EUGENE, Ore. – In his five months as a student-athlete at Oregon, Jake McCreath has gotten used to the chaos and the frenzy that follows the football team.

The Ducks will play Ohio State for the national championship on Monday evening, and they’ll do so at one of sports’ ultimate venues: AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, aka Jerry’s World, seating capacity 80,000.

By now, of course, McCreath, the pride of little ol’ Ripon, population 14,754, knows how to manage the emotion and energy that comes with the big stage.

The reserve tight end has bounced in the tunnel before games at Autzen Stadium, wondering if it was his nerves or the anticipation of 56,000 rabid fans shaking his body.

He’s sprinted onto the field for the final eight minutes of the Rose Bowl, his football talents laid bare for 100,000 in attendance to see.

And he’s returned home, a decided victor in major college football’s first-ever semifinal game and a sexy pick to win the national championship, to find hundreds of Ducks fans leaning against an airport barricade, each taking video and photos.

“And all we were doing was getting our bags,” McCreath said with a chuckle.

The practice field has become the Ducks’ sanctuary.

Their quiet place.

After spending last week on a practice field in Carson and living out of a suitcase, Oregon has returned home to some semblance of normalcy. The intensity in practice, McCreath says, has been turned down as head coach Mark Helfrich’s strives for execution over injury.

Still that hasn’t slowed McCreath, who arrived in Eugene a preferred walk-on with no promises of playing time or travel.

He’s received both.

McCreath has dressed and been on the sidelines for all 14 of Oregon’s games, sometimes shivering from the lack of activity. He’s appeared in just two of those contests, though – the first and last – but hasn’t let the doldrums of the bench distract him from the big picture.

After all, the Ducks are playing a national championship.

“There’s so much talent on this team. I was just hoping to play in a couple of games. I never imagined I’d be playing in the Rose Bowl,” McCreath said. “Now we’re talking about playing in the national championship? It doesn’t even feel real.

“Last year I was watching these games. Now I’m partaking in them. It’s a surreal experience, to say the least.”

McCreath has come a long way in a short time.

The 6-foot-3 redshirt sophomore’s collegiate career began at Morningside College, an NAIA powerhouse in Sioux City, Iowa. After a year out there, he transferred to Modesto Junior College, where he earned all-Valley Conference North Division honors in his only season.

There, he landed on the Ducks’ radar as a pass-catching tight end.

He credits his father, Doug McCreath, a former San Jose State football player, for instilling the confidence in him to start anew in Modesto.

“He told me life was about taking risks and making decisions. I took a risk and it paid off,” he said. “I got to give credit to my Dad for backing me on this one.”

His decision has come with a sacrifice.

McCreath went four months between snaps and doesn’t have a stat to his name. Not a catch. Not a tackle. Nothing. His best work comes on the practice field, Monday through Friday, away from the cameras and the adulation of the fans.

He is the thankless warrior; a scout team tight end, and as such is tasked to give the Ducks’ defense the best possible look at the opposition. He dons the opposing tight end’s jersey number and has become quite good at role playing.

Twice McCreath has been named the Scout Team Player of the Week, and he saved his best work for the Seminoles.

“Last week I had the privilege of being Nick O’Leary, the unanimous All-American tight end at Florida State,” he said. “Each week I’ve got to give the defense the best possible look. Obviously, whatever look I gave them worked because I don’t think he caught a pass.”

O’Leary had one reception for 4 yards, but it’s a frivolous stat.

The Ducks dominated every facet of that game, halting Florida State’s 29-game winning streak while denying the reigning national champion a chance to defend its crown.

Oregon’s attention is now solely on Ohio State, a surprise winner over then-No. 1 Alabama.

McCreath’s challenge is the same: Now until Sunday, he’ll give the coaching staff his best impersonation of Buckeye tight end Jeff Heuerman.

Come Monday, he’ll be the best Jake McCreath he can be – and hope it’s enough to see the field.

“Each week, I’m working my butt off and hoping to get into the game,” McCreath said. “Sometimes, it doesn’t go your way. I’m too competitive to say ‘This sucks’ and get down on myself. Each week, I work harder and harder so if there’s a chance, like in the Rose Bowl, they’ll have the confidence to put me in.”