On Monday, Oregon football beat reporter Matt Prehm noted on x.com that Saturday’s Oregon-Ohio State matchup will be the first top-five matchup ever played inside Autzen Stadium.
Soon after, several fans and other reporters began questioning whether or not this week’s game is the biggest ever played in Autzen Stadium
Today, we hope to answer that question effectively, but first, we must decide what constitutes a “big” game.
In my eyes, a “big” game is essentially a high-stakes one, where a win or a loss could make or break a team’s season. So for this article, I’ve researched every matchup between ranked teams in the history of Autzen Stadium, and whittled the list down to a few true contenders.
In order to determine if this week’s game is “bigger” or “higher-stakes” than any of my contenders, I’ll be attempting to explore the context of each matchup:
What were the teams looking like heading into the game? What would a win have meant to either side? How well did each team finish the season?