It’s offseason rankings time, when college football writers rank everything and anything to hold readers over until the start of the season.
And everything and anything includes ranking the mascots in the new Big 12 Conference, which will now have 16 teams with the additions of Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah and the loss of Oklahoma and Texas.
The worst mascot in the Big 12 among the four Big 12 newcomers, according to one site? ASU’s Sparky the Sun Devil.
Colorado Buffaloes Wire ranked ASU’s mascot among the worst in the Big 12 in a recent story, listing Sparky at No. 15, ahead of only TCU’s SuperFrog.
Ouch.
Mascot madness: Ranking Big 12 mascots after college conference expansion with Pac-12 schools
Big 12 mascot rankings: Arizona State’s Sparky is ‘too cartoony’
Tony Cosolo wrote of his low ranking for Arizona State’s mascot: “Sparky and his pitchfork have been cheering on the Sun Devils since 1951. Mascots are supposed to be lighthearted figures who interact with fans, but Sparky is too cartoony for my liking.”
The three other new Big 12 schools all had their mascots make the top seven, with Utah’s Swoop at No. 7, Arizona’s Wilbur and Wilma Wildcat at No. 6 and Colorado’s Chip at No. 3.
Buffaloes Wire had Texas Tech’s Raider Red at No. 1 (how is he not “too cartoony”?), Kansas State’s Willie the Wildcat at No. 2, Big Jay and Baby Jay from Kansas at No. 4 and West Virginia’s Mountaineer at No. 5.
UCF’s Knightro was No. 8 in the ranking, while Iowa State’s Cy the Cardinal (No. 9) and Oklahoma State’s Pistol Pete (No. 10) rounded out the Top 10.
How about strangest? Iowa State is called the Cyclones yet this is their mascot. Not sure how a bird is a cyclone. And his name is Cy the Cardinal. pic.twitter.com/mPO6wjHa9Z
— Chad Cain (@oneguywithamic) April 18, 2022
A much different Big 12 mascot ranking
Rankings, unless based on some measurable statistic, are subjective, with one person sharing their opinion on something.
And opinions can obviously be very different, including my own when it comes to the mascots in the Big 12.
I ranked all 16 mascots in the conference last year after the news about the Big 12 expanding with Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and Colorado.
BYU’s Cosmo the Cougar came in at No. 1 on my list (he was No. 11 on the Buffaloes Wire list). You just have to reward him for all of his athletic feats, as well as dance moves.
Knightro was No. 2, followed by – surprise – Sparky at No. 3. Swoop came in at No. 4 and Big Jay was No. 5 on my list.
As for the worst mascot in the Big 12, I had Willie the Wildcat at No. 16, much different from his No. 2 rank by Buffaloes Wire.
Raider Red may have been No. 1 in the other ranking, but I had him at No. 10 on my list.
Yeah, ranking Big 12 mascots is definitely subjective.
Who do you think is the best mascot in the new Big 12 Conference? Who do you think is the worst? Where would you put Sparky?
It’s just something to talk about until the Big 12 football season arrives.
The games can’t get here soon enough.
Reach Jeremy Cluff at jeremy.cluff@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter @Jeremy_Cluff.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Big 12 Conference mascot rankings: Arizona State’s Sparky among worst
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