Friday Afterschool Special: Rocky Top Rocky Start

College football is back

The No. 9 ranked Tennessee Volunteers welcomed us back to the college football season last night by nearly losing to Appalachian State on the nine-year anniversary of Appy State shocking Michigan. The Vols managed to pull this one out in overtime, but Mountaineers fans can always remember the good times:

Top 25 mascots in CFB

#25: Minnesota's Goldy Gopher — When your mascot resembles your now-retired coach, Jerry Kill (inset), you're going to make the list.

#24: Florida's Albert and Alberta Gator — Dawwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. They're so cute.

#23: South Carolina's Cocky — A mascot named Cocky that does photo shoots and generally horses around. *Swoon.*

#22: Alabama's Big Al — Just look at that trunk. Look at it.

#21: TCU's Super Frog — The horned frog is not a made-up super villain from an early 1990s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers episode. But the horned frog may very well be evil (not confirmed).

#20: Nebraska's Lil' Red — No. No no no no no.

#19: Louisiana-Lafayette's Cayenne — Yes. Yes yes yes yes yes.

#18: Delta State's Fighting Okra — An actual school that actual people attend to earn actual degrees uses a cartoonish Okra for a mascot. It also plays tricks on people in commercials. Fear the Okra.

#17: Wake Forest's The Demon Deacon — Arguably the coolest thing about Wake Forest, the Demon Deacon is a mascot that has a bow tie hanging from his chin and rides around on a custom-built chopper.

#16: Georgia Tech's Ramblin' Wreck — Speaking of Fords, Henry Ford probably digs the Ramblin' Wreck.

#15: Oklahoma's Sooner Schooner — Acclaimed Western director John Ford probably watches this every week from heaven. After all, it's a covered wagon riding around on a football field.

#14: Tennessee's Smokey — Smokey is a rebel. And Smokey doesn't take guff from anyone. He even gave College GameDay a piece of his mind.

#13: Michigan State's Sparty — A relic from a time when people decided to make humans look like weird Play-Doh men (also: see Boilermaker Special), Sparty is always active and in surprisingly good spirits, no matter how many "Sparty No" moments pop up.

#12: Miami's Sebastian the Ibis — Just like Puddles at Oregon, only with national championships and way more sanctions.

#11: Stanford's The Tree — Scary, weird and distinctly Palo Alto.

#10: West Virginia's The Mountaineer — Angry, excitable and sunburnt. The Mountaineer sums up WVU perfectly.

#9: Western Kentucky's Big Red — Big Red has gone Hollywood and gets featured in a bunch of ESPN commercials.

#8: Syracuse's Otto the Orange — A distant cousin to the delightful Obie the Orange (the Orange Bowl mascot), Otto is meaner than he looks — and always causing more trouble than he should be.

#7: Auburn's War Eagle — As Bill Connelly puts it in his book Study Hall, "In Auburn, Alabama, a town of 53,000, up to 87,000 people show up to watch an eagle fly around a stadium. A retired eagle still hangs out on campus. (The team's nickname is the Tigers, by the way.)" This is one of the coolest things in sports.

#6: Colorado's Ralphie — College students near a real-life buffalo. What could go wrong? (Are we sensing a trend?)

#5: Oregon's Puddles — The most Disney mascot out there, and Puddles is pretty extreme. One time he even lost his head skydiving, so there's that.

#4: Texas's Bevo — College students near a real-life steer. What could go wrong?

#3: LSU's Mike the Tiger — College students near a real-life tiger. What could go wrong?

#2: Georgia's Uga — The Fast & Furious of mascots, Uga will never end because Uga will always be a hit.

#1: Florida State's Chief Osceola — This is as good as it gets: A dude decked out in full gear, riding a horse at full speed and throwing a flaming spear into the ground. If it were at all possible, I'd rank this mascot even higher than No. 1. — Honrable mentions: Reveille (Texas A&M), Bucky Badger (Wisconsin), Brutus (Ohio State), Falcon (Air Force), The Leprechaun (Notre Dame), The Traveler (USC), Tusk (Arkansas), The Hokie Bird (Virginia Tech), The Masked Rider (Texas Tech), The Zip (Akron).

Michael Phelps meets #PhelpsFace

The weirdest fair ball ever

If it rolls foul and then fair in one continous motion, the ball can be fielded to make an out. You just don't see it happen often.

Katie Ledecky and a fan

Today's Peanuts

(Photo credit: Gerry Melendez/The State/MCT/Getty Images)