A simmering rivalry between Texas and Georgia gets a new chapter when the teams meet for a rematch in the SEC championship game Saturday, but a major player in a previous postseason matchup between the teams won’t be making the trip to Atlanta.
Bevo XV, the longhorn who serves as Texas’ live mascot, won’t attend the conference title game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium because there isn’t enough room on the sidelines to accommodate his enclosure. The steer made headlines in 2019 when he nearly ran over Georgia’s live mascot, an English bulldog named Uga, during a photo op on the sideline of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome before the Sugar Bowl, but the beef between the animals had no bearing on Bevo’s exclusion.
“When we received the request for Bevo to be on the sideline in Mercedes-Benz Stadium, our staff looked at several alternatives including the sideline location,” the SEC said in a statement. “The reality is there is limited sideline space at the stadium. We can’t jeopardize the safety of Bevo or the game participants. With the narrow sidelines, location of multiple sets for television and camera carts, there is not enough space. While we want to honor tradition across the conference, the space limitation is a reality.”
One year ago today, Bevo had the audacity to go after Uga 😮 pic.twitter.com/U4czUR2zxz
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 1, 2020
The current Bevo has served as the team’s mascot since September 2016. He weighs over 1,700 pounds and has a horn span of 58 inches, though his horns will continue to grow throughout his life. The current Uga, also known as Boom, is the son of the Uga (AKA Que), the dog who had the run-in with Bevo.
Though Georgia traveled to Texas for a Week 8 matchup in October, Boom and Bevo XV have not met. The bulldog didn’t make the trip to Austin because his owner felt he wasn’t ready for the flight to Texas.
The Texas-Georgia regular-season matchup included its own controversy. Longhorns fans caused a delay in the game by throwing debris on the field. During the time it took to clean up the trash, on-field officials decided to overturn a pass interference call that upheld a Texas interception. Georgia went on to win the game, 30-15.
The SEC fined Texas $250,000 and advised the school to identify and ban fans who threw the debris from all athletic events for the 2024-25 academic year. Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte said they were not able to identify anyone to punish.
The SEC championship game kicks off at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday, with the winner earning a first-round bye in the first 12-team edition of the College Football Playoff.
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(Photo: Jonathan Bachman / Getty Images)
