ESPN names Sooner Schooner among top college mascots

Boomer and Sooner got some love.
BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

ESPN's Ryan McGee recently ranked college football mascots in all types of categories and had Oklahoma's Sooner Schooner atop one of his lists.

McGee put the Sooner Schooner at No. 1 in his "Mechanized Division" ahead of Georgia Tech's Buzz in the Ramblin' Wreck, Wake Forest's Demon Deacon on a chopper, Montana's Monte on a Harley and South Carolina's Cocky in the Cockaboose, respectively.

"Since 1964, a slightly shrunken Studebaker Conestoga wagon pulled by a pair of ponies named Boomer and Sooner has hammered its way onto the field before Oklahoma football games, a la the Oklahoma Territory Land Run of 1889. It is steered by the peerless RUF/NEKS, the school's rootin'-tootin' spirit squad. When it works, it's awesome. When it doesn't, it's pretty scary ... but still pretty awesome," McGee wrote.

ESPN ranks mascot traditions

Hopefully, Sooner Nation gets to see a lot more of the Sooner Schooner in 2025. Boomer and Sooner are only released after scoring drives and OU had a historically poor season offensively last year.

The Sooner Schooner debuted in a loss to USC in 1964 and became OU's official mascot in 1980.

McGee's other categories included "Costume," "Human," "Live Animal" and "Non-Football." Apparently the SEC loves live mascots with four of the top five coming from the same conference. Georgia's Uga topped the group, followed by Colorado's Ralphie, Texas' Bevo, LSU's Mike the Tiger and Auburn's War Eagle, respectively. Seems a little high for Uga, Bevo and Mike the Tiger considering they all just stand there. Missing from the list was Oklahoma State's Bullet.

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