The Southeastern Conference has sidelined UT Austin’s beloved Bevo from Saturday’s championship game between No. 2 Texas and No. 5 Georgia. Thousands have since signed a petition trying to undo Bevo's ban.
The live mascot, who is a staple during football games at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium, won’t be heading to Atlanta because the SEC said the Mercedes-Benz Stadium doesn’t have enough space for Bevo to safely stand on the field.
The conference cited narrow sidelines and the presence of sets for television, as well as camera carts. “The reality is there is limited sideline space at the stadium in relation to the size of Bevo’s enclosure,” the SEC said in an emailed statement to KUT. “We can’t jeopardize the safety of Bevo or the game participants.”
The SEC added that the conference did identify other spots that could accommodate Bevo, including a location at SEC FanFare inside the Georgia World Congress Center next door to the stadium.
“While we want to honor tradition across the conference, the space limitation is a reality,” the SEC said.
But some Longhorn fans seem to think the SEC’s decision is bull. A petition on change.org, which has more than 5,800 signatures, said excluding Bevo shows favoritism for the University of Georgia.
"I just don’t think it’s fair to the University of Texas and their fans because the SEC championship really should be a neutral game and this decision makes it feel not very neutral," Levi Thompson, who created the petition, told KUT.
While Thompson lives in Kansas, he has been a Longhorn fan since the age of 5. He's been surprised by the number of people who signed his petition. "I was hoping for maybe a few hundred, so I was definitely shocked at the support that it’s gotten," he said.
Thompson said, ultimately, if Bevo isn't allowed to attend the championship game, Georgia's live mascot shouldn't be allowed to be there either.
The Longhorns’ only loss during the regular season came at the hands of the Georgia Bulldogs. That game was also marked by controversy after fans threw trash on the field because they were upset about a pass interference call against Texas. The SEC fined UT Austin $250,000 for the incident, which received an official apology from the university.
Bevo XV is no stranger to controversy with Georgia, though. The longhorn steer charged at Georgia’s bulldog, Uga, when they were introduced at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans in 2019.
LOOK OUT, UGA! pic.twitter.com/DAIB0teajU
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 2, 2019
But, as The Athletic reported, it is Uga’s son, “Boom,” who will be attending Saturday’s rematch. Boom and Bevo have yet to get acquainted after the English bulldog skipped the trip to Austin when the two teams faced off in October. According to the Austin American-Statesman, Boom’s handler thought the travel would be too taxing.
The SEC Championship game begins at 3 p.m. CT and will be broadcast on ABC.
The NCAA's College Football Playoff National Championship will also be held at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Jan. 20.
