University of Massachusets Athletics
ITS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP TIME FOR SAM THE MINUTEMAN
December 01, 2005 | General
Dec. 1, 2005
With the votes from the Final Four tallied, it's official - Sam The Minuteman is in the National Championship for the Capital One Mascot Challenge. Sam wishes to thank all his supporters throughout the contest, but it's not done yet. For the next two weeks, Sam will face Herbie Husker from Nebraska. Support Sam by voting everyday at www.CapitalOneBowl.com and help bring the National Championship home!
As a member of the All-Mascot squad, Sam earned $5,000 for the University's mascot program. Should he win and be named the Capital One Mascot of the Year, he will earn another $5,000 to support the University.
Throughout the contest, Sam has been featured in several commercials sponsored by Capital One which have been shown nationally on ESPN and ABC. Additionally, Sam was named the Playboy.com Mascot of the Month for October and was featured on the Wheel of Fortune.
Sam is the only mascot representing the Northeast region and is the only mascot representing a 1-AA football school.
Fans are encouraged to vote at www.UMassAthletics.com
or at www.CapitalOneBowl.com
to help make Sam the No. 1 mascot in the country.
The regular season of the Capital One Bowl Mascot Challenge ended on Sunday, November 20 for Sam, the beloved mascot of the University of Massachusetts. Sam wrapped up the round robin portion of the competition with a 6-5-0 record and a total of 1,397,603 votes, which was good enough to take second place overall behind only Herbie Husker (9-2-0).
Early in the competition, Sam was trailing most of the field and was in 11th place of the 12 mascots. However, Sam was able to rattle off six straight victories to launch himself into second-place by the end of the regular season competition. The six game win streak was the longest of any mascot during the competition, proving the Minuteman fans stayed faithful even after the 0-5-0 start to the season.
By finishing in second place, Sam earned a first round bye in the postseason which commenced on November 21 at 12 noon. The playoffs were conducted over a two week period leading up to the Championship (Dec. 5-Dec. 19), which will crown one mascot the Capital One National Mascot of the Year.
After his first round bye in the playoffs, Sam faced Smokey (6-5-0) from the University of Tennessee. Smokey beat Sam in the first two weeks of the competition, but UMass fans rallied giving Sam a comfortable margin of victory in the playoffs.
Sam also defeated Purdue Pete (6-5-0), who finished with the third seed in the playoffs; Big Jay (4-7-0) from Kansas; Buzz (5-6-0) from Georgia Tech; Sebastian (5-6-0) of the University of Miami; and Butch T. Cougar (4-7-0) of Washington State University on his road to victory.
Sam would like to thank all the fans would voted for him during this 2005 Capital One Bowl Mascot Challenge and remind them to continue voting so that he may join the ranks of Monte the Grizzly and Cocky the Gamecock as Capital One National Mascot of the Year!