KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — We're not going to lie. We think Smokey got robbed.
The University of Tennessee's beloved bluetick hound came in 10th on Sports Illustrated's list of Greatest Mascots in College Football History.
Sure top ten isn't bad, and we don't necessarily disagree that some of the other mascots on the list are pretty cool and are on par with our Smokey.
But not all of them.
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I mean, just ahead of the best houn' dog ever is Syracuse University's Otto the Orange and Western Kentucky's Big Red. No offense, but they're not even real. While we Vol fans do love us some orange, you've got wear it to run through the T! It doesn't run around on its own. And really, what even is Big Red? It is actually a big red blob. For real.
Then at number five, there's a tree. A literal tree. From Stanford University. And it's not even the official mascot. What does it do? Just stand there and provide shade? And we all know that Smokey would be tempted to do his business on that tree.
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Now there are some pretty cool SEC mascots on the list, like USC's Cocky the Gamecock (still not better than Smokey) and LSU's Mike the Tiger (actually, he's pretty cool.. so maybe that's okay).
Tennessee's top dog: Smokey
And at number one, there's another pup. Well known to Vol fans. I mean, he's cute. We get it. But head to head with Smokey? No contest. But still, SI named Georgia's Uga as the top college football mascot of all time.
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See what we mean? Smokey, if not number one (which in our orange-shaded opinion he should be), should definitely place higher than a darn tree.
But don't feel bad, Smokey. True Vols fans know who the real top dog is!
Here's the whole list:
- Uga, University of Georgia
- The Duck, University of Oregon
- Mike the Tiger, LSU
- Bevo, University of Texas
- The Tree, Stanford University
- Ralphie the Buffalo, University of Colorado
- Cocky the Gamecock, University of South Carolina
- Big Red, Western Kentucky University
- Otto the Orange, Syracuse University
- Smokey, The University of Tennessee