September 23, 2009

Chris Nguon
BearTerritory.net Senior Writer

You don't normally hear an athlete describe one player or one entity as the "absolute best" very often. Usually, a player's compliment is reserved towards sayings like "one of the best" or "right up there with the best."

However, when it comes to the Autzen Stadium crowd - nicknamed "the Autzen Zoo" - the Cal football team has had nothing but good things to say about the Oregon faithful this week. Heisman Candidate Jahvid Best was asked about the Autzen crowd Wednesday evening and his response was no different.

"No crowd usually gets to me," Best said. "Oregon is the only one."

As a true freshman back in 2007, Best played sparingly in Cal's 31-24 last-second victory over Oregon. Best recovered a key fumble on special teams midway through the fourth quarter and overall had a very good day covering kicks and punts.

Things will be a little different this time around however, as Best - who didn't receive a carry in the contest in '07 - will get the brunt of the attention come Saturday afternoon.

That attention will include the noise and rowdiness of the Autzen Stadium crowd.

"The biggest thing I remembered about that game (in '07) was the crowd noise was crazy," Best said. "Any other away game I don't even hear the crowd. Oregon was the only place where it really got on my nerves."

Head coach Jeff Tedford, who was the Oregon offensive coordinator from 1998-2000, had great things to say about the crowd up in Eugene as well this week.

Tedford was a hotshot coordinator during his time at Oregon, and was able to springboard that success to his very successful gig now running the Cal program.

Tedford definitely admitted that the Autzen Stadium crowd was a huge advantage for the home team, more so than any other home venue he's experienced.

"The difference is Autzen's is continuous," Tedford said. "At most stadiums, there's ebb and flow of what goes on. When they're excited, they're excited, and then they lull for a little bit. Autzen stays the same say no matter what, always, no matter if you get ahead by 14 or 20 or whatever, they stay after it."

"They're very educated, they know exactly when to cheer, they're very loud, and so in that regard I think it's unlike any other stadium, because you notice there's a lot more ups and downs in other stadiums. Not at Autzen, they stay after it."

Even though the Bears hold just a 1-2 record in the Tedford era at Autzen Stadium, all three of Cal's games have been very close up there. Other teams the last couple years have won in Eugene as well, so winning there is not by any means impossible.

However, there's no doubt Autzen Stadium creates a true home field advantage for the Oregon squad.

"The biggest mistake people made going in there was trying to instigate the crowd and say 'bring it on' because they brought it on and usually it was followed by three illegal procedure penalties after that," Tedford recalled about his days at Oregon. "So you don't want to do that, that's for sure, because they get after it."

While stadium crowds in the Big Ten, Big XII and SEC might garner more attention, people who have been around college football understand what the Autzen crowd brings to the table.

Former Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr was just as complimentary of the Autzen crowd after his team visited Eugene, saying that it was the loudest stadium he's ever been in.

To put it in comparative terms, Michigan's "Big House" seats over 100,000 fans. Autzen Stadium holds roughly 50,000.

Tedford said earlier in the week he's already talked to his team about handling the crowd noise and about staying within themselves and not letting the environment affect their play on the field. Players also admitted this week that the contest against Minnesota will go a long way to helping this version of the Cal team experience what it is like to play on the road in front of a boisterous crowd.

For Best, who has already rushed for 412 yards and 8 touchdowns this season, sees this contest Saturday as yet another big challenge for the Bears.

Part of that challenge is dealing with a crowd that is quite simply the best in the Pac-10, and arguably the entire country.

"(Autzen Stadium) is a combination of being super loud and how close they are," Best said. "From my memory, it felt like it was 10 feet between the sideline and the crowd. No crowd usually gets to me. Oregon is the only one that stands out in my mind that has gotten to me. I was just like, "Shut up!"