Can Autzen be Autzen for Ohio State at Oregon, Or Have Profit-Taking "Fans" Sold It Out?

Reports from around Eugene at the airport, hotels, bars and restaurants Friday night suggested the worst: There's an unusually large contingent of visiting fans in town, clad in Scarlet and Gray.

Making it a strong possibility that the vaunted energy and noise level at Autzen Stadium tonight will be diluted by a crowd that is as much as 40% Red, 50% Black and 10% assorted, muted when the Ducks most need the volume to be deafening.

Typically for big games, the noise and excitement induces a few false starts and errors in the high-decibel crucible Autzen becomes at full volume, but with Buckeye fans snatching up tickets on the secondary market, offering as much as $800 to $1000 a ticket, some ticket holders (can't call them fans) saw this epic showdown of #2 versus #1 as an opportunity to take a profit, selling the home team down the river in the process.

After a 31-27 loss in Eugene in 2003, Former Michigan coach Lloyd Carr once said of the home of the Ducks, “That’s the loudest stadium I’ve ever been in.”

Home field is normally worth about three points in a football game, Autzen at full throttle, nearly a touchdown. It could be that a cabal of opportunistic investors have squandered what's normally a huge advantage for the Ducks.

It puts extra pressure on Dan Lanning and the Oregon football team to generate their own energy against a formidable opponent, a task made even more daunting by the apparent loss of their best defensive player, Jordan Burch.