It never rains in Autzen but it sure does get loud. The home of the Oregon Ducks football team is arguably one of the toughest places for opponents to enter and leave with a win.
Autzen Stadium was built in 1967. Through various improvements and remodels, it can now host 54,000 Duck fans.
With an in-stadium waterfall and views of the Eugene hills, it’s not just a perfect setting for football, but it’s also chock-full of beauty.
Nestled across the Willamette River from Oregon’s campus, fans traipse over the river and through the woods to fill Autzen anytime the Ducks have a home game.
As Oregon is set to join the Big Ten, attendance records are sure to be broken in the coming seasons.
Before the Ducks host teams like Ohio State and Michigan in Eugene, what are the attendance records for good ole Autzen?
I know I just said that Autzen’s capacity is only 54,000 and here I am saying that the fifth-highest capacity in stadium history is nearly 60,000.
This is because the student sections are general admission and they pack the kids into those rows like nowhere else. Secondly, the Sky suites, boxes, and 10,000-square-foot club room greatly increase the attendance numbers.
When Oregon hosted the No. 9 Bruins in 2022, Dan Lanning and Bo Nix were leading the team back to previous greatness.
Fans flooded Autzen to see Nix and his teammates squash UCLA’s hopes in a 45-30 home victory.
ESPN’s College Gameday had come to town only attracting more fans and attention to the top-ten Pac-12 showdown.
With 59,962 fans in attendance, Autzen’s top-five record was broken.
In the last Pac-12 Civil War, Duck fans showed up.
As the two top-25 teams faced off for their annual in-state rivlarly game, Oregon was trying to secure its place in the conference championship game and the Beavers were simply trying to maintain their ranking.
Fans rushed to Autzen to watch big brother play host to little brother and they set the fourth-highest attendance record for the stadium.
With 59,987 people piled into Autzen, Oregon defeated Oregon State 31-7 in an absolute beat down.
The Ducks and Beavers will get to continue the Civil War rivlary through 2025 for now.
Oregon was ranked No. 1 in the nation and fans were eating it up during the 2010 season. When the Ducks hosted the No. 21 Arizona Wildcats, people flocked to Autzen in hopes to see their team dominate once again.
Defeating the Wildcats by nearly 20 points, Oregon closed out the regular season undefeated and primed to see Auburn in the BCS Championship game.
59,990 fans watched on as Oregon cemented its place as the No. 1 team in the country.
The Ducks would go on to defeat Oregon State 37-20 in the Civil War before having their hearts broken by Auburn.
If I had written a top-five attendance record story for Autzen Stadium and a game against the Huskies hadn’t made the list, I probably would’ve scrapped the idea and moved along with my day.
In Oregon’s championship game season, the Ducks hosted UW at home in the beginning of November.
As the Huskies came to town, they were unranked and rather disappointing by Washington’s standard. The Ducks took advantage of the fact that they were heavily favored and absolutely trampled the Huskies.
At the end of four quarters, 60,017 fans watched as Oregon dismantled Washington and walked away with a 53-16 victory over the Huskies.
Oregon was back to a top-ten ranking in the middle of the 2011-12 season and College Gameday was in Eugene for the team’s game against Arizona State.
When the No. 18 Sun Devils came to town, fans were excited to see their beloved Ducks back in action against a top-25 opponent. Despite Arizona State’s relatively high ranking, Oregon beat up on the Sun Devils.
Winning 41-27 and shredding ASU’s defensive line, 60,055 fans were thrilled to see that their team was back in top form.
While the Ducks wouldn’t go on to the National Championship game that year, they did win the inaugural Pac-12 Championship game as well as defeating the Wisconsin Badgers in the Rose Bowl. Oregon finished the season ranked No. 4 in the country.