and '60s, and Mike Bellotti in the 1990s and 2000s. John McKay, Hall of Fame coach at USC, was a UO running back in the late 1940s.

Oregon State has won 5 Conference Championships in the now-Pac-12: 1941, 1956, 1957, 1964, and 2000. They've only been to the Rose Bowl 3 times: Winning in 1942, and losing in 1957 and 1965. They've won 11 bowl games: The 1940 and 1949 Pineapple Bowl (yes, fans of the TV show Coach, there was once a real game with that name, last played in 1952), the aforementioned 1942 Rose Bowl, the 1962 Liberty Bowl, the 2001 Fiesta Bowl, the 2003 Las Vegas Bowl, the 2004 Insight Bowl, the 2006 and 2008 Sun Bowl, the 2007 Emerald Bowl, and the 2013 Hawaii Bowl. However, there is no display for these achievements in the fan-viewable areas of Reser Stadium.

The Beavers haven't had as many football stars as the Ducks, but they've had a few, including 2-time All-Americans John Witte (offensive tackle, 1955-56), John Didion (center, 1967-68), and Steven Jackson (running back, 2002-03, a Pro Bowler for the St. Louis Rams).

George Svendsen was a lineman on the Green Bay Packers' 1936 NFL Champions. Len Younce was a lineman on the New York Giants' 1944 and '46 NFL East Division Champions. Vic Sears was a lineman on the Philadelphia Eagles' 1948 and '49 NFL Champions. Each made an NFL All-Decade Team. Paul Lowe was a star running back on the San Diego Chargers' 1963 AFL Champions, and made the AFL All-Time Team. Late 1960s running back Bill Enyart and 1950s and '60s head coach Tommy Prothro are in the College Football Hall of Fame. 

But the big name in Beaver history remains Terry Baker. Born in Minnesota in 1941 but raised in Portland, he led Jefferson High School to a City Championship in basketball, a State Championship in baseball, and a 23-0 record and 2 State Championships as a starting quarterback in football -- at a time when lefthanders like him rarely played quarterback.

In 1962, he led Oregon State to a 7-2 regular-season record. He was awarded the Heisman Trophy. In the Liberty Bowl, he became the 1st college football player known to have run 99 yards for a touchdown. Sports Illustrated named him Sportsman of the Year in 1962, and he is still the only Heisman winner to also win that. Oregon State retired his Number 11, and he was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.

I chose this cover because it shows him in uniform.

His SOTY cover shows him in a suit.

He then led the Beavers' basketball team to the Semifinal of the 1963 NCAA Tournament, making him, to this day, the only man to both win the Heisman Trophy and play in the NCAA Final Four. He then quarterbacked the graduated collegians to a 20-17 victory over the Green Bay Packers in the Chicago College All-Star Game at Soldier Field. This turned out to be the last time the college side beat the defending NFL Champions. (The game was canceled after the 1976 edition.)

He was the top pick in the 1963 NFL Draft, by the Los Angeles Rams. But that made no sense, as the Rams already had the veteran Zeke Bratkowski and the young, exciting Roman Gabriel. He played 3 seasons with the Rams, throwing 4 interceptions and no touchdown passes. After another season with the Edmonton Eskimos (where the aforementioned Len Younce was an assistant coach), he quit, having gotten his law degree at USC while (not) playing for the Rams, and became one of the top lawyers in Oregon. He is still alive.

The rivalry between UO and OSU, 41 miles apart, has been played since 1894, including every year since 1945. The 121 meetings thus far are the most between any schools named "University of (State name)" and "(State name) State University. It has been known as "the Civil War" since 1929, although neither team wears blue or gray, and Oregon was a Union State in the American Civil War.

The Ducks have won the game 64 times, the Beavers 47, with 10 ties. The Ducks won last year by a whopping 69-10. The Beavers won the year before, breaking an 8-game winning streak by the Ducks. The Beavers' greatest period of dominance in the rivalry was from 1936 to 1953, going 14-3. From 1975 to 1997, the Ducks went 19-3-1.

You know the old saying, "In this game, you can throw out the records"? This is one of those games. The 1983 game saw the Ducks go in 4-6 and the Beavers 2-8. It ended in a scoreless tie -- the last game in NCAA Division I history, because overtime has since been instituted -- and had a combined 11 turnovers. It instantly became known as the Toilet Bowl. In contrast, the 2009 game was called the War for the Roses, because it was the 1st time the winner was guaranteed a trip to the Rose Bowl. The Ducks won, 37-33.

In 1959, the Platypus Trophy -- so designed because a platypus looks something like a cross between a Duck and a Beaver -- was first awarded to the winner, in that case the Beavers. But after 1961, it was lost, and became something of a myth. It was found in 2005, and has been awarded annually ever since. In just trophy-awarding games, the Ducks lead 10-5-1. (UPDATE: The Ducks now lead 66-47-10, and 12-5-1 since the Trophy debuted.)

Much like an actual platypus, it is hard to believe

that this thing actually exists, but it does.

Oregon's basketball team, coached by Howard Hobson and known as the Tall Firs, won the 1st NCAA men's basketball tournament, in 1939. They didn't make the Final Four again until 2017. They've won 6 Conference Championships, and 4 Conference Tournaments. They play at the 12,364-seat Matthew Knight Arena, built in 2011 at 1390 Villard Street.

It replaced the 9,087-seat MacArthur Court, which opened in 1927, and still stands at 1601 University Street.

Oregon State has won the Conference Championship 15 times, most recently in 1990, but never the Conference Tournament. They made the Final Four in 1949 and 1963. Their home court is the 9,604-seat Gill Coliseum, which opened in 1949 at 660 SW 26th Street, next to Reser Stadium. All 3 of these venues were designed to put the fans, and the noise they produce, right on top of the action.

Stuff. There are several Duck Store locations around Autzen Stadium. The main Duck Store is at 895 E. 13th Avenue, at the main campus, across the river from the Stadium. At Reser Stadium, Beaver Stores are located under Sections 10, 119 and 219. The main Beaver Store is at 663 SW 26th Street, in the Student Center, just northeast of the Stadium and east of the Coliseum.

Michael C. McCann wrote Oregon Ducks Football: 100 Years of Glory, 1894-1995. I sure hope his degree wasn't in math. Also, through no fault of McCann (and I'm sure he's glad it worked out this way), this book comes a little short in covering the Ducks' greatest era. In 2009, Kenny Eggers published The Oregon State University Football Vault. In 2014, he published The Civil War Rivalry: Oregon vs. Oregon State. Team videos appear to be limited.

During the Game. As I said, both schools served alcoholic beverages on campus. However, they save most of their antagonism for each other. If you're going to any of their games other than the Civil War, you should be fine. If you're going to that one, stick with the home fans, and root with them.

"The Walk to Autzen" is Oregon's variation on a tradition at several other schools. It's their big way of getting fired up, instead of taking a bus like some other schools, or the subway to baseball or other major league games.

The Mascot has no name, he's just "The Oregon Duck." With an agreement with The Walt Disney Company since 1947 (Oregon's athletic director at the time, Leo Harris, had a friend who knew Walt, and made the agreement with Walt himself), he looks like Donald Duck, complete with no pants, although his jacket is Oregon green with yellow trim, instead of Donald's usual blue, and he wears a green and yellow beanie instead of a blue beret.

The Duck, performing the O gesture

So, in the words of the immortal Chico Marx, "Why a duck?" There was a group of Massachusetts fishermen who were heroes in the War of the American Revolution, and because of their amphibious fighting, they were nicknamed Webfoots. Some of them settled in the Willamette Valley, and their descendants continued to call themselves Webfoots. (I guess this settles the question of what to call the plural form of that big hairy creature that's said to be native to the Pacific Northwest: It's "Bigfoots," not "Bigfeet.")

So the Oregon football team began to be called the Ducks, for the same reason the New York Highlanders were renamed the Yankees: It was shorter and fit in a headline better than "Webfoots." In the 1920s, they had a live white duck named Puddles. The Ducks name was made official in 1932.

Don Essig, the stadium's PA announcer since 1968, has declared that "It never rains at Autzen Stadium" before each home game, as the crowd chants along in unison. He often prefaces it with the local weather forecast, which quite often includes some chance of showers, but reminds fans, "Let's tell our friends from (visiting team name) the real forecast..." If rain is actually falling before the game, Essig will often dismiss it as "a light drizzle", or "liquid sunshine" but not actual rain... by Oregon standards.

Prior to the football team taking the field, a highlight video of previous games is shown on the jumbotron, nicknamed "Duckvision". The last highlight on the clip is almost always Kenny Wheaton's game-clinching 97-yard interception return for a touchdown against the Washington Huskies in 1994. "The Pick" is often seen as the turning point for Oregon football, which went on to the Rose Bowl that year and have enjoyed success for the most part ever since after years of losing records.

After the video, the team takes the field behind a motorcycle with the Oregon Duck riding on back to the strains of the fight song, "Mighty Oregon." This is followed by the north side of the stadium chanting "GO," with the south side chanting "DUCKS!"

Oregon's uniforms range from mildly annoying to absolutely horrible. Let's put it this way: There are times when the yellow home jerseys are so bright (How bright are they?), they can play night games without having to pay their electric bill.

Because of the use of the campus, including the Stadium, in Animal House, the toga party scene, including the Otis Day version of the Isley Brothers' "Shout," is played at the end of the 3rd quarter.

The band director would make an "O" gesture with his arms to signal them to play "Mighty Oregon." After the 2001 Civil War, a 17-14 Duck win, quarterback Joey Harrington ran over to the band and made the gesture, because he wanted to hear the song one more time. Since then, fans have spontaneously made the O gesture. Of course, this is also done at Ohio State.

After every Duck score and win, a train horn blares. In addition, the Oregon Duck mascot does as many pushups as Oregon has points at that time. This is occasionally a problem: In the last 13 Civil Wars, the Ducks have scored at least 24 points every time (including their 3 defeats), at least 30 11 times (including 1 loss), at least 40 7 times, at least 50 4 times, 65 in 2008, and 69 last year.

Oregon is the Beaver State. Oregon State first had a Beaver mascot in 1916, and first had a costumed Beaver mascot in 1942. It was also at that time that it was first named Benny Beaver. Prior to that, 2 attempts to have a live mascot failed, as the animals died in midseason both times. The current version of Benny wears Number 0, but the zero is meant to be an O for Oregon.

Designing a mascot costume is tricky.

It has to be fierce enough to scare the opposition,

but cute enough to not scare children.

The fight song is "Hail to Old O.S.U." In a tactic similar to another home-State team, MLS' Portland Timbers and their mascot Timber Joey, the team runs onto the field through smoke, and a player holds up a chainsaw. Fans hold up foam chainsaws, the way Rutgers Scarlet Knight fans do with foam chainsaws and Florida State Seminole fans do with foam tomahawks.

After the Game. Oregon's (both teams') reputation for safety, and their fans' reputation for being noisy but not nasty, will work in your favor. Both you and your car should be safe.

There's not much to eat around Autzen Stadium. A food court named Essig Field, named for the P.A. announcer, is across MLK Blvd. For anything else, you may have to go back to the campus or to downtown Eugene. Taylor's Bar & Grill is the big hangout, known for its Grilled Cheeseburger and Party Tots (tater tots). 894 E. 13th Avenue, within the main campus, across from the Duck Store.

There's fast food available in the OSU student union, just northeast of the stadium. But, as with Eugene, you're probably better off going to downtown Corvallis.

If you visit Oregon during the European soccer season, which has just started again, you may be out of luck as far as Eugene or Corvallis is concerned. You may have to go to Portland, to The Toffee Club, which advertises itself as "an English football pub," and apparently owned by a fan of Everton, a.k.a. "The Toffees." 1006 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Bus 14 from downtown.

Sidelights. From 1919 to 1966, before Autzen Stadium, Oregon played football at Hayward Field, leaving it because, at 22,500 seats, it was too small for major college football. UO, and OSU as well, had played several games requiring a larger capacity in Portland, at what's now named Providence Park.

Hayward Field also became the home of their storied track & field program. It has been replaced and rebuilt a few times: A west grandstand as built in 1925, replaced in 1974, and has now been demolished again, with a new 12,900-seat stadium with the name opening, planned for 2020.

Hayward Field, 1919-2018 -- not quite making it to a Centennial

In 1973 and 1974, the Hayward Field Restoration Meet was held there, to raise money for the renovation. In 1975, after the death of Steve Prefontaine, the UO runner who became the 1st athlete to endorse Nike sneakers, the meet was renamed the Nike Prefontaine Classic, and has been held there annually ever since.

1580 E. 15th Avenue, on the main campus, 2 blocks east of MacArthur Court, and around the corner from Matthew Knight Arena.

As I mentioned, UO shares PK Park with the Eugene Emeralds. There's 2 other Northwest League teams in the State: The Hillsboro Hops and the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes. Salem-Keizer's Volcanoes Stadium is 74 miles north of Autzen Stadium, and Hillsboro's Ron Tonkin Field 118 miles north. PK Park and Autzen Stadium are 41 miles south of Reser Stadium, Volcanoes Stadium 40 miles northeast, and Tonkin Field 81 miles north.  

PK Park

For many years, on and off, a team called the Portland Beavers played at what's now called Providence Park, in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League, and later in the Northwest League. A team called the Portland Mavericks played there in the Northwest League in the 1970s. However, there hasn't been a Portland Beavers since the 2010 season. Right now, the Hillsboro Hops are the closest team to Portland, 14 miles west of downtown.

The only NCAA Final Four ever to be held in Oregon was in 1965, at the Portland Memorial Coliseum, with UCLA beating Michigan in the Final. This was also the year Bill Bradley took Princeton to the Final Four, but lost to Michigan.

The Portland Trail Blazers played there from 1970 to 1995, and then moved across the street to what's now known as the Moda Center. The Beatles performed at the Coliseum on August 22, 1965, and Elvis Presley sang there on November 11, 1970 and April 27, 1973. (The Beatles never performed in Oregon.) 300 Winning Way, Portland.

Moda Center (left) and Coliseum

Naturally, the preferred NBA team of most Oregonians is the Blazers. The preferred NFL team is the Seattle Seahawks, despite the natural Portland-Seattle rivalry, although the further south you go -- you'd have to get at least as far south as Roseburg -- you'll start to get into San Francisco 49er territory.

In spite of the distance from the Canadian border -- the Peace Arch, on I-5 at Washington State and British Columbia, is almost 400 miles north of Eugene and 370 miles north of Corvallis -- the most popular NHL team in Oregon is the Vancouver Canucks, not the San Jose Sharks, the closest U.S.-based team, 560 miles south of Eugene.

It's a little more complicated in baseball. In Eugene, the Seattle Mariners have only a slight edge in popularity over the San Francisco Giants. In Corvallis, the Mariners have a much bigger edge, which makes sense as it's closer to Seattle than Eugene (257 miles as opposed to 284), and even the Yankees are more popular there than the Giants.

UO has the Museum of Natural and Cultural History, at 1680 E. 15th Avenue, between the Hayward Field site and Knight Arena. Oregon State has the OSU National Historic District, centered on the Memorial Union, at 2501 SW Jefferson Way. The Native American Longhouse is across the street, although its mailing address is around the corner, at 311 SW 26th Street.

Oregon has never produced a President. The closest it's come is the years when an orphaned Herbert Hoover lived with an uncle growing up in Newberg. The Hoover-Minthorn House is at 115 S. River Street, 59 miles northeast of Corvallis, and 95 miles north of Eugene.

As with Utah, the tallest building in Oregon is named the Wells Fargo Center. This one opened in 1972, and looks it: It's rather dull architecture. It stands 546 feet at 1300 SW 5th Avenue in Portland. City Hall station on MAX.

The TV shows Bates Motel (based on the novel and film Psycho, which was set in fictional Fairvale, California), Eureka (in the fictional town of that name), and the Disney series Gravity Falls (ditto) were set in Oregon.

Specifically in Portland, Leverage, Portlandia, Grimm, Life Unexpected, and the brief 1990s CBS crime drama Under Suspicion were both filmed and set there. Unfortunately, the most famous TV show set in Portland, thanks to the jokes Johnny Carson told about it on The Tonight Show, was one of NBC's all-time turkeys, the late 1970s McLean Stevenson sitcom Hello, Larry.

Films based in Oregon include Ice Cube's Are We There Yet? series, the Madonna bomb Body of Evidence, Drugstore Cowboy, Five Easy Pieces, The Goonies, Arnold Schwarzenegger's comedy Kindergarten Cop, The Lathe of Heaven, Mr. Brooks, Mr. Holland's Opus, My Own Private Idaho, Overboard, Paint Your Wagon (Clint Eastwood in a musical? Yes), Pay It Forward, the track & field movies Personal Best and Pre (the latter about Steve Prefontaine, the 1st athlete to endorse Oregon-based Nike footwear), The Postman (Kevin Costner's postapocalyptic film, a.k.a. "Kevin's Gate"), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Short Circuit, Stand By Me, and, of course, the film version (which he hated) of Ken Kesey's novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

And, as I said, while it wasn't set in Oregon, Animal House was filmed on the University of Oregon campus.

*

And on that note, let me remind you that Oregon tends to defy description: While some of the State follows the path of its largest city, with the slogan "Keep Portland Weird," some of it is very rural, and takes weirdness in a different direction.

But you're from New York (or New Jersey), so you're used to weird. You should be able to have fun at a football game in the State of Oregon.