Why Eugene, Oregon Is Ranked Among Top 10 College Towns in America

The top 10 college football towns according to The Washington Post are these:

-Eugene, Oregon (Oregon Ducks)

-Madison, Wisconsin (Wisconsin Badgers)

-Baton Rouge, Louisiana (LSU Tigers)

-Ann Arbor, Michigan (Michigan Wolverines)

-Clemson, South Carolina (Clemson Tigers)

-Athens, Georgia (Georgia Bulldogs)

-South Bend, Indiana (Notre Dame Fighting Irish)

-Austin, Texas (Texas Longhorns)

-Boulder, Colorado (Colorado Buffaloes)

-Fargo, North Dakota (North Dakota State Bison)

Eugene is the second biggest city in the state of Oregon with a population of 176,654. The student body at Oregon is roughly 24,000. Here’s what The Washington Post had to say about Eugene.

“There are the staple on-campus bars, the wood booths at Max’s Tavern, the upstairs patio at Rennie’s Landing,” The Washington Post said. “If you like very tall, very stunning trees, Hendricks Park is right by campus, and right by the memorial for legendary runner Steve Prefontaine.”

An iconic path fans take to get to Oregon games is across the Willamette River on the Dave and Lynn Frohnmayer Pedestrian and Bicycle Bridge. This bridge leads thousands to a trail through the woods that will then lead them to the entrance of Autzen Stadium.

“There’s the bridge, the river, trees everywhere…In every direction, tailgates surround Autzen Stadium, pulling people as if the whole town is magnetized,” The Washington Post said. “The atmosphere is friendly and biased towards anything outdoors. Ask a local for a nearby hike, and you’ll wind up with enough recommendations for a month, let alone game-day morning.”

Home Field Advantage of Autzen Stadium

The home field advantage Autzen Stadium provides the Ducks is elite. Dating back to the 2018 season, Oregon has a record of 38-1 here. The one loss was a last minute defeat to the rival Washington Huskies in 2022. This is still the only loss Dan Lanning has had at Autzen Stadium since taking over as Ducks coach in 2022. 

Oregon currently has an active home winning streak of 15 games. This is the third longest active home winning streak in the country behind only the Georgia Bulldogs and Washington Huskies. The Ducks will seek to extend this streak to 16 when they host the Montana State Bobcats on Saturday, Aug. 30 to kick off the 2025 season. 

Autzen Stadium while only having a capacity 54,000, creates noise for road teams that sounds like double that number. For Oregon’s home game against Ohio State, a record 60,000 fans squeezed into Autzen and had Ohio State fans in the crowd wearing earplugs.