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# The 10 Best Mascots in College Football, Ranked
- URL: https://www.grumpybuck.com/the-10-best-mascots-in-college-football-ranked/
- Published: 2026-09-04T15:02:15.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-04T15:02:15.000Z
- Author: Brad Riddell
- Tags: Sports History, College Football, Top 10

College football is back, which means it's time for the sport's real stars: a bison at full gallop, a bulldog in an air-conditioned doghouse, and a man on horseback planting a flaming spear. No other sport does mascots like this — living, breathing, occasionally stampeding traditions, some of them older than the NFL. The 10 best, ranked, with everything current as of the 2026 season.

## 10\. Dubs — Washington

![Dubs on the Husky Stadium turf — a Malamute with a linebacker's job description.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/09/ms_dubs.jpg)

Dubs on the Husky Stadium turf — a Malamute with a linebacker's job description.

The Husky mascot is technically an Alaskan Malamute — Washington's own reasoning being that it's the biggest and strongest of the husky-type breeds, which is a very football answer. Dubs II, the 14th live dog in the tradition, leads the team out at Husky Stadium. **The tradition dates to the 1920s**, making the dogs older than most of the sport's blue bloods' stadiums.

## 9\. Reveille — Texas A&M

![The First Lady of Aggieland, outranking everyone in frame.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/09/ms_reveille.jpg)

The First Lady of Aggieland, outranking everyone in frame.

The "First Lady of Aggieland" is a rough collie who holds the rank of **5-diamond Cadet General — the highest-ranking member of A&M's Corps of Cadets**, meaning she technically outranks every human on campus. By tradition, if Reveille barks in a classroom, class is dismissed. Reveille X has served since 2021, and in 2024 returned to duty after losing an eye to glaucoma — a one-eyed general, still saluted.

## 8\. Sooner Schooner — Oklahoma

![The Schooner at full gallop — moments from either glory or a 15-yard penalty.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/09/ms_schooner.jpg)

The Schooner at full gallop — moments from either glory or a 15-yard penalty.

![“Switzer blasts Schooner penalty” — The Miami Herald, Jan. 2, 1985. The wagon cost Oklahoma an Orange Bowl field goal.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/09/ms_switzerclip.jpg)

“Switzer blasts Schooner penalty” — The Miami Herald, Jan. 2, 1985\. The wagon cost Oklahoma an Orange Bowl field goal.

A Conestoga wagon at full speed, pulled by white ponies named Boomer and Sooner, celebrating every score. The chaos resume is unmatched: in the **1985 Orange Bowl**, the Schooner rolled onto the field after a field goal that had been called back — drawing a 15-yard penalty; the re-kick was blocked, and OU lost. In 2019 it **tipped over entirely** during a touchdown celebration, ejecting its riders like a Studebaker-brand catapult. Still runs after every score. Respect.

![“Sooner Schooner sent to sideline after spill” — The Atlanta Constitution, Oct. 2019. The chaos resume grows.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/09/ms_spillclip.jpg)

“Sooner Schooner sent to sideline after spill” — The Atlanta Constitution, Oct. 2019\. The chaos resume grows.

## 7\. War Eagle — Auburn

![Untethered over Jordan-Hare — 87,000 people, dead silent.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/09/ms_wareagle.jpg)

Untethered over Jordan-Hare — 87,000 people, dead silent.

Technically not a mascot at all — Aubie the tiger holds that job, and "War Eagle" is a battle cry. But nothing in the sport matches the pregame moment: since 2000, a live eagle circles Jordan-Hare Stadium untethered before diving to midfield. Auburn celebrated 25 years of flights in 2025, currently flown by golden eagle **Aurea (War Eagle VIII)** and bald eagle Independence. Eighty-seven thousand people going silent for a bird is college football in one image.

## 6\. Smokey — Tennessee

![Smokey at full howl-adjacent sprint.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/09/ms_smokey.jpg)

Smokey at full howl-adjacent sprint.

![“Smokey II Selected To Follow His Sire” — The Commercial Appeal, Feb. 13, 1955. This is the dog Kentucky students would dognap months later.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/09/ms_smokeyclip.jpg)

“Smokey II Selected To Follow His Sire” — The Commercial Appeal, Feb. 13, 1955\. This is the dog Kentucky students would dognap months later.

A bluetick coonhound chosen by student-body **howl-off in 1953** — the winning dog answered the crowd's cheer by throwing his head back and howling, then howled louder with each ovation. The lore runs deep: Smokey II was dognapped by Kentucky students in 1955 and scrapped with the Baylor bear at the 1957 Sugar Bowl. The line is freshly renewed: **Smokey XII — real name "Neyland" — debuted in April 2026** after Smokey XI retired early for having, officially, too reserved a temperament for the job.

## 5\. Mike the Tiger — LSU

![Mike VII in the $3.7 million habitat, Tiger Stadium behind him. He does not attend the games. He just lives here.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/09/ms_mike.jpg)

Mike VII in the $3.7 million habitat, Tiger Stadium behind him. He does not attend the games. He just lives here.

The only actual apex predator on this list: a live tiger living in a **15,000-square-foot, $3.7 million habitat** in the middle of campus. Mike VII, a rescue, no longer enters Tiger Stadium on game days — LSU ended that practice in 2017 — which somehow makes him more imposing: a mascot so serious he doesn't attend the games. He just lives here.

## 4\. Osceola & Renegade — Florida State

![The spear plant — performed with the Seminole Tribe of Florida's written approval since 1978.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/09/ms_osceola.jpg)

The spear plant — performed with the Seminole Tribe of Florida's written approval since 1978.

The sport's most dramatic pregame ritual since 1978: Osceola, astride the Appaloosa Renegade, plants a **flaming spear at midfield**. FSU pointedly calls the pair "symbols," not mascots — no sideline dancing, no t-shirt cannons — and the portrayal exists with the formal, written approval of the Seminole Tribe of Florida, which designs and approves the regalia. Solemn, theatrical, and completely unlike anything else in sports.

## 3\. Bevo — Texas

![Bevo XV: 1,700 pounds of barely contained opinion.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/09/ms_bevo.jpg)

Bevo XV: 1,700 pounds of barely contained opinion.

A 1,700-pound longhorn steer with a debunked origin story (no, the name didn't come from Aggies branding "13-0" on him — "Bevo" appeared in print months before that prank) and one iconic moment of menace: at the **2019 Sugar Bowl, Bevo XV broke through his barricade and charged Uga X** during a pregame photo op, scattering photographers and settling the "greatest mascot" debate by attempted homicide. His handlers' official position: it had nothing to do with the dog.

![“Bevo charges Georgia bulldog” — Jan. 2019. Handlers' official position: it had nothing to do with the dog.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/09/ms_bevoclip.jpg)

“Bevo charges Georgia bulldog” — Jan. 2019\. Handlers' official position: it had nothing to do with the dog.

## 2\. Uga — Georgia

![Uga: air-conditioned doghouse, marble mausoleum, two SEC titles.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/09/ms_uga.jpg)

Uga: air-conditioned doghouse, marble mausoleum, two SEC titles.

The most pampered animal in sports: an English bulldog with an **air-conditioned doghouse**, a bag of ice on the sideline, and — this is real — a **marble mausoleum at Sanford Stadium** where every previous Uga is interred, flowers laid before big games. Uga V made the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1997 as America's best mascot. The current officeholder, **Uga XI ("Boom")**, has already presided over two SEC titles. Dynasty dog.

## 1\. Ralphie — Colorado

![The best entrance in American sports: a bison at 25 mph, steered — approximately — by five sprinting students.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/09/ms_ralphie.jpg)

The best entrance in American sports: a bison at 25 mph, steered — approximately — by five sprinting students.

The best entrance in American sports: a **live bison at 25 miles per hour**, steered — approximately — by five sprinting students, looping Folsom Field while the crowd loses its mind. The tradition began in 1967; every Ralphie has been female (calmer, marginally more steerable). And the tradition just turned over: **Ralphie VII, nicknamed "Brandy," debuted in September 2025** after Ralphie VI was retired for — this is the official reason — "an indifference to running." In Boulder, a buffalo that doesn't feel like sprinting doesn't get fired. She gets a dignified retirement, and a faster replacement.

**Honorable mentions:** Traveler, USC's white Andalusian (a new Traveler XI is currently in training); Tusk VI, Arkansas' Russian boar; and every costumed mascot who has ever had to stand next to a live bison and pretend to be its equal.

**Who got robbed? Make the case in the comments.**