DeBoer Takes His Team Into Autzen, Looking for Record-Tying Win

EUGENE, Ore. — Unlike a lot of his players, Kalen DeBoer has visited Autzen Stadium before. Fourteen months ago, he and his then-Fresno State football team got the full tour.

Before a rowdy crowd, DeBoer's Bulldogs fell behind 14-0 right away to the Oregon Ducks, were still down 21-6 right before halftime, raced back to take a 24-21 lead with 13:04 remaining and lost 31-24.

On Saturday, DeBoer gets another shot in what has become the toughest place in the Pac-12 to play a football game.

While his first season at the UW has been labeled a big success — with the Huskies becoming a winning team again after last season's 4-8 disaster as well as bowl eligible — a win over the Ducks would really rubber stamp the coach's program as more of a college football destination.

DeBoer also could make school history. Another victory for him, and he'll have an eight-win debut season as the Husky coach, something only Chris Petersen has accomplished in 133 years of UW football spanning 30 coaches. Petersen guided the Huskies to an 8-6 campaign in 2014.

And DeBoer still has up to three more games to play to win to register a record nine-win season.

Yet Autzen won't make it easy on him. He'll have to try and keep his Huskies from falling victim to the crazy environment.

Emotions, as they often do, will determine the winner of this game as much as talent.

DeBoer seems to understand this, having heard about Oregon at practically every speaking engagement he's had since taking control.

"[The] alumni, right, we've got to represent [them], the alumni who have poured so much into this program," DeBoer said. "We want to make them proud. We want to make our fan base proud. I can promise you we'll give it everything we've got this week."

Admittedly, his Fresno State team seized up a little while falling behind right away. But DeBoer was able to get his Mountain West team to respond.

Trailing 21-6 with 1:16 left in the first half, Fresno State did what DeBoer's UW teams have done — it went 75 yards in 10 plays to score with seven seconds on the clock to settle everyone down. Yet the Bulldogs couldn't hold the lead in the fourth quarter when they got it at 24-21.

DeBoer said his players know what's at stake and the challenge ahead. They have their own momentum with a three-game win streak and a desire to completely erase any memory of last year's downturn, which included a 26-16 loss to the Ducks.

"These guys want to continue to make this a great season," DeBoer said. "They want this program to be better than it was when they got here. We're still writing the story for the 2022 Huskies."

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