EAST LANSING, Mich. — Sparty is headed to the playoffs.
The Michigan State University mascot is one of the top eight college mascots to make the three-week, single-elimination playoff portion of the Tenth Annual Capital One Mascot Challenge.
Regular season competition began Aug. 29 and lasted 12 weeks. Finalists were determined by the best head-to-head records in the regular season. The challenge saw more than 17 million votes cast, but it's the final rounds of competition that will determine the winner, which will be announced at the Capital One Bowl on Jan. 2, 2012.
"It's playoff time and that means it's one and done," said Dan DiMaggio, director of the Student Alumni Foundation, which oversees the Sparty Mascot Program. "It's time for the Spartan Nation to rally behind the world's greatest mascot – its very own Sparty."
The seven other finalists are "Buzz" of Georgia Tech, "Wolfie Jr." of the University of Nevada, "Aubie" of Auburn University, defending champion "Big Blue" of Old Dominion University, "The Duck" of the University of Oregon, "Wilbur T. Wildcat" of the University of Arizona, and "Brutus Buckeye" of Ohio State University.
The top eight mascots will compete in a bracket-style, single-elimination competition to determine the overall winner. Playoff voting officially opened at noon Nov. 21, and continues weekly through Dec. 12. Fans can vote at CapitalOneBowl.com, on Facebook at Facebook.com/MascotChallenge and via text voting. Text SPARTY to 78527 during the valid voting window.
Fans can tune in to the Capital One Bowl broadcast at 1 p.m. on ESPN on Jan. 2, 2012, to learn which mascot will be named the Capital One National Mascot of the Year and earn $20,000 toward its collegiate mascot program, provided by Capital One.
The 2011 national mascot champion will join a group of mascots that have held the title over the past 10 years: "Monty" of University of Montana (2002, 2004), "Cocky" of University of South Carolina (2003), "Herbie Husker" of University of Nebraska (2005), "Butch T. Cougar" of Washington State University (2006), "Zippy" of University of Akron (2007), "Cy" of Iowa State University (2008), "Bearcat" of University of Cincinnati (2009), and defending champion "Big Blue" of Old Dominion University (2010).
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