Cosmo crowned mascot national champion

PROVO, Utah – In what could be deemed the most improbable yet predicable tournament runs of all-time, BYU’s Cosmo the Cougar has been crowned the national champion of mascots in the SiriusXM Mascot Bracket Championship.

In a big-mascot head to big-mascot head matchup with Western Kentucky’s Big Red in the championship round, Cosmo claimed 51.1 percent of the fan vote to capture the coveted virtual coronation.

Cosmo and Big Red were originally left out of the 64-mascot bracket challenge until fans swarmed the Twitterverse, demanding the two loveable costumed characters be included. Cougar faithful rightfully pointed out that no mascot challenge would be reputable without Cosmo, whose dance moves, high-flying acrobatics and SportsCenter top-10 highlights are second to none. SiriusXM heard the call and included Cosmo in one of two play-in matchups.

“The 2020 SiriusXM Mascot Bracket is for the fans and the fans have spoken!” said College Sports on SiriusXM Twitter account. “After much feedback, two more mascots will be added to the bracket in play-in games tomorrow.”

After an easy win over Boston College’s Baldwin the Eagle (87.8-12.2) in the play-in round, Cosmo relied on the vote of loyal Cougar fans to dominate the No. 1 seed Duke Blue Devil (84.6-15.4) and No. 8 seed Testudo of Maryland (65.0-35.0) to reach the round of 16. From there, Cosmo dispatched of No. 5 seed Sparty of Michigan State (58.1-41.9) and came through in the clutch against the No. 10 seed Penn State Nittany Lion (50.9-49.1) to reach the semifinals against No. 3 seed Bucky Badger of Wisconsin.

At this point, Cosmo’s run had made history, as it marked the first time in the unofficial history of mascot bracket challenges that a No. 16 seed had ever reach the semifinals. The matchup with Bucky was close throughout but Cosmo’s confidence never wavered. Cougar fans awarded their furry-friend’s feeling of self-assurance, voting in droves in the final hours to send Cosmo to the final by a final tally of 54-46.