Texas Tech’s Raider Red Advances to Playoffs in National Mascot Contest

Texas Tech’s mascot is now in the playoffs in a national contest.

Raider Red has made it to the elite eight for the playoff rounds of the Capital One 2012 Mascot Challenge.

Red took second place out of 16 mascots nationwide. The playoffs are a single-elimination vote over a three-week period.

Red’s only regular-season loss was in the first week against the University of Delaware’s YoUDee.

Raider Red first competes against Truman the Tiger, mascot for the University of Missouri in the playoffs.

The Mascot of the Year is determined by internet voting, and fans can vote unlimited times at www.capitalonebowl.com/vote. Twitter voters must use the hashtag #CapitalOneRaiderRed.

The mascot with the most votes at the end of the championship round will be the National Mascot of the Year, and will be announced during the 2013 Capital One Bowl on January 1^st.

The winner will receive a $20,000 scholarship to help fund its school’s mascot program. Each participant will receive $5,000 for their university mascot program.

The original 16 contestants were chosen by a panel of judges from among the mascot entries received from all eligible NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision and Football Championship Subdivision schools.