Washington Huskies head coach Jedd Fisch is pretty familiar with Autzen Stadium. He’s been there before. Not that he’s extensively familiar with what a gameday in Eugene is like, but the head coach of the Huskies has been there to face off against the Oregon Ducks before.
The stadium that holds around 60,000 fans and is deceptively loud awaits the Washington Huskies as they get set for their annual rivalry matchup. This time, Oregon is the top-ranked team in the country and Washington is looking to spoil the Ducks’ perfect season.
As the Huskies get set to take on the Ducks in this game, Washington will need to be prepared for the raucous crowd that will be present in Autzen. Ahead of this rivalry matchup, Jedd Fisch was asked about that during a press conference from earlier this week.
“We played at Autzen when we were at Arizona in 2021,” Fisch shared.
And despite the fact that this is a heated rivalry, the head coach of the UW football team was more than complimentary of the atmosphere that the folks in Eugene are able to curate at Oregon football games in Autzen Stadium.
Washington Huskies head coach Jedd Fisch compliments Autzen Stadium, atmosphere at Oregon Ducks football games
“You know, it’s quite an atmosphere. It’s got great energy, good music, and they certainly know how to get after it,” Fisch explained. “There’s no question there.”
The Huskies will almost certainly have their hands full. This isn’t just a loud environment. It isn’t just a rivalry game. It’s not just a matchup against the No. 1 team in the country. It’s all three of those in one. And Washington hasn’t done well in road games this season. That’s especially true on the offensive side of the ball when examining Big Ten conference games for UW.
One area that might be impacted is communication for the offense.
“I expect it to be certainly a challenge for communication, and we're working really hard at that, you can probably hear our speakers going, to make sure that our guys do a great job of communicating,” Fisch said.
The crowd is going to be rowdy. How much is Washington prepared for that? Will either Will Rogers or Demond Williams Jr. be fully ready to deal with that?
According to the head coach of the Huskies, UW is looking forward to the challenge.