Remember When The Ohio University Mascot Attacked The Ohio State Buckeye Back In 2010?

Gotta love a good ol’ fashioned mascot brawl.

Ohio University is traveling to Columbus today to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes for the first time since 2010. Obviously the game’s a bit of a mismatch, with Ohio State the top ranked team in the nation and the Bobcats coming into the game 1-1 after a loss to Rutgers and a surprise win over WVU last week.

But I’m not here to talk about today’s game. Because the last time we played, we got an epic battle…just not during the game.

On September 18, 2010, Ohio State managed to beat Ohio 43-7. In fact, the most fight we saw from Ohio was during the pregame festivities – and it was from their mascot.

As the team was running onto the field, Rufus the Bobcat decided to rush Brutus Buckeye, delivering a takedown as the mascot was leading Ohio State on the field (and losing his head in the process).

But Rufus wasn’t done: After getting himself back together, the bobcat ran back up to Brutus and jumped on his back, landing a few punches before eventually being separated by the cheerleading coaches.

It was pretty funny at the time. I was actually the mascot for Marshall at the time, and my first game was at Ohio State earlier that season. But our next game was against…Ohio. The athletic department told me that I wasn’t allowed to go near their mascot, though I don’t think they ended up bringing him to the game anyway.

But as it turns out, there’s a lot more backstory to the fight between Rufus and Brutus.

The student in the Rufus costume, Brandon Hanning, revealed to NBC4 actually tried out to be the mascot a year in advance with the sole intention of attacking Brutus the Buckeye:

“I had just seen the Oregon Duck videos where he was bullying other mascots. And I thought it would be awesome if our mascot beat up their mascot…if I could beat up Brutus.”

Hanning served as the mascot for the entire 2009 season only because he wanted to beat up Brutus the next season. And he admits that he wasn’t really a fan of the job, saying that it “got annoying” but that he put up with it just so he could attack the Buckeyes mascot the next year:

“The whole goal of being able to fight Brutus in a year was still in my head, so I just decided to put up with it for the entire time so that I could beat up Brutus.”

But Hanning dropped out of Ohio before the next season started, seemingly putting an end to his plan…until he got a call asking him if he wanted to continue to serve as Rufus.

He didn’t tell his school that he was no longer enrolled, and his plan was back on.

Now, he didn’t exactly know when or what he was going to do, but when he saw Brutus leading the team out onto the field, he knew that was he shot – and he took it.

Meanwhile, Sean Stazen was the Ohio State student inside the Brutus Buckeye costume, and thought it was weird when he saw the bobcat running towards him, assuming that he was trying to mess up their entrance.

Stazen says that he saw Rufus fall and his head pop off, and assumed it was over until he felt the mascot jump on his back once he reached the endzone:

“Luckily Brutus’s head is pretty cushioned.”

As for whether Hanning regrets what he did, it sounds like he’s happy that it all came together:

“That shot where I was just coming up and hitting him, that was beautiful. That’s what made all of it worth it.”

And he even has a tattoo to remember the stunt, one that reads “I, Rufus, dotted the I” referring to the Ohio State band tradition of a tuba player dotting the “i” in Ohio State on the field before the game.

What a legend.

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