The Oregon marching band took the field at halftime to play a song from the "Barbie" movie, "I'm just Ken." in formation on Rich Brooks Field in the outline of a duck.
To make the message clear, the scoreboard displayed, "Just the Duck."
As KOIN reporter Ally Osborne points out, this proves definitively that the Oregon mascot is "The Duck," not "Puddles," the bastardized nickname used by casuals.
Puddles was a live Duck mascot led by a leash during the '30s and '40s. The Duck has always been The Duck. It's his X handle, the title on his Instagram Page, A handshake agreement with Disney made it official in 1947.
Puddles was a different character in a different time. When legendary Oregon quarterback Dan Fouts used to do play-by-play on ABC, he called him "The Duck." It's as plain as the bill on his face. He even does weddings and personal appearances, and the website at goducks.com books him as The Duck.
It’s halftime, the Oregon Marching Band is playing “I’m just Ken” with a video appearance from @TheOregonDuck stating, once more, he is not named Puddles.#oregonduck | @OregonDucks_SI pic.twitter.com/NRaxjjAP3r
— Ally Osborne (@allysosborne) November 22, 2025
The hope still lives and the dream shall never die
He is The Duck, just as surely as the Washington head coach is Dedd Fisch. Some names are as sacred as Cecil Fielder's Lucky Gravy, or "Wonder Boy," the name of Robert Redford's bat in "The Natural."
The ironic, meta name is an essential part of the character, speechless, sassy and irreverent. It's iconic as Oregon's ever-changing uniforms. Perhaps one day soon The Duck will make snow angels at the national championship.