As if the college football world couldn’t get any crazier, the NCAA now finally plans to address the inequity between athletes and mascots in college sports.
According to reports from multiple sources, the NCAA has moved to implement a rule for the upcoming college football season that would require each team to use mascots at least once a game per each side of the ball.
Teams that are found to use their mascots less than the required amount will have to forfeit any game where the rule wasn’t followed.
“This new rule aims to create more parity in college sports through the implementation of non-football athletes into each game,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said in a press release on March 32.
Teams will now be required to sub in their mascot for one play on offense and one play on defense, but both can be mitigated if that mascot is used to make a field goal longer than 25 yards.
“We knew having the best mascot in our program would pay off at some point,” Oregon head coach Dan Lanning said. “It’s an exciting opportunity for the sport, and I am excited to see what gray areas we can explore.”
Lanning’s attention to detail when it comes to the rules of the game is no secret — evidenced by him taking a purposeful 12-man on the field penalty that eventually led to the clock running out on Ohio State’s offense on the following play. Oregon aims to be at the forefront of innovation in college football, and this new rule is simply a fresh opportunity to flex those muscles.
“We’ve already looked into the possibilities — the Duck has been at the facility all day doing a pseudo-combine. He’s quick,” Lanning said.
Other coaches around the country weren’t as stoked about having to place an unpadded mascot into the field of play every game. Washington head coach Jedd Fisch noted his team’s considerable lack of funding — not for the first time — as a reason why the Huskies wouldn’t be able to make this work.
“Teams like Oregon and Ohio State have $20 million dollar rosters, which makes it so much harder to compete. I already have to worry about not getting boat-raced by Rutgers and Iowa. College football is so unfair,” Fisch said.
In a 247sports article chronicling the top NIL spenders in college football, it noted that Washington ranked No. 24 with a collective of $9.4 million, while Oregon ranked No. 19 with its $10.6 million collective.
Much of the talk surrounding this move discusses the lack of possibility around play calling for a mascot. Multiple users on X mentioned how certain schools don’t use a physical mascot at their games. Those schools include the likes of Michigan and Illinois.
Well, the NCAA thought ahead. Those schools will now need to enlist an NCAA-sanctioned physical mascot at each of its games that must align with the nicknames and history of that school.
“Michigan can now just hire one of their players and call it a wolverine. There has to be something preventing that. I am just worried for the Duck’s safety out there,” Lanning said.
The same narrative has been brought up about Notre Dame’s famous leprechaun, who has full range of motion in most of his body. Because of that, the leprechaun would be the premier mascot for kicking field goals, which absolves the team from using the mascot again.
Notre Dame wouldn’t be the only program with an advantage, however.
Purdue’s Boilermaker mascot includes full range of motion below the waist, but his bulky head and body make it tremendously difficult to run. BYU’s cougar, often lauded for its jaw-dropping acrobatics and choreographed dances, will have the opportunity to display that as a wide receiver. Administrators from BYU are trying to figure out a way to get the Cougar to have the ability to play more than twice, as he is an invaluable part of the team.
Auburn men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl has been an outspoken supporter of the rule. Pearl, who had stepped into the role as mascot during his time as an undergrad at Boston College, knows there’s a lot more to being a mascot than meets the eye.
“Mascots are much more than just a dancer, and no one realizes their athletic capabilities. Mascot rights in sport have long been overlooked,” Pearl said.
The NCAA’s move to include mascots in the largest college sport marked a large step in mascot rights, but there is still room to grow. Mascots still cannot receive benefits from NIL, payments from sponsors, sign with an agent or transfer freely as athletes have done in recent years.
The reasoning for this, Baker said, was because the NCAA is still figuring out how to officially classify mascots as athletes, which is made harder by the fact that some mascots are animal-human hybrids rather than strictly a human or an animal.
The Duck, for example, has opposable thumbs and no wings.
“(The Duck’s) hybridness allows us to bring out the best from his human and Duck sides,” Lanning said.
Reports have circulated that Lanning and his staff plan to use the Duck as a tight end and outside linebacker, which fits his 6’4” 264-pound profile. Both positions also allow for the Duck’s quickness to come into play, as seen by Oregon’s use of tight end Kenyon Sadiq and linebacker/edge rusher Matayo Uiagalelei in different positions and formations due to their athletic versatility.
Lanning, along with coaches around the country, now deal with a new fold to the ever-changing landscape of college sports. While new rules are constantly subject to change, it appears as if the disparity between mascots and athletes is finally lessening.
*Disclaimer: All quotes and facts in this article are completely satirical and fake, in light of April Fools Day.*
