GameDay: Halloween '09

Trafton B.

November 1, 2009 - 10:37 PM

I think it's safe to say that yesterday was the most memorable Halloween that I have ever had. Period. It's going to be tough to fully express the utter elation that my friends and I have been experiencing for the past 36 hours, but I will do my best to do it justice.

It's starts at Autzen Stadium at roughly 1AM on Saturday morning (or Friday night, however you want to think of it is fine). ESPN Gameday made its way to Eugene for Week 9 of college football and they we're set to start broadcasting live at 7AM across the nation. My roommates, Cam and Ross, and I had plans of waking up early for the event, but at about 4 o'clock in the afternoon we heard a rumor that people were already camping out. So, we decided that we might as well join the festivities. After finishing up our sign, which read "Matt Barkley Reads Twilight," and packing up a tent, sleeping bags and a solid ration of Chewy bars, we headed over.

The rumors were true; there was certainly already a line formed with a hundred or so rowdy and sleep deprived Ducks fans. Some playing football, some tossing back energy drinks and a select few trying to catch some shut eye. All in all, I got somewhere between 20 and 30 minutes of sleep that night. Ross did some calculations and we discovered that this weekend we spent just about as much time standing on our feet and cheering as we did sleeping.

Gameday was awesome! Chip Kelly walked in wearing the Duck outfit. Uncle Phil (Knight) made an appearance. Once started it was awesome, but holding up the sign definitely took a toll on all of us. We definitely made it on national television though, and check the Gameday website on ESPN.com to vote for our sign if anyone gets the chance. Lee Corso predicted the Ducks to win as the final clip of the show was of him wearing the Duck mascot head and riding out on the back of the Oregon motorcycle. Then we got a ride back home (thankfully) around 9:30am and proceeded to pass out for a few hours.

The game that night was of epic proportions; the numbers don't lie. We had over 600 total yards on offense and helped the Trojans to one field goal in the second half. The last time any team had that many total offensive yards against USC was the 1948 Nortre Dame Fighting Irish. By the way, that's when Cam's grandfather played on the Ducks' football team. Pete Carol has lost 17 games as the USC head coach and this is the largest margin of victory (27) any team has ever had on him. The 2nd largest margin is 11 points.

We left the stadium to the sound of "Na, na, na, na! Hey, hey, hey! Goodbye." And trekked home where we changed into our Halloween costumes and immediately started celebrating. That was the most fun part of our night because watching the game took our mind off of the fact that it was Halloween. We just changed into our costumes and kept the party rollin'.

My roommates and I all dressed up at Robin Hood Men in Tights (yes, the Mel Brooks version). Check out the pictures below, we looked pretty good if you ask me, especially considering that we stapled the felt together. We're not very good with thread and needle. I'd love to tell you the details, but they would have to be censored. Let's just say that Eugene is definitely a good place to spend Halloween.
Ducks are ranked #8 in the BCS rankings, while USC fell to #12. Like I said, it was a weekend that will be talked about for years and always remembered fondly. I'll try to top it next weekend. Some of us are road tripping down to Palo Alto to watch the Ducks play Stanford. I love college.

Our tent pitched outside the stadium. The beginning of a long night. 

When Cam put the sign up for the first time. Everyone around us cheered.

That made everything worth it.  

Gametime. 

Final score. The headline the next day read "Oregon overwhelms USC."

We seriously destroyed them.  

The Merry Men.

It was funny because if we walked the streets alone, people thought we were Peter Pan.

But when we were all together, there was no doubt.