Reports: Oregon State Preparing for 'Dead' Cal Stadium
Cal crowds have not been known for their decibel level during football games, and Oregon State reportedly is taking that under consideration as it prepares for Saturday night's game at Cal.
The Corvallis Gazette-Times began its article with this:
There is no music blaring from the speakers this week at the Prothro Practice Fields as the Oregon State football team prepares for Saturday night's game at California. In a typical week the music is played at high volume to help players prepare for the crowd noise on game day.
But that won’t be the issue against the Golden Bears at Memorial Stadium.
“We’re going no music out there,” OSU center Jake Levengood said. “It’s kind of a dead crowd, dead stadium over there. It’s gonna be a different atmosphere. So we’re just trying to bring our own energy.”
The Oregonian also picked up on Levengood's quote, who referenced the feeling at Cal's stadium two years ago when the Bears beat the Beavers.
Levengood vividly recalls the game, because like this year, it came immediately after an OSU win over Utah at Reser Stadium.
“It just felt sluggish,” Levengood said.
Sluggish, in the sense that football games in Cal’s Memorial Stadium during recent seasons are often sparsely attended and lack electricity. To prep for this week, the Beavers are practicing without music. Levengood said focus and energy have been a prominent topic in team room discussions this week.
“It’s sort of a dead crowd, a dead stadium over there. It’s a different atmosphere. So we’re just trying to bring our own energy,” Levengood said.
Former Cal tight end Jermaine Terry II, who transferred to Oregon State in the offseason, came to the defense of Cal's stadium in the Gazette-Times report:
Tight end Jermaine Terry II, who transferred to Oregon State from California before this season, said Memorial Stadium isn’t really quiet, but its design creates a different atmosphere than at Reser Stadium.
“The stadium is really compact. I think that makes a big difference,” Terry said of Reser. “Cal’s more of a bowl shape, huge basically.”
The edited versions of videos of Levengood and Terry talking to the media about the crowd noise at Cal are available with the Gazette-Times article.
Cal typically draws big, noisy crowds for certain opponents, such as Stanford, UCLA and USC, but not for many of the other Pac-12 schools, such as Oregon State and Arizona State. Some of that has to do with the fact that Cal is competing with a number of popular Bay Area pro sports teams.
Cover photo of Memorial Stadium by Darren Yamashita, USA TODAY Sports
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