In a contest by CBS SportsLine.com's SPiN on Sports to find the "Most Dominant College Mascot on Earth," the BYU Cougars are up against the New Mexico Lobos in the final round of the Predators Region.
"This contest really shows which schools have the biggest support," said Ryan Lee, 19, a brass performance major from San Diego.
The Cougars pounced on the Boston College Eagles in the first round, dominating with 64 percent of the vote. In the quarterfinals, the Cougars chased the Georgia Bulldogs away with a win of 55 percent.
Last week, in a meeting with the LSU Tigers, the SPiN staff predicted that the tiger, the larger of the two predatory cats, would be victorious. The cats fought hard and the Cougars barely made it out alive with 51 percent of the vote.
"We don't like other schools to beat us in sports," said Sara Conger, 21, a music education major from Orem. "Why should we let them beat us in dominant mascotness?"
The contest came about when SPiN producers missed the fun and excitement of filling out brackets and making predictions. Then, when close to 5 million people tuned into "Planet Earth" on the Discovery Channel, SPiN producers became inspired. They began to wonder if a wolf could thrash a gator, a bird take down a bear or a rattlesnake trip up a lion.
They looked at every Division I football and basketball team and divided the mascots into four categories: predators, land animals, humans and inanimates/mythological creatures. Then, they eliminated all the duplicates [such as Penn State's Nittany Lions] and other mascots they didn't think could cut it, such as the TCU Horned Frogs and the Minnesota Golden Gophers, who are only a threat to "vegetable gardens and the blood pressures of golf course managers," according to the contest Web page.
Major bragging rights are at stake for the winning school, Conger said.
Three Mountain West Conference teams, including the Cougars and Lobos, are in the finals of their regions. The Wyoming Cowboys are battling the Michigan State Spartans in the Humans Region.
"BYU really can do better than it has done so far," Lee said. "The Wyoming Cowboys have gotten over 100,000 votes in their rounds. I highly doubt Cougar fans are less supportive than Cowboys."
In addition, one other Utah university is still in the contest. The Southern Utah University Thunderbirds are in contention with the Iowa State Cyclones for the Inanimates/Mythological Creatures title.
Looking at the number of votes both the Cougars and the Lobos have had through the previous rounds, the Cougars look like the favorite, but victory will only come if fans continue to vote and show their support.
Voting ends Friday and is available on the SPiN website: http://www.sportsline.com/spin/story/10176918.
Copyright Brigham Young University 15 May 2007
