Raider Red Selected to Compete in Mascot Challenge

Raider Red is looking for a few – well, okay, many – guns ups from Texas Tech fans. The university’s costumed public relations mascot is one of 16 mascots to contend for the most votes nationwide in the Capital One All-America Mascot Team.

The Capital One National Mascot of the Year is determined by Internet voting, Facebook voting, and through Twitter hashtag voting. To vote on Twitter, the user must login and create a tweet that is tagged with the specific hashtag assigned to the mascot. Fans may vote for as many or as few mascots as desired. Votes are limited to one per day per Twitter account. Vote for Raider Red using #CapitalOneRaiderRed.

To access the vote page on Facebook, fans must “like” the page and then navigate to the “vote” box. Fans may cast one vote per day for each Facebook account.

“This is a great honor for Raider Red to be selected as a member of the Capital One All-American Team,” said Bruce Bills, Texas Tech’s cheer and mascot coach. “Being chosen lets more people across the nation become familiar with the Raider Red program and Texas Tech.”

The 16 contestants were selected from among the mascot entries received from all eligible NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision and Football Championship Subdivision schools. A panel of judges from Capital One used the following criteria to determine the 16 team members:

• Interaction with fans and demonstration of the mascot’s originality, signature-move originality and creativity, ability to create enthusiasm among the fans, and contribution to an exhilarating atmosphere
• Originality: creativity and professionalism of mascot appearance or costume
• Pedigree: awards earned by the mascot during the past five years and national prominence

The regular-season voting will be conducted over 12 weeklong voting periods beginning Sept. 3 (Monday). For each weeklong voting period, the 16 mascots will be paired in groups of two for a head-to-head matchup (eight matchups per week). Voters may cast an unlimited number of valid, legal votes for the mascot(s) of their choice.

The playoff voting will be conducted in three rounds over a three-week period Nov. 26 through Dec. 17. Based on the mascot rankings at the end of the regular season, each mascot will be given a playoff seeding ranging from No. 1 to No. 8.

The mascot with the most votes at the end of the championship round will be the Capital One National Mascot of the Year and will be announced during the 2013 Capital One Bowl on Jan. 1, 2013. The winner will be awarded a $20,000 scholarship to help fund its school’s mascot program. Each of the 2012 participants also will receive $5,000 for their university mascot program.