5 College Football Mascots That Best Embody the Sport

The uniqueness of hundreds of college football programs across the nation and the personality of each university where these teams belong also increases the popularity of the sport. However, there is no better evidence to this than the detected fact that the sport has numerous types of mascots.

However, there are thousands of Tigers and Eagles and all those other relatively plain and unadventurous mascots. The costumed participants include giants with red balloons, leprechauns, oranges, Rocketeers and the mountaineers with the riffles. The sport also main live mascots, dogs, goats, birds of prey and a live tiger who used to roll round the field.

There are many things that are desirable in a mascot – the physical attributes such as athletic ability, the funny bone and creativity and not forgetting a dash of trouble maker in the process. To the fans and the enthusiasts of college football, these five mascots capture the essence of what is great in the sport.

5. Buckeye — Ohio in referenc to its nickname – Brutus Buckeye

Brutus Buckeye indeed is one of the most recognised symbols of the college football that will turn 60 years in 2025. The character of the anthropomorphic nut, a symbol of the school and campus, went through the initial design makes over his young life right from a student created papier-mâché figure in 1965 with the replacement of it by a fiberglass one in the following months. Ohio State’s evolution of the logo was closer to the contemporary Brutus in 1980 when the nut head was placed on a human body.

Brutus is one of the most active mascots in the college sports, he does back flips and head stands, he does push ups every time the Buckeyes scored a point.

Of course, those as popular as Brutus are bound to make some enemies on their way to the top. A momentous match happened when Brutus attacked Ohio University’s Rufus the Bobcat, during a 2010 game. The two teams have not played since your last match. Could Brutus have had something to do with it? And only he can confirm, and of course, he cannot speak.

4. Cosmo the Cougar — Brigham Young University

High flying mascots are always entertaining and BYU’s Cosmo just can fly off the handle, quite literally. It has sprung through flaming hoops in football games. He’s been thrown for a dunk from the beyond 3-point line at Brigham Young University basketball games. He’s even gone skydiving.

Besides, he dances with the school championship dance team, and though he is hardly known to be a barker, he occasionally does some great break dance kind of stunts and great gymnastic figures during the games. That’s why to be Cosmo one needs an outrageous level of athleticism.

Former gymnast and performer of Cosmo till 2020 graduation, Stephan Millard who is a junior Olympian Gymnast explained these auditions are very rigorous.

“The first hour is physical testing,” he said to KSL Sports in 2020. “You are maxed out on everything; max push-ups, max pull-ups, max everything to the point of exhaustion and to test endurance After that we were dancing: break dancing, dancing, flipping, hitting the trampolines; your endurance was tested, that’s how it is testing how it really is to be Cosmo wearing this mask and the suit. ”

In a way, if there was any question about the love that BYU fans have for their mascot, then 2020 would be the year that put it to rest when fans turned out to vote in the SiriusXM Mascot Bracket Championship to get Cosmo over the top among more than 60 of the nation’s top college mascots.

3. Ralphie the Buffalo – Colorado

In college football, there could hardly be a better entrance like Ralphie’s run.

While the school started its practice of live mascots the year before the notorious “Rocky” movie, the first Ralphie, well: she first appeared in ’66, racing across the field following a win over Kansas State in October. She was back for the following year’s season opener against Baylor, thus becoming one of the traditions in the sport football games.

As for the current Ralphie, he indeed is the sixth North American bison, even though compared to buffaloes, which are native to Africa and Asia, they are related. Here is Ralphie V, her direct predecessor, stepped down after the 2019 season.

Ralphie’s handlers are more than a dozen students of Colorado, they train and babysit the mascot 20 hours of a weeks to a week as per the Post Independent.

Due to the fact that Ralphie handling entails a certain level of skill and physical ability as well as practice time, the school accommodates the handlers as varsity athletes. It is normally the week’s turn for the handlers to change their responsibilities concerning the Ralphie Run at Folsom Field.

2. Stanford Tree

When it comes to selecting one mascot that sums up the anarchy that is college football, no mascot other than the Stanford Trees will do.

The esteemed institution in the Californian state is yet to have a mascot since it got rid of the “Indians” nickname in 1972 validly silencing Prince Lightfoot. Three years later, Stanford University’s Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band also adopted a series of new mascots; the Tree earned enough among the supporters to become standard equipment for the band’s performances. Today it is still a band tradition and not a school mascot which is relevant to the current topic.

The Tree has consistently become more ‘DIY’ in appearance right through the evolved stages which is a big point in it. annual lecture: The Tree itself designs the costume and the year’s mouths, eyes, types of leaf and accessories are immense and various. Stanford trees have risen to the occasion and even sport monocles, various hats, signs and anything else which is colorful. Any of the mascots designed for the 2014 competition turned into a palm tree with a grossly enlarged tongue while other versions depicted evergreens.

The Tree has a record of causing troubles over the decade interfering with students, band members and Cal’s mascot Oski.

In 2022 the Tree was suspended because the holder criticised the school and held up a banner saying ‘Stanford hates fun. ‘ Suspensions have been clearly rife in the mascot’s experience though the most notorious event was in 2006 when a student entrusted with the Tree’s costume arrived to a basketball game severely drunk; her blood alcohol level was at 0. 157, which nearly is twice the maximum permissible driving concentration in blood.

It may not be for everyone, but it what is for certain, the Stanford Tree is unique in the world of college football.

1. The Oregon Duck

Oregon formerly dressed a live duck known as Puddles in ducks’ athletic games, and later on it started representing the Donald Duck of Disney. According to the story, in 1947, athletic director Leo Harris shook hand with Walt Disney and agreed that the school might put into used the image of Donald for its mascot. The agreement was signed in 1973, and from all designs that were drawn, a Disney-like design won a vote organized among the public against a more aggressive Mallard Drake design by a student cartoonist which received two times less votes.

The Duck which is sometimes referred to as Puddles is wheeled onto the field in a Harley-Davidson motorcycle every time the team comes into the stadium and celebrates their entrance through the Autzen stadium tunnel. Like some other mascots the Duck does a push up for every point that Oregon scores. Sometimes however that number accumulates, so for a 81-7 victory over Portland State in 2023, the Duck was able to perform 546 push-ups total.

The Duck was the first mascot to be selected to be College GameDay guest picker on ESPN before a game against Michigan State in 2014. On paper, a very strange choice because the mascot doesn’t speak but the Duck joined forces with veteran broadcaster Lee Corso for a great pantomime.

Heck, some great mascrits exist in college football but none of them could execute one of the most famous segments in the world of sports in this manner.

Yes, there is one story where The Duck has walked the entire Rose Bowl parade in costume. During a fight with a Houston Cougars mascot Shasta, he’s becoming a WWE villain; later, he wrestled in the WWE ring. This man once set one of his fans on fire during a game, but he is very much alive. He took Tostitos and clumsily ate them in a lawn chair during the Fiesta Bowl.

When it comes to comedy bits – the Duck has no equal, and he has provided more memes than one can shake a stick at. Also, he can perform 500 plus push-ups when the Oregon offense tags up in early September. When it comes to mascots, he’s got it all; speed, batting average, power and defense, power of attorney.

Honorable mention

While mentioning the college football mascots one cannot leave out the good natured bulldogs; Boise State’s Blitz, Georgia’s Uga, Tennessee’s Smoky and Texas A&M’s Reveille to mention but a few.

The competition involving mascots was also stiff with other competitors such as Syracuse Otto the Orange, Miami Sebastian the Ibis and Western Kentucky Big Red slightly missing the list.