What differentiates college football from the National Football League? Is it the vast array of trick plays that are prevalent in college and will never see the light of day in the NFL? Sure. Could it also be plethora of teams and the importance that is placed on every single game of the regular season? Absolutely.

However, the one thing that truly separates the collegiate football game from the NFL, more than anything else, is the student section. There is no equivalent in the professional game to 6,000 screaming college students all packed together like sardines, screaming and living and dying by every converted third and seven.

What the student section represents is the most unadulterated form of fandom. This section is not rooting for professional players who they have no connection with — they are cheering on their peers, fellow students who are enrolled in the same educational institution they are. The connection that the student population shares with student athletes at any Division I school is a unique one, and as such, the dedication level of the fans is truly something special.

Autzen Stadium, the home of the Oregon Ducks football team, is constantly heralded as one of the loudest and most raucous environments in the nation. There are many reasons for this but one reason that stands at the forefront is the student section. Within the student section, there in particular is one group of students that lead the charge and act as the “face” of the student section; these are the students of Section Eight.

After spending two years in the Oregon Marching Band, Kevin Wade could not help but notice the students donning face paint and leading the chants in Section Eight at home games in Autzen Stadium.

“I saw all the kids having fun down at the front row of the student section,” Wade said. “So I was like … ‘I want to be with them’”

From there he was hooked, and showing up at the gates of Autzen Stadium seven ours before kickoff became the norm for his fall Saturdays. He even went so far as to spend the night in front of the stadium with a few friends in preparation for the monumental matchup against USC two years ago.

While this behavior might seem excessive to some, it is this dedication to the Oregon football team that truly makes Autzen Stadium one of the most feared venues in the entire nation.

Wade is not alone in his dedication either. Several other students join him on these autumn Saturday mornings to wait to see their team play.

University student and Pit Crew member Andrew Stephens has joined Wade and other students on these early morning stakeouts and spoke of the steps it took to ensure a front row seat to the game.

“We camp right outside the south entrance, the student entrance,” said Stephens. “We hang out there for four hours and put on all our stuff as CMS lets us in. Everyone springs to the top of the north ramp and we hang out there for another hour and then at the 90-minute mark before kickoff, they let all the students sprint down into their section and it’s just the ultimate mad dash of students.”

This frantic dash from the top of Autzen into the student section has resulted in scrapes, bruises and at times even broken bones for the students participating. So why wait outside in the elements all day and risk bodily injury just for a good seat to a football game?

“Memories. That and just being around a great group of people … It’s a lot of fun,” said Stephens.

DuckSeason is the Emerald’s yearly football magazine for the upcoming season. This story has been republished from the magazine.

Part of going away to college is the opportunity it provides to grow up and mature. However, for many college freshmen, homesickness inevitably creeps into their mind. They miss the comfort of home and the simplicity of everything.

They get to college and don’t really know anyone, they get lost on campus and the world can seem like a vast place from what they’re used to. College football stars are no exception to this.

ESPN.com’s Ivan Maisel takes a look at how Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota dealt with his homesickness while being an ocean away from home.

***

The Oregon State Beavers are preparing to head to the College World Series, and it is no secret how they got there: the strength of their pitching. OSU has three standout pitchers on the roster which plays to their benefit as pitching is crucial in post-season play.

Kanas State travelled from Manhattan and were essentially shut down by the trio of Matt Boyd, Ben Wetzler and Andrew Moore. If the Beavers have any hopes of returning to the Pacific Northwest as College World Series champions, they will rely heavily on these three.

As OSU prepares to begin their title journey on Saturday against Mississippi State, the Register-Guard’s Bob Clark takes a look at this dynamic trio of pitchers.

***

Often criticized wide receiver Terrell Owens is back in the news. The former standout receiver, who hasn’t played a competitive snap in the NFL since 2010, believes he can still be a contributing member to an NFL franchise.

Referencing his newfound maturity, Owens expressed the desire to return to the NFL and cited “politics” as the reason nobody has yet signed him.

Some have called Ashton Eaton the best athlete in the world. The champion decathlete and former Oregon Duck has a very busy couple months ahead of him. He is engaged to fellow Oregon track star Brianne Theisen and is set to be married on July 13, in addition to preparing for the 2013 IAAF World Track & Field Championships, which is set to begin on August 10 in Moscow.

However, during the course of training, Eaton was nearly involved in a catastrophic accident during training. The Register-Guard’s Curtis Anderson relays the tale here.

***

Doc Rivers has accomplished nearly everything one can dream of in his professional coaching career. He has won an NBA championship, appeared in the playoffs countless times and coached several hall of famers.

However, at this point, Rivers is unable to commit to making a return to Boston next year.

The Celtics were defeated in the playoffs this season by the New York Knicks.

***

The Oregon State Beavers are Omaha bound. After defeating the Kansas State Wildcats 4-3 on Monday night in Corvallis, the Beavers are headed to the College World Series for the first time since 2007.

OSU will open CWS play on Saturday at 3 p.m. against Mississippi State.

The Oregon Ducks women’s track and field team could make history this weekend during the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field. The Ducks have already cemented national titles in cross-country and indoor track this season, and a victory in the outdoor meet would give the Oregon women the first track “triple crown” in history.

Oregon is considered one of the two favorites with the University of Kansas, and the title will assuredly come down to the events of the last day.

Curtis Anderson of the Register-Guard takes a look at how the Ducks are handling the pressure of being so close to a monumental feat.

***

The accolades are already starting to trickle in for Oregon running back De’Anthony Thomas. Today Thomas was named to the Phil Steele preseason All-America team. In addition to the Ducks being expected to be a top five team entering the 2013 season, much is expected of Thomas, who many consider to be a Heisman hopeful.

Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota was absent from Steele’s list.

***

The University of Oregon baseball team has had three players named to the Louisville Freshman All-American team. Cole Irvin, Garrett Cleavinger and Mitchell Tolman separated themselves from the rest of the freshmen in the nation to earn the accolade.

The Emerald’s own Aubrey Wieber delves a little more each into players season here.

The dream of the Oregon Ducks baseball team reaching the College World Series in Omaha ended Monday night as the Ducks fell to the Rice Owls 11-4 at PK Park. The Ducks’ loss, their second of the double-elimination style regional round, eliminated them from postseason play.

Taking the hill for George Horton’s squad in the biggest game of the year was Jake Reed, who pitched solidly in the game-one victory in the regional round against South Dakota State.

However, his performance could not be duplicated and he was pulled early from the game after only pitching 1.2 innings.

The Ducks tried to hold on but simply did not have enough firepower to combat the Rice offensive onslaught. The Emerald’s Aubrey Wieber has a full game recap here.

***

In the recent past, the Pac-12 Conference has been a breeding ground for future NFL coaches. The latest example of this is former Oregon coach Chip Kelly, who is now the man in charge for the Philadelphia Eagles.

It seems that the Pac-12 is far and away the most popular collegiate conference that professional GM’s look to when hiring a new coach and Ivan Maisel wondered why.

The ESPN.com writer takes a look at the reasons behind this here.

***

For the third year in a row, the Miami Heat are playing in the NBA Finals after defeating the Indiana Pacers 99-76 in game seven Monday night.

While a majority of the first six games were closely-contested affairs, game seven was quite the opposite with LeBron James and the Heat dominating seemingly from the first tip.

James paced the Heat with 32 points and eight rebounds, while Indiana big man Roy Hibbert led his squad with 18 and eight himself.

The Heat now set their sights on the San Antonio Spurs, who will travel to Miami for game one of the Finals which is set to tip Thursday at 9 p.m. in Miami.

It has been quite a tumultuous year for sophomore starting pitcher Jake Reed. After entering 2013 as the number-one pitcher on the roster, Reed hit a bit of a rough patch and was demoted down to the number-three position in the rotation.

Even with his recent struggles, George Horton decided to give the La Mesa, Calif., native the game one start in the regional round of the NCAA baseball championships against the South Dakota State Jackrabbits. Reed delivered.

While Friday’s outing wasn’t the best of his career, Reed accomplished exactly what Horton and the Ducks needed him to do. He pitched seven strong innings, keeping Oregon within striking distance of the Jackrabbits and making it a short evening for Oregon’s beat-up bullpen.

“I knew I had to get us off on the right track and keep us in the game,” Reed said. “I thought I did a pretty good job of that.”

Outside of a few brief instances where his command was a bit shaky, Reed showed good control of his pitches, not allowing a walk in his seven innings of work.

“I made a few bad pitches early in the game,” Reed said, referencing his shakiness early. “I left a few pitches over the plate and they did a good job early on capitalizing on it. Like I said, I just settled in and started pitching low in the zone.”

There was a noticeable change in Reed’s demeanor as the game went on, and his last inning of work was probably his best as he sent the Jackrabbits down in order. Following his departure, Garrett Cleavinger pitched a scoreless eighth, who then proceeded to hand the ball to All-American closer Jimmie Sherfy, who closed the door on South Dakota State.

The Ducks now face off against the Rice Owls tomorrow evening at 6 p.m. at PK Park with Tommy Thorpe on the mound for Oregon.

Thorpe is currently boasting a 2.22 ERA and has exhibited excellent stuff throughout the season. All eyes will be on him tomorrow night as the Ducks take the field, but tonight, as it should, belongs to Reed.

Oregon baseball pitcher Jimmie Sherfy was named a Louisville Slugger Second-Team All-American on Thursday morning by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. He boasted an impressive 1.67 ERA during the Ducks’ regular season and is the active career leader in strikeouts per nine innings.

Sherfy burst onto the collegiate scene last year with 19 saves and a 2.20 ERA and was awarded a third-team selection. In his 2013 campaign, he is second in the country with 20 saves and is a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award as well as the Dick Howser Trophy, the Heisman Trophy equivalent for collegiate baseball.

The Pitcher of the Year watch list member and the Ducks begin regional play tomorrow evening at PK Park against South Dakota State at 6 p.m.

The Oregon baseball team begins postseason play on Friday night as they take on South Dakota State at PK Park. For the second year in a row, Oregon head coach George Horton & Co. are hosting the regional round and have the luxury of home-field advantage.

In what is arguably the most important game of the season, Horton made an interesting move when he announced he would give pitcher Jake Reed the start. He has struggled in his last few outings and is not the number one starter on the squad.

Bob Clark of The Register-Guard takes a look at Horton’s thought process and what went into his decision here.

***

Oregon golf coach Casey Martin is back at it. The leader of the Duck golfers made national headlines last year when he qualified for the U.S. Open and performed admirably before missing the cut by a single stroke.

He has dreams of returning to golf’s biggest stage, and to do so, he will have to qualify once again. The qualifying event he will participate in begins Monday in Washington State, and if he is one of the top performers, he will be eligible to participate in the U.S. Open, which begins on June 13.

***

Some of the stars in the Eastern Conference Finals have a little less spending money in their wallet today. LeBron James and David West were both fined $5,000 apiece for flopping in game four — something the NBA has tried very hard to cut down on. Lance Stephenson was also fined for flopping as well.

Game five between the two teams tips off at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday; the game is televised on TNT.

As the weather turns warmer and summer begins to approach, we begin to look forward to fall camp and the return of football in Eugene. The Ducks are once again in the talk to be a national title contender and are in the upper echelon of the Pac-12 conference.

That being said, Oregon has become quite the national brand in the past couple years and the consistency of their games being broadcasted on national television represents that.

Rob Moseley of the Register-Guard reports that the new Fox Sports 1 network will cover the Oregon season opener against Nicholls State on August 31st and also takes a closer look at the upcoming 2013 schedule for the Ducks here.

***

Paced by 23 points from their center, Roy Hibbert, the Indiana Pacers tied up the best of seven Eastern Conference Finals at two games apiece with the Miami Heat on Tuesday night.

LeBron James led the Heat with 24 points and six rebounds, but it was not enough to propel his team past the defensively stout Pacers squad.

The now very important game five will be Thursday night in Miami, with the San Antonio Spurs awaiting the winner of the series.

***

Some things do not change, and apparently Chip Kelly’s policy on discussing injuries is one of those things. The former Oregon coach who is now the head man for the Philadelphia Eagles has not elaborated or discussed reasons why any of his players have been sitting out OTA’s.

Until the start of the season Kelly is not required by the NFL to disclose any injury related details and from the sounds of, Chip likes it that way.

For the second year in a row, the Ducks will play host for the regional round of the NCAA Division-I Baseball Championship. Oregon head coach George Horton’s squad is ranked No. 8 in the nation and is coming off a winning series in Salt Lake City against the University of Utah.

Regional pairings were announced for the 64-team field on Monday, and Oregon will open postseason play against South Dakota State on Friday evening at PK Park.

Bob Clark of The Register-Guard takes a look at the Ducks’ banged-up squad and what they will need to do to reach Omaha.

***

For the first time since 2007, the San Antonio Spurs have reached the NBA finals. San Antonio swept the Memphis four games to zero in the Western Conference Finals.

In their series-clinching victory on Monday night, point guard Tony Parker led the veteran Spurs squad with 37 points en route to a 93-86 win over the Grizzlies.

San Antonio will now sit and wait for the winner of the Miami Heat / Indiana Pacers series to see whom they will face off with in the finals.

Miami currently leads the series 2-1.

***

The Fighting Irish’s chances to return to the BCS National Championship Game took a big hit on Sunday when it was announced their starting quarterback Everett Golson was academically ineligible for the upcoming season.

The redshirt freshman quarterback performed admirably in 11 starts and helped lead Brian Kelly and Notre Dame to a national championship match-up with the Alabama in 2013.

Golson hopes to regain his academic eligibility in Winter 2014.