College Football 2011: The 20 Scariest College Football Mascots
Mascots are the symbols of our teams. They inspire our teams to victory, energize the crowd and attempt to intimidate the opposition.
But how many of them actually instill fear into the hearts of those who dare oppose them?
Some mascots are fun-loving characters. Some are downright comical. Some are more serious. And some are downright gruff.
Here's our look at the 20 scariest mascots in college football.
No. 20: Banana Slugs—UC-Santa Cruz (Club Football)
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The scary part probably comes from the "ick" factor here.
A slug? No one wants to find that in their cereal. UC-Santa Cruz also gets high marks for creativity.
No. 19: Fighting Camels—Campbell (FCS)
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Camels spit. Everyone knows that. Camels bite. Pretty much everyone knows that, too.
Now, get a camel fighting mad and what do you have? A really large, ticked-off animal that likes to bite and spit.
Biting. Kicking. Spitting. Like fighting a 1,000-pound spoiled eight-year-old girl.
No. 18: Ragin' Cajuns—Louisiana-Lafayette (FBS)
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You can barely understand Cajun people when they're calm. One would only imagine that if a Cajun was "ragin'," it would be difficult for him to understand your wails for your life.
Good thing their football team never beats anyone to the point where they beg for mercy.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
No. 17: Clan—Simon Fraser (D-II)
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If you ignore the spelling of the name, the mascot seems at once a little frightening and offensive.
In this instance, however, clan refers to a Scots clan (or extended family).
Still, anyone who has seen "Braveheart" knows that you probably don't want to annoy Scottish folk too much.
SFU, the newest member of the NCAA, and first Canadian university admitted, retired "McFog the Dog," pictured here, a few years back.
No. 16: Bullets—Gettysburg College (D-III)
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It's pretty much universally accepted that bullets, especially flying ones, are pretty scary.
Gettysburg's current mascot outfit, however, is not. Stick with the logo, Bullets. You'll intimidate a few more people that way.
No. 15: Spiders—Richmond (FCS)
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Given the vast variety of poisonous spiders, this is a pretty good pick for a scary mascot.
Although the "Spidey" mascot outfit isn't exactly the scariest spider you've even seen in your life, Richmond has to get props for being the only school with an arachnid mascot.
No. 14: Black Knights—US Military Academy (FBS)
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We all know that in fairytale land, the white knight is the good guy, and the black knight is the much-feared bad guy.
Luckily for America and her allies, these Black Knights are on our side.
Unfortunately for these Black Knights, the Midshipmen have had their number for, oh, about the past decade-plus...
No. 13: Flying Dutchmen—Hope College (D-III)
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There's nothing more frightening than a tee'd off Dutchman. Marry a Dutch girl, then do something to upset her father. You will soon learn the validity of that statement.
It's also a little odd that this conservative Christian college in Holland, Michigan would pick a name eerily similar to the fabled harbinger of death (The Flying Dutchman).
Beyond that, the actual mascot persona, "Dutch," is a pretty gruff-looking character himself.
No. 12: Gorillas—Pittsburg State (D-II)
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There's a reason gorillas have a reputation of violence.
They're big, aggressive and territorial.
What else needs to be said? If the Gorillas weren't intimidating enough, the few handfuls of losing seasons over the past two decades gives any opponent pause.
No. 11: Lobos—New Mexico (FBS)
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A lobo, Spanish for wolf, is a pretty fearsome creature.
They have a reputation for killing, and they're feared not only for the death they cause, but for the havoc they wreak on local ranchers.
Mascots with female "sidekicks," "girlfriends" or the like, however, suddenly lose a bit of their aggressive and scary edge.
No. 10: Wolfpack—NC State (FBS); No. 9: Wolf Pack—Nevada (FBS)
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If a wolf wasn't bad enough, a pack of them has got to be worse.
Both NC State and Nevada chose to one-up New Mexico by making their mascots a pack of wolves.
NC State loses a point here because, again, there's a cheerleader-like female sidekick that somehow detracts from the fearsome nature of the mascot.
No. 8: Spartans—Michigan State (FBS)
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It wasn't all that long ago that the scariest thing about Michigan State was Sparty, the gruff mascot at MSU.
But after a Big Ten championship season in 2010, a few more people will be taking notice of the Spartans when they're looming on the schedule.
Sparty also gets props for his mascot culture-changing innovation, being the first widely advertised and popularized foam-rubber mascot costume. Foam-rubber mascots are now the norm for major college football programs.
No. 7: Razorbacks—Arkansas (FBS)
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A razorback is, quite simply, a feral pig or wild boar of North America.
Wild boars can be ferocious, and can be a danger to anyone who ventures into their territory.
No. 6: Javelinas—Texas A&M-Kingsville (D-II)
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Take a razorback, add longer, pointier tusks and a taste for meat, and you have a javelina.
A javelina is likely to view an opponent as a snack rather than as a competitor.
No. 5: Yellow Jackets—Georgia Tech (FBS)
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Anyone who has ever been stung by a yellow jacket knows that these flying pests are to be avoided at all costs.
Not only are yellow jackets large, they are menacing and painful if crossed.
What's even more menacing? A yellow jacket driving an old-timey car!
No. 4: Fighting Sioux—North Dakota (FCS)
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Any group that can decimate the entire 7th Cavalry of the United States Army in one fell swoop is worthy of recognition as a fearsome fighting force.
As the men under Lieutenant Colonel Custer discovered, the Fighting Sioux are a tough, fearless opponent. For years, the football team with the same name played with the same tenacity.
The Sioux also get honored due to the mascot's forced retirement. The long-standing and tradition-rich mascot, which the school and its fans always treated with great respect, was placed on the NCAA's political correctness gone awry chopping block, and will soon disappear, much to the near-universal indignation of North Dakota's students, alumni and administration.
No. 3: Gators—Florida (FBS)
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The alligator is a model of evolutionary survival.
Having been around for a couple hundred million years, alligators know how to survive.
They also know how to survive on the football field, and they have the national championship trophies to prove it.
Again, here's a mascot that loses a point or two, and in this case possibly even a shot at the top spot, because of the inclusion of a sidekick.
If you're going to have a female sidekick, don't make her look like the cheerleader little sister of the original mascot.
No. 2: Wolverines—Michigan (FBS)
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Anyone from the Great Lakes state grew up learning about wolverines. After all, Michigan is also known as the Wolverine State, even though the last-known wolverine living in the wild died in 2010.
Wolverines are the largest member of the weasel family, and using its disproportionate strength can kill animals many times its own size.
If only the football team at Michigan could beat teams small than its own size. Losing to the likes of Toledo won't cut it in Ann Arbor.
No. 1: Seminoles—Florida State (FBS)
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There's nothing more intimidating that a guy riding a horse at full speed and plunging a flaming spear into the ground.
Nothing.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
