I'd say Eugene is a decent college town, it's a bit bigger than just a college town, but heavily influenced by the University. My free food and beer was not next to campus (and the stadium is probably a 1/2 mile walk off campus as well, a nice walk along paved trails through a park) so I didn't experience the college much, I did walk around in that area afterwards and it seemed pretty safe. As hard as it is to believe, classes didn't start til TODAY!!!! so there weren't many students around. The tailgating and parking is not like Beaver Stadium, It's a lot of smaller disjointed lots, most of them a school bus ride away. My buddy I met in Portland came down with his family and they parked in a lot in Eugene for $40 and took a bus. If you can, try to call the Eugene Science Center and see if you can get a pass for there. It's right across the street from the stadium, if it's not sold out with season passes they sell on game day for $40 or you can buy in advance for $80. There website has a date that they start selling individual game passes. I called and left a message a few days before and she called me back. They email you an invoice you pay online and they send the pass 2 weeks before the game. The bus lines were LONG after the game, and in many places, I suppose they drop off and pick up in various places depending on the lot you parked in (I think most of the lots are private businesses). Hotels are like State College on game day, jacked up to 3 times normal rate even for flea bag motels. I stayed in Salem where the rates were more reasonable (Holiday Inn was $612 total for three nights - even with Oregon State having a home game). It was an hour and 5 minutes to parking at the stadium, I arrived at about 12:15 for the 5 pm game and there weren't many people around. Hawaii team also stayed at the same hotel (I was told that the big hotel in Eugene had a fire over the winter and still wasn't open yet). For being 38 point underdogs, there was still a 6 am fire alarm pull at the hotel to wake up the Hawaii team. The stadium itself was really nice, they must give more butt room, as It looked rather large, but the attendance was only noted as about 52,000 and it looked pretty full.
I'd definitely go back, the city seemed safe and the fans pretty decent. I'd stay in Salem again as well, mostly because I'm a cheapskate and won't pay those outrageous hotel costs. I drive to/from Pittsburgh (2.5 hours) every game, so a little over and hour was not a big deal.
You can fly to Eugene, but you'll definitely have more options with Portland. (It's about 2.5 hours from Portland to Eugene)
