Chip Allers remembers watching Oregon take down Jameis Winston and defending national champion Florida State in the Rose Bowl in 2015. Five years later it was another memorable day for the lifelong Ducks fan when Justin Herbert led Oregon to its fourth Rose Bowl title in 2020.

This coming New Year’s Day, Allers, a graduate of Bend’s Summit High School, won’t be watching “The Grandaddy of Them All” on television like he has in the past.

Instead, he will run out of the tunnel at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, as a player for the country’s top-ranked team.

“It’s been a super fun year,” said Allers, a walk-on redshirt freshman linebacker. “Not many people get to experience this so I’m just kinda embracing everything that has come my way and the team’s way. It’s a great group of guys who have one goal in mind.

“I’m just super fortunate to have the opportunity and grateful for the way that the season has turned out. It will be a cool experience going from watching it on TV to actually being there and getting to experience it for myself.”

The Ducks are aiming for their first-ever national championship in the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff. The Rose Bowl is a CFP quarterfinal game, as No. 1 Oregon will take on No. 8 Ohio State on Wednesday for a chance to reach the semifinals against the winner of No. 5 Texas and No. 4 Arizona State.

Oregon (13-0), which won the Big Ten Conference in its first year since leaving the Pac-12, is the only undefeated team in major college football.

“It is really important to ignore the outside noise and focus on the goal at hand, which is the Rose Bowl,” Allers said. “We are just trying to take it one week at a time, one game at a time and one snap at a time. That has been our whole motto the entire year, not to buy into the hype.”

Allers was raised in Bend and graduated from Summit in 2023. He was a key member of the Storm’s vaunted defense that led Summit to the 2022 Class 5A state title. As a senior defensive end he finished with a state-leading 15 sacks and was a first-team all-state honoree.

Initially, Allers was set to walk-on at Stanford to play college football, but when Oregon offered the opportunity to fulfill his childhood team, he could not pass it up.

“I grew up a huge Oregon fan, huge Duck fan,” Allers said. “When all the stars started to align, it was the best decision for me and my family. It is a huge opportunity for me, growing up a Duck fan, and everything I’ve ever wanted from a program. I always dreamed about playing for the Ducks. I’ve been really fortunate to be playing for them.”

The life of a walk-on is not nearly as glamorous compared with the scholarship players. Finding playing time can be an uphill battle, especially when playing for one of the nation’s top teams loaded with talented players.

But the 6-foot-2-inch, 215-pound Allers has worked his way onto the field twice this season. He got his first action of his college career on the kickoff team against Oregon State back in September. He later got onto the field against Illinois in October.

“It was a really cool moment to finally be able to get onto the field and experience some playing time,” Allers said. “I think it is just an accumulation of hard work that no one sees outside of the limelight. It was a surreal moment for me, especially for it being against Oregon State. I grew up watching that game every year. I was just grateful and fortunate that I got to have that opportunity.”

When Oregon squares off against Ohio State on New Year’s Day, it will have been nearly three months since the Ducks pulled off the marquee win of the regular season, beating the Buckeyes 32-31 in Eugene.

“That was definitely the best game that I have watched both as a Duck fan and as a Duck player,” Allers said. “Overall it was just the best game. It was back and forth, it was a great atmosphere, great week of work leading up to that game. That was another one of those surreal moments.

“It is still foot on the gas pedal,” Allers added. “You can’t take days off because as soon as that happens then you are going to have to play catchup. We are working hard every day, not taking any days off and just being really focused on taking it one day at a time.”