College football provides various different mascots all across the country, and many of them are beloved by their fanbase. The University of Georgia caters to the good dog lovers of the world with its live mascot, Uga.
Who is Uga?
How old is Uga?
Uga XI, also known as Boom, is a one-year-old English Bulldog. He was named the Georgia Bulldogs’ official mascot in April 2023, prior to the public scrimmage for the Bulldogs football team known as “G-Day.”
Uga and his descendants have been with the program since 1956, when Sonny Seller brought Uga I to a Georgia football game. After the game, HC Wally Butts asked to use the dog as the team’s mascot. Since then, Ugas have been present at every Georgia home game, along with various different neutral and away games.
MORE: List of college football mascots
Once one Uga is retired, the team “passes the collar” to the new Uga to keep the tradition of the mascot going. Each Uga has descended from Uga I and typically is the son of their predecessor.
There hasn’t been a single Uga that’s experienced a losing record during their time as the mascot. While Boom’s record is ongoing, here are the records of the other Ugas:
- Uga I: 53-48-6 (.523)
- Uga II: 42-16-3 (.713)
- Uga III: 71-32-2 (.684)
- Uga IV: 77-24-4 (.731)
- Uga V: 65-39-1 (.624)
- Uga VI: 87-27-0 (.763)
- Uga VII: 16-7-0 (.696)
- Uga VIII: 4-2-0 (.667)
- Uga IX: 44-19-0 (.698)
- Uga X: 91-18-0 (.834)
English bulldogs typically weigh around 50 pounds and stand around one foot tall. They might not be the most physically imposing mascot, but Uga X intimidated Texas’s mascot, Bevo, enough to make the Longhorn charge him before the 2019 Peach Bowl.
The biggest Uga was Uga VI, and he weighed 65 pounds.
Has Uga always been Georgia’s mascot?
Sort of. Traditionally, Uga is synonymous with the Bulldogs’ football team, but there have been other mascots in the school’s past.
Since the introduction of Uga in 1956, four other bulldogs were temporary mascots for Georgia on the sideline:
- Bugga Lou, a brown and white bulldog filled in for Uga II for 2 games in 1971
- Argos/Knute served as the interim mascot after Uga II passed away
- Otto, Uga IV’s older brother, filled in for his younger bro for 4 games in 1986
- Magillicuddy I was the mascot for the 1989 Peach Bowl for Uga IV
Georgia has claimed six other animals as their live mascots prior to Uga becoming the official mascot. They had a goat, Bull Terrier, and four brindled English bulldogs.