As we all know each college has a great sense of pride in their athletics. Some of the most intense fans can be found in the SEC. Most universities have multiple mascots that go along with various traditions and school history. With football season just around the corner, let’s take a look at how they all add up.

Vanderbilt Commodores

I had to research this one since I’m so used to hearing “anchor down” and little to no references of the school’s actual mascot. Their mascot is creatively named Mr. Commodore or Mr. C after Cornelius Vanderbilt. The anchor was recently adopted in 2004 as a sign of strength and unity. Sounds to me like they just tried to come up with something cooler than Mr. C.

South Carolina Gamecocks

I don’t think I could ever seriously yell “Go Cocks” at a sporting event. For those of you who don’t know a gamecock is a fighting rooster and theirs is named Cocky. He was a replacement for his father Big Spur and was originally booed off the field. Maybe the school should have taken that as a hint to get rid of the mascot.

Mississippi State Bulldogs

The lesser known bulldog, Mississippi State’s is called Bully. The original live mascot to be called Bully is buried under the bench at the 50-yard line. Mascots since then have been buried all over campus including near dorms and fraternity houses. So there’s no doubt this school has loads of spirit(s).

Missouri Tigers

One of the many tigers of the SEC, Missouri took the name from a group of local Civil War militia called The Missouri Tigers. Theirs is named Truman after Missouri born president Harry S Truman. Their colors are black and gold to keep in theme with the tigers.

Arkansas Razorbacks

The live boars were introduced in 2001. Tusk I had three offspring which each had a turn in the spotlight. They weigh almost 500 pounds each and are paraded around for games and pep rallys. That seems like an odd animal to get you pumped up for games.

Ole Miss Rebels

Colonel Reb was originally modeled after a white slave owner. I suppose they quickly figured out that needed to go and dressed him in a suit. After a few name changes the school did away with him and introduced a black bear simply named Rebel after a lengthy student poll. The bear was chosen from the story of Teddy Roosevelt refusing to shoot a black bear in the state of Mississippi. Basically they keep their options open and keeping their school history fresh.

Kentucky Wildcats

Their mascot is called The Wildcat… They have a live bobcat named Blue but he never attends games. There’s a child friendly mascot named Scratch that comes to certain events. Maybe we should help them out with some better names or get this guy to be the mascot.

Texas A&M Aggies

The term Aggie was first used in 1920 as a replacement for Farmers as the students were previously called. However, the school’s actual mascot is a live Collie named Reveille. The first was adopted in 1931 as a fundraiser for the K-9 Corps. There is a cemetery in front of the stadium where all nine mascots are buried. Due to field expansions the cemetery has been moved twice and now lays in its own park with a replacement scoreboard. Talk about spending money…

Georgia Bulldogs

Unlike Mississippi State’s bulldog, UGA is a purebred all white bulldog. This tradition started in 1956 when the owner of the bulldog dynasty brought his own bulldog to a game. Hairy Dawg is a costumed bulldog who gets the crowd stirred up during games as UGA sits in an air conditioned dog house.

Alabama Crimson Tide

The Tide was named after a newspaper journalist wrote about the team playing a game in red clay mud. Seeing as how they needed a visual representation of the school they adopted the elephant when they were also talked about sounding like elephants stomping onto the field. This gets pretty confusing even for the students who attend the university.

Florida Gators

Albert and Alberta are the gator couple that represents the University of Florida. The mascot was chosen by a local merchant and the name caught on by 1911. The teams were previously just called the Orange and Blue which is super lame compared to this:

Louisiana State Tigers

LSU has a live tiger named Mike which makes these tigers cooler than the rest. Their costumed mascot is also named Mike after the school’s athletic trainer at the time. They are now on Mike VI against PETA’s requests.

Auburn Tigers

Their official mascot is Aubie the tiger which is just another person in costume. However, they have a live golden eagle named Nova that flies around the stadium before every home game which is so much cooler than the tiger.

Tennessee Volunteers

And last but not least, the Tennessee Volunteers. The Vols have a live and costumed Blue Tick Coonhound named Smokey as their mascot. He was chosen by the student body during a halftime verbal vote. Tennessee is called the Volunteer state due to the amount of men who chose to fight in the country’s military. Therefore the university adopted it and often uses the image of a rifleman to also represent the university.