Mike the Tiger, one of college football’s notable mascots, has been eliminated in an ESPN website contest, falling to Florida State in the second round.
SportsNation, an ESPN2 show that uses polls to gauge public opinion on sports events and athletes, is holding the online college tradition competition.
From Oklahoma’s Sooner Schooner to Clemson’s Howard’s Rock, many of collegiate football’s most well known traditions made it into the first round, which featured 16 teams.
The contest pits the traditions against each other and allows users to pick their favorites.
Each match lasts a week, allowing fans to vote. At the end of the week the winner advances to the next round. Updated results can be seen on SportsNation.
According to the contest website, the winning school will receive hundreds of copies of “NCAA Football 12.” Voters can also go on the contest’s Facebook page for a chance to win a copy of the game.
LSU’s video shows players exiting the locker room and touching the “Win Bar.” It also shows Mike in his trailer, intimidating the other team.
LSU was ranked as the 12th seed out of 16 and faced off against the 5th ranked Auburn War Eagle in the first round.
After a week of back and forth voting, LSU won a close match and moved to the quarterfinals, in which the school faced off against Florida State’s Chief Osceola and his horse, Renegade.
Prior to home games, a Native American student dresses as Chief Osceola of the Seminoles and rides Renegade though the field, throwing a spear at the 50-yard line. This tradition, which started in 1977, stems from the Second Seminole War, which began in 1835. The original Chief Osceola led a resistance team against the U.S. Army, which was clearing Native American tribes from Florida.
Unfortunately for LSU fans, the Seminoles remain unconquered and advanced into the semifinals.
Although LSU lost the competition, many students, like Ryan Maldonado, were excited the University was included in the first place. Maldonado, a political science sophomore, was excited to learn LSU’s pregame show will be in the next “NCAA Football.”
Maldonado said he predicted LSU was going to be beaten by Florida State.
“I knew it would be pretty tough beating someone throwing a flaming spear,” he said.
However, Maldonado was excited that LSU beat Auburn in the SportsNation contest.
“We’ve already beat Auburn once this year. I think we could do it again this fall,” he said.
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Contact Cameron Warren at [email protected]