First round, Midwest
No. 1 North Carolina Tar Heels vs. No. 16 Iona Gaels
There are tons of questions about where the name Tar Heels actually comes from, whether it’s from Naval production or the Civil War. Once again a Gael, a person of Gaelic descent, comes into this one representing “strength” and takes down a No. 1 seed in the Tar Heels.
Figure your nickname out, North Carolina.
No. 8 Utah State Aggies vs. No. 9 Washington Huskies
Aggies, for future reference, is short for Agriculturalist, and is a common name for Land Grant schools. Huskies are really awesome dogs. In this case, we’re going to assume both are motivated enough to be angry, and the Huskie, basically a domesticated wolf, takes this fight.
No. 5 Auburn Tigers vs. No. 12 North Mexico State Aggies
Tigers over humans again, as Auburn moves on after the Tigers take down the human agriculturalists.
No. 4 Kansas Jayhawks vs. No. 13 Northeastern Huskies
A few air attacks leads to the birds getting caught up in the jaws of the huskies, and Northeastern moves on.
No. 6 Iowa State Cyclones vs. No. 11 Ohio State Buckeyes
Cyclones over Buckeyes based on sheer logic. Cyclones over most things based on that reasoning. They’re hard to stop.
No. 3 Houston Cougars vs. No. 14 Georgia State Panthers
We’re going to break this big-cat battle down and give it to Houston, based on their live mascot “Shasta.” Bad luck, Panthers.
No. 7 Wofford Terriers vs. No. 10 Seton Hall Pirates
Pirates take down the terriers for the upset, and probably turn them into pets (or at the very least allies) in their sea crusades.
No. 2 Kentucky Wildcats vs. Abilene-Christian Wildcats
Welp, we’ve got a barn-burner to finish off the first found here in our Mascot Madness Challenge. This one honestly came down to the wire, thanks to — well, obvious reasons. Giving this one to Kentucky for legacy’s sake.