About the Buckeyes: Ohio State's roots go back to 1870, when the Ohio General Assembly established the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College, and the name was changed to Ohio State University in 1878. Brutus Buckeye became Ohio State's mascot in 1965 when student Ray Bourhis, along with other members of the student organization Ohio Staters Inc., convinced the OSU athletic council that the school needed an animal mascot. The name Brutus was later selected in an all-campus naming contest . Ohio State's official colors are Scarlet and Gray. Ohio State plays in the Big 10.