I'd have to think that under normal conditions, the "Big House" might've been a bit louder, but, from what I read, most Michigan fans didn't have a great feeling about this game.

Nice to see a Luuuke sighting.  He's playing in Toronto, so Ann Arbor was just a hop, skip, and jump away.

Fresno next week will be my first live game of the season.  Can't wait.  I still need two tickets if anyone has extras.

I just got back to Chi-city from the game, myself.  A couple-a things I noticed:

1. Dixon really really really likes to throw behind his receivers.  And they bail him out almost every time (other than that odd case of the dropsies by Williams...well, except for the, err, umm, TD grabs).  That's pretty nice of them.
2. A guy walked into Arena sports bar last night post-game, shortly after pretty much the entire bar finished it's 62nd "LET'S GO DUCKS" chant of the evening.  Said guy proceeded to bleet out the fight song on a hunter's duck call.  Needless to say, folks were pretty happy with that (I even tore myself away from the Vols-Southern Miss game on a rather spartan 13" TV to clap to the beat).
3. It was amazing how many Ducks fans were in attendance, as you said.  However, I think the three separate sections are by design so that the visiting team can't form as much crowd unity.  Refering back to Neyland in Knoxville, there are 3 separate visitor sections: one in the corner near the field, one in the opposite corner up in the nosebleeds, and one in the middle, up high as well.  The more you split em, the quieter they seem. Regardless, the Duck faithful kept pretty much together...at least up in the higher sections where I was.  I can't speak much for the lucky fellas down at field-level.
4. It was simply amazing how many people we ran into that my lady knew.  She saw tons of them hanging out at pre-game parties.  We randomly ran into her freshman year roomate walking into our section at halftime.  We chatted with a few friends of her at Arena's.  And we even saw a couple of Duck fans from Witt's in Chicago we had met only 1 week ago (one while on the highway about 20 miles outside of Ann Arbor (he said he probably wasn't going...ha!), one pre-game outside of a pizza joint).  And my girl said the Ducks don't normally travel well...
5. That Michigan student section is freaking ginormous.  It's really something to behold...and by damn, do they know their cheers.  When the cheerleaders prompted an around-the-stadium "Let's Go Blue" chant during a TV timeout, the "Let's" coming from those fools in maize was pretty shocking.  Yes, it's not that loud in there, but I imagine a different acoustic profile would've made them absolutely deafening.
6. Aside from that, "The Big House" isn't all that interesting.  It's got bad, cramped seats and LOOKS like it only holds around 70K (of course we all know that to be false).  I've gotten better awe-struck moments at smaller venues.  I enjoy college football, and I have respect for the stadiums of yore, but this was simply uninspiring.  I had been looking forward to the experience since my girl and I planned it last year (it was payback for draggin her to Tennesse-Alabama).  At least the game turned out okay, huh?
7. Post-game last night, someone drove by us as we waited for a cab.  Sadly, one of their many car flags dropped off their window.  Seeing that they were making absolutely no effort to turn around to come get it, I sprung into action.  If it was yours, know that it was flown with much pride on the drive back today.
8. Finally, I have to agree with what you said here about the U of M fans.  Pre-game, they either made fun of Joey or made odd quacking noises (how the hell is that supposed to mock the Oregon faithful?).  Post-game, they were the epitome of civility.  They shook hands, kept humble, and some even thanked us for hastening Carr's exit.  Regardless, I had a really good time working the "Big House" angle by saying "Thank's for having us" to everyone that made eye-contact with me.

Go Ducks.  Go Vols.

PS) To the fellas last night with the t-shirts showing their annual Duck road trip itineraries on the back...thanks for letting me know there's a home/home with the Vols in '09 and '10.  I think you just split my household.  And I think I'm contractually obliged to purchase tickets and airfare for both games now.  Dammit.

I was also at the game, and was lucky enough to sit in front of a guy who had only missed 3 UM home games in 33 years.  He had more perspective than the rest of the fans put together.  And he flat out told me (at the beginning of the game), that Michigan fans were spoiled.

They aren't used to losing, and the fans were brutal to the team during the game.  Carr was booed when introduced, and after the first statue of liberty play, the defense was booed for failing to bring down Stewart.  Then, Henne was booed many times, once when a pass was bad/appeared to be batted down.  They jumped all over the team and didn't let up.

To me, this was unacceptable.  The team had not yet given up, and was being treated like crap by their fans.  These are 18-23 year old kids.  They aren't professionals.  Boo lack of effort, boo poor coaches who get payed big bucks, but don't take it out on the kids.

Real duck fans have seen the performance Michigan had, and seen it many times.  I hope that Oregon becomes successful, but I don't want that to be at the expense of support for the players that (usually) try their damndest week in and week out (p.s. I could care less about the Las Vegas bowl which should not even be in existence.  I could have cared less if the Ducks won that game and could care less if they care about that game).  When poor plays are made, players should not be booed, but instead should be clapped on the back by the crowd and told to get after it next time.  Lloyd Carr is as good as gone, but his post-game speech was great.

This was a great win for the Ducks, but there is a lot to learn from it.  Michigan is a great program, and I don't think the fan behavior was typical (I heard Michigan fans complaining of such), but it is something to keep in mind.