College Football’s 12 Best Live Animal Mascots Spark Wins, Remember Tradition

Everyone has their sports traditions.

From weird superstitions that help your team win to longstanding traditions you’d never dare cross, the sports world breeds some of the coolest and craziest sports fandom. One of the best traditions in college football is live animal mascots.

We all love animals for many reasons, but when it comes to the college gridiron, nothing gets fans fired up like an animal showing off its majesty moments before a game.

And they might be good luck, too. Take Bevo, for example, the Texas Longhorns’ mascot. Bevo XIV died midseason last year, and the Longhorns continued the downward trend in which they’d been pointing for a few seasons. But in Week 1 of the college season this year, the school introduced young Bevo XV, and unranked Texas defeated No. 10 Notre Dame, going from unranked to No. 11 in the top 25.

Coincidence or luck? We’ll let you decide. In the meantime, take a look at our favorite live animal mascots in college football.

Click for the 12 best live animal college football mascots >>

Thumbnail photo via Kevin Jairaj/USA TODAY Sports Images