Kirk Herbstreit, Pat McAfee Reveal Impressions of Eugene For ESPN's College GameDay

The Oregon Ducks will be hosting ESPN’s College GameDay in Eugene, Oregon, for the second consecutive season and third time overall in the Dan Lanning era. No. 3 Oregon is taking on the No. 7 Indiana Hoosiers.

Sports personality and member of the GameDay panel, Pat McAfee is excited to be going to be going back to Eugene again. He spoke glowingly of Oregon on The Pat McAfee Show with Kirk Herbstreit on as a guest.

Pat McAfee on Eugene GameDay: “It’s Special Out Here”

Oregon Ducks Indiana Hoosiers College GameDay Pat McAfee Kirk Herbstreit Eugene Big Ten College Football Autzen Stadium — Host Pat McAfee dances on his chair to “Shout” during ESPN’s “College GameDay” Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024 on the campus of the University of Oregon in Eugene, Ore. | Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

“It’s always special to come out here do GameDay. It’s my third one, I think, out here. The morning start. The fans, Pacific Northwest fans I think in general are a little bit more 'hooliganly' like soccer fans, but they show up in a big way,” McAfee said. “It’s special out here.”

College football analyst Kirk Herbstreit has been to Eugene countless times for big games with the show for decades.

“I’ve always loved coming out to Eugene. When we first came out here when Chip Kelly was here, I thought ‘Eugene, Oregon, how the heck are we going to get there?'” Herbstreit said. “I didn’t know what to expect. It’s dark out and as far as you could see were people at six in the morning.”

Herbstreit also compared the Eugene crowd for GameDay to how it was for when GameDay went to Berkeley for the California Golden Bears last season. In the Pacific time zone, GameDay starts at 6 a.m. local time, so fans have to be up early.

“It always blows me away when we go on the West Coast and we get these huge crowds for College GameDay. It will be that way tomorrow,” Herbstreit said.

This is special out here in Oregon

"I've always loved coming out to Eugene..

We always get these incredible crowds at College GameDay" ~ @KirkHerbstreit #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/AfWmM8jaFL
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) October 10, 2025

“Where you’re sitting right now Pat (in Eugene), they are a national brand. It used to just be USC on the West Coast was a national brand,” Herbstreit said. “Oregon and their style of play, not just their uniforms…Anytime I hear Eugene, Oregon, I know it’s a long haul, but I’m fired up to always come out here.”

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Oregon With Longest Active Home Winning Streak

Oregon currently has the longest active home winning streak in all of college football. The Ducks are winners of their last 18 games played at Autzen Stadium, with the only loss coming all the way back in 2022 against the Washington Huskies.

The Ducks and Hoosiers both come into Saturday afternoon's game with a perfect 5-0 record. They both also are coming off College Football Playoff appearances last season and are looking to take the next step and make a national title run.

It will be a battle between two quarterbacks in the running this the Heisman trophy; Dante Moore with Oregon and Fernando Mendoza with Indiana.