PORTLAND, Oregon (WCMH) — When the Ohio State University Buckeyes take on the Oregon Ducks in the Rose Bowl on Wednesday, some Ohio State fans will be watching in the home state of the opponent.
"As far as being a Buckeye this far away from home, it's awesome," said Kent Dunn, who grew up in Dublin, graduated from Ohio State, and has lived in Portland, Oregon, for 30 years.
He went to the Ohio State-Oregon game earlier this season when the Buckeyes lost by 1.
“Brutal,” Dunn said. “Obviously that game hurt, the Duck game, that first one hurt everybody, I think. Whether you’re an Oregonian or whether you live somewhere else, if you’re a Buckeye fan, you walked out of that one feeling a little bit sucker punched."
He was at that matchup with his wife and other members of the Ohio State Alumni Club of Portland, or the Portland Buckeyes as they call themselves.
“It's hard not to go to the grocery store wearing a Buckeye shirt and not get an ‘O-H’ from somebody,” Dunn said. “That's how many folks we have out here."
Dennis Mohr, originally from the Dayton area, was one of the Oregon group's first members. He said the Portland Buckeyes group is like family.
Mohr said that most times, running into Oregon fans leads to friendly banter.
The group watches the games at a sports bar and expects about 150 Buckeye fans for Wednesday’s Rose Bowl.
"There’s two groups that come in and they want to take over the place, they don't like that the Buckeyes have taken a bar in downtown Portland as their own home," Mohr said. "One-point win, that's all we need is a one-point win, and move on, baby. That's all we need. If we play like we played Tennessee, I'm very hopeful.”
Dunn said he is hopeful as well.
“We get them in the Rose Bowl and that's awesome so we’re very excited to have another shot," he said.
