Brutus Buckeye - 2010 Tackling

2010 Tackling

On September 18, 2010, the Ohio Bobcats football team played the Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus. As the Buckeyes were running onto the field, Brandon Hanning, dressed as Rufus the Bobcat, saw Ohio State mascot Brutus Buckeye leading the team and charged into the field. Hanning sideswiped Brutus, who got back to his feet and continued his sprint toward the end zone. Hanning then ran after Brutus and jumped on his back and continued to hit the mascot in the head. Hanning was then pulled aside by security who told him to stop. Neither Rufus nor Brutus were harmed during the event. After the game, Hanning was terminated from his position as Ohio's mascot, and was banned from attending Ohio home athletic events.

In a post-game interview, Hanning explained that this was his sole purpose in trying out to be the mascot. "It was actually my whole plan to tackle Brutus when I tried out to be mascot," Hanning explained, "I tried out about a year ago, and the whole reason I tried out was so I could come up here to Ohio State and tackle Brutus." When asked if the attack on Brutus was the first mascot brawl he had been in he replied with, "Before this, I actually got in a fight with the Buffalo mascot. He's a bull. I started it. I was thinking I should go ahead and try out tackling another mascot. I brought a red square cape thing, like in a bullfight. He was just playing around, acting like he was charging me. I tackled him and put him on the ground. It was pretty funny. No one got upset because it wasn't Ohio State."