By Max Kaplan

JACKSONVILLE - I am reporting from Jacksonville as the Mississippi State Bulldogs face the Northwestern Wildcats tomorrow in the Gator Bowl. The rivalry: Dogs Vs. Cats. Maybe now we can finally determine which is better…

Last week, I looked into the battle between Christian-affiliated schools and evil mascots.

But first, let’s have some more fun with mascots.

Most Popular Mascots in FBS

• 5 Tigers (Auburn, Clemson, LSU, Memphis, Missouri)
• 4 Wildcats (Arizona, Kansas State, Kentucky, Northwestern)
• 4 Bulldogs (Fresno State, Georgia, Louisiana Tech, Mississippi State)
• 3 Aggies (New Mexico St, Texas A&M, Utah State)
• 3 Cougars (BYU, Houston, Washington State)
• 3 Huskies (Connecticut, Washington, NIU)
• 3 Owls (Florida Atlantic, Rice, Temple)

Worst Nicknames

The Harvard Crimson – I went outside of Division 1 FBS for this pick. You have to love it when your team name is “a rich deep red color inclining to purple.” Wait a second, you may say. Harvard’s real mascot is John Harvard the Pilgrim. Much better…

The Stanford Cardinal – See above except replace John Harvard the Pilgrim with the Stanford Tree. The tree is fierce.

Other colors: Tulane Green Wave (sounds like they copied the Alabama Crimson Tide), North Texas Mean Green

Best Mascot

The Syracuse Orange – His name is Otto.

What is your favorite natural disaster?

There are the Miami Hurricanes, the Iowa State Cyclones, and the ever-rare Tulsa Golden Hurricane.

What is it?

Xavier’s Blue Bob

Youppi – I know, not college but just like Bo Jackson, Youppi is a two-sport star (Expos and Canadians)

The St. Louis University Billiken

Animals Vs. Humans

Of the 124 FBS teams, 67 teams have animals as nicknames and 37 have a human. Sadly, neither of these two categories performs better than the other in bowl games.

Dogs Vs Cats Vs Birds

Of the 124 FBS teams, there are 17 teams with birds as their nickname, 16 with cats, and 12 with dogs (including wolves). Out of the 1066 bowls in this study (all of them), birds and dogs perform better than cats. However, dogs and cats play in more bowls than birds (indicating a better regular season). What does this mean?

Dogs are better than Cats/Birds. It is settled.