Just across the Maumee River from Toledo, Ohio lies the suburban town of Oregon, which will be changing its name just for a day - Jan. 12 - to support the Buckeyes.
By the time Ohio State beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl Jan. 1, Oregon's Rose Bowl rout of Florida State had concluded, and the next day an online petition sparked the idea for the temporary name change. Matt Squibb and Mark Rabbitt, Oregon, Ohio natives, posted the petition on Change.org and town leaders listened, the Toledo Free Press reported.
Oregon City Administrator Michael Beazley and Mayor Michael Seferian have already decided to change the name of the town the day of the National Championship and will reportedly put forth the proclamation Monday.
The town officials have not thought of a temporary name, but Squibb offered "Buckeye Town, Ohio City, [or] Brutusville" in the petition. Neither he nor Rabbitt admitted to being "huge Buckeye" fans, but they are graduates of Clay High School, whose colors are the same green and gold the Oregon Ducks wear.
Even if Marcus Mariota and co. will not be wearing their signature colors, the petitioners also suggested the school change its colors to Ohio State colors for the day.
Despite living and working deep in Buckeye territory, Rabbitt is a fan of Michigan, Ohio State's biggest rival. But next Monday, and whenever the two are not playing each other, he routs on the hometown team.
"When Michigan plays Ohio State, obviously I'm a Michigan fan, but every time OSU plays I hope they win because in the grand scheme it's good for the Big 10," Rabbitt told the Free Press. "It's just a unique opportunity to show support to a university in their journey to win the first ever national championship in the playoff system, but also for this area, that a school from the Big 10 is able to represent the entire conference in this national championship game."
Beazley and Seferian told the newspaper they got wind of the petition pretty quickly and agreed that they should take action.
"We're just two guys going on a website and sparking something that most people would think is probably a really stupid thing, but to have so many people supporting it and then hopefully rooting for Ohio State to win it all is pretty great," Rabbitt said. "The Big 10 has been seen as a conference that can't compete with the SEC or Pac 12. Now Ohio State has beaten the No. 1 team in the SEC and are facing the No. 1 team in the Pac 12 and we have this opportunity for Ohio State to win the national championship. I think it's pretty good to see a community come together and support them."
