Brawling Mascot Isn't Ohio University Student, Just 'Wanted to Tackle Brutus'

Brawling Mascot Isn’t Ohio University Student, Just ‘Wanted to Tackle Brutus’

by John Beattie on Mon, Sep 20, 2010 at 4:22PM

One could say that Ohio University put up a good fight against Ohio State this Saturday.

But then the game started.

The Buckeyes, who won the contest 43-7, were beaten in just one aspect of the game: Mascots. Ohio’s mascot, a former OU student dressed as a Rufus Bobcat, tackled the Brutus Buckeye mascot, which sparked an impromptu wrestling match before the gridiron massacre.

That student isn’t even enrolled at Ohio University but that hasn’t stopped the institution from banning him from all future Ohio University athletic events. Brandon Hanning, the person in the Rufus costume, served as the mascot for the sole purpose to tackle Brutus this weekend. He is a 19-year-old student at Hocking College who was enrolled at OU last year before dropping out.

“It was the whole reason I tried out [to be Rufus] last year,” he told The Post. “I knew we were going back to OSU this year, and I wanted to tackle Brutus.”

Check out the video below of the incident.