matchup and had an opportunity to interview the Oregon Duck. Working on a story ahead of Saturday's vs.

'At Nike we called that 'irreverence justified.' Now, I think underdog can be replaced by the Duck. 'Underduck, the greatest underduck story of all time,' says Mike Doherty, former longtime senior creative director for Nike, local resident, right-hand man to Nike founder/Oregon alum Phil Knight and the force behind stunts like Oregon QB Joey Harrington's Times Square Heisman billboard in 2000 that made Ducks football cool. They know who they are in this narrative, be it playing on the field or gyrating along the sidelines. The same holds true for the collectively chill attitude among the Brutus crew. Anti-establishment is their whole persona, and Saturday's game is the perfect pond in which to swim that stroke. 'The Oregon Duck is really cute, and I think fans really follow him, too.'ДЇorgive the folks from Eugene in the Duck-letter sweaters (for real, that's what they get after their years of service behind the beak) for bringing much more fowl attitudes to this pregame conversation. This was a head-fake bigger than Eddie George in the open field. She was Brutus in 1977 and, finally, someone from Columbus is turning up the heat. He might just be swimming,' says Sandy Foreman. 'Does the Duck do pushups? Does he work out? Maybe he needs to do some pushups and work out. 'Brutus is a proven entity when it comes to winning the big game, but the marketability, the understanding, the far-reaching capability of Brutus versus the Duck? Now, there is a match to be decided.' He's a nut,' says Malachi Williams, the 1999-2003 Duck. Because the Duck guys are waddling all over you. Think of College GameDay when the Duck did the picks and, I was like, 'This is brilliant.' He's one of our biggest inspirations.' He just seems to hit the moment every single time and really make the most of it. The Duck is probably one of the most entertaining, funniest mascots out there. Um, Tracy isn't really going for this trash-talk thing, is she? Let's check in with Ray Sharp, aka Dancing Brutus, who donned the scarlet and grey stripes from 2010 to '13. Which mascot will win it all? Gene Sweeney Jr/Getty Images It's so much fun.' The Duck has been training for this moment, another chance at its arch-nemesis Brutus. 'When I look at mascots, there's mascots that seem to be mean and growly, but that is not what I experience with the Duck. There's a really sweet quality to the Duck,' observes Tracy Stuck, a 27-year Ohio State employee and noted Brutus historian.

if you just wanna look at a big nut, doing whatever a big nut wants to do, then sure some people enjoy that.' He's the guy on the sideline with a big head and. Bowen took on the life of the Oregon Duck (you don't dare say he put on the costume this is much more serious than that) from 2005 to '10. Scary old man,' Teigh Bowen says with a chuckle when asked about Brutus. Let the smack quacking and nut cracking begin! The gridiron equivalent to a millennial dot-com billionaire showing up at Warren Buffet's bridge game in a Nike hoodie and flip-flops. Classic anthropomorphic mascot (big head, human body) versus, well, OK, the same thing, just with more feathers. College football royalty versus new money. It's a mascot melee on every level that sums up the game itself. None greater than the living, breathing, sweating, dancing, strutting, feather-and-paint-adorned, real-life head-to-head showdown metaphor that will play out between plays and during timeouts. It's a big game, as big as the Horseshoe itself, filled with drama, expectations and, yes, metaphors. It is a rematch of the 19 Rose Bowls, as well as the inaugural College Football Playoff National Championship Game in 2015, with a likely inside lane to this year's CFP on the line. 12 Oregon Ducks, the preseason favorite to win the Pac-12, are traveling east to face the third-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes, practically everyone's choice to top the Big Ten. On Saturday, the college football nation will be focused on Columbus, Ohio, and rightfully so.

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