Big 12 Name Game: Power Ranking Every Team’s Nickname

From the intimidating Sun Devils of Arizona State to the high-flying Cyclones of Iowa State, we rank all 16 Big 12 team nicknames based on originality, intimidation factor, historical significance, and just plain coolness. Whether you’re a die-hard Big 12 fan or a newcomer to the conference, you won’t want to miss this fun and opinionated breakdown of every Big 12 school’s identity.

Keywords: Big 12 football, team nicknames ranked, college football mascots, Big 12 rankings, Arizona State Sun Devils, UCF Knights, Big 12 teams 2025, Big 12 mascot rankings, First and 12 podcast.

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The Big 12 conference has some of the best team nicknames, but which one is the best? We're gonna rank all 16 on today's show From all the homestay to Colorado Arizona, Sake Cincinnati. We've got Big 12 covered from end zone to buzzer beater This is first in 12 draw access pass to all 16 teams all in every episode Hello and welcome to another episode of first in 12. I'm your host Adam. Give me thank you so much for joining us on this Wednesday And we are going to play top five Tuesday today on a Wednesday and because we're playing on a Wednesday I'm gonna change the rules a little bit typically and if you've been listening to the show You know that every Tuesday during the summer. I do a show called top five Tuesday where I feature the top five of whatever category I'm featuring that particular day for example a couple weeks ago I did one on the top five non-conference games of the entire season I've also done a top five atmospheres and I've done a top five returning quarterbacks this week I thought it'd be fun to look at the team nicknames now when I say nicknames That's going to come across as a little bit odd maybe a little bit of confusing to some people Because we don't really say oh the team nicknames is the kugers or the team nickname is the mountaineers We say that's just who they are and this is very different than the mascot a lot of times It teams nickname or what what we call them so the Texas tech red raiders the Arizona State Sun Devils the Utah use That's the team nickname and it's not their mascot so for Utah their their mascot is is a bird named swoop for the kugers for BYU kugers It's Cosmo the kuger that is what their mascot is named and sometimes they don't always correlate you look at Alabama for example They're the rolling tide which not exactly sure what a rolling tide is But their actual mascot or their representation of a mascot is an elephant the Auburn tigers or the war eagles we're not exactly sure which one they are a Represented by a tiger, but then also a war eagle so when we're going through this list Just know I'm not referring to the mascots because I know that there are some mascots in this conference who are known for being phenomenal some of the best in the entire country But we're not looking at that today at all. We're just looking at the actual team name and A little bit of history I I plan on this being just a quick fun show, but then I started to dive into some things like dug in a little too deep And now I know way too much about the history of why certain teams have certain nicknames And I'm going to share some of that with you not all of them are all that interesting But there are few that are pretty interesting So with that this is top five Tuesday on a Wednesday and not top five, but all top 16 and we're going to start with a number 16 And 15 they get to share the title If I want to go technicalities, I'll go 16 Arizona wildcats 15 cans of state wildcats now here's why I decided to put them 16 and 15 Wildcats feels very high schooly when I think of the wildcats Unfortunately to this day 15 years later. I still think of high school musical I also just Being an athletic coach see the wildcat logo as probably the most common high school Nickname or high school mascot At least around here in Arkansas. So the wildcats just aren't Doing it for me wildcats. Nobody really knows what they are what they look like. They're not all that exciting It's very very generic So I'm not going to even break it down I want to give it 16 and then 15 at least cans of state has been in the big 12 a little bit longer So I'm going to give them a little bit of respect and give them the 15 spot as opposed to number 16 Number 14 and 13 are also the same mascot and that is or sorry the same nickname And that is the Houston Cougars and the BYU Cougars Now I'm going to put 14 at Houston because at least in Provo There's an off chance you might see a Cougar, especially if you go hike the wire if you're in the mountains You could actually see a Cougar in Provo. You're not going to see one walking around Houston And if you do then an escape from the zoo and you're in real trouble So 14 Houston Cougars makes absolutely no sense 13 BYU Cougars makes a lot of sense But again just a little bit generic There's a lot of Cougars out there whether it's high school whether it's other colleges I would have liked BYU and Houston to maybe be a little bit more creative with that when coming up with their nickname Think kind of like Penn State they went with the nitty-liens. I think at nitty-liens kind of the same thing as a Cougar But it's very unique and it's actually one of the best nickname in all college sports Probably a top five number 12 and this one is so bad has so much potential The UCF Knights when I think of Knights. I do not think of Orlando, Florida when I think of Knights I do not think of college football Now I'm okay if a team wants to be the Knights. It's not the worst name in the world But UCF is sitting on a gold mine of great names with their whole Connection with NASA and space they have the citronaut and they actually have been kind of leaning into that the last couple of years At least a little bit that is a great nickname if the UCF Knights Change their name to the UCF citronauts They would be one of the greatest nicknames in all of college sports But for whatever reason they've decided that they want to just be the Knights not even the Golden Knights They used to be the UCF Golden Knights. No, just the Knights switch its citronauts and we'll rank you up higher Okay, so those are what I would consider to be my not so great very generic Canna fit in with the rest of college football nicknames now there are some great nicknames around college football Whether you're talking the ACC Florida State Seminoles fantastic you go to the big 10 You've got the Michigan Wolverines Ohio State Buckais I even think the Minnesota gofers is a brilliant name But the outside of that you know in the SEC especially I think there are three teams that are the Tigers You have the Auburn Tigers you have the Missouri Tigers any of the LSU Tigers and then you have two Bulldogs with Georgia and Mississippi State just not the most exciting league as far as names go I feel like these first teams that I just ranked 16 through 12 kind of fit in that category just here Average nickname they're okay, but they don't really pop or cause a lot of excitement Number 11 is the Baylor Bears now the reason that they're higher is because It's unique you don't see bears very often you see Grizzlies and Had they been the Baylor Grizzlies. I probably would have ranked them around 15 or 16 because that's a really lame name But Baylor Bears is something that is very And somehow so generic that it's Almost cool. I mean it's still 11. It's not very high on my list But it's at least interesting you also got a little bit of the Alliteration going on with Baylor Bears it rolls off the tongue nice When you see the logo you know you're talking about Baylor I don't believe that there's another bears in college football I know that they're Grizzlies, but there are no bears and so they're gonna get benefited the doubt At least be ranked higher than that first tier of just teams This is sort of where we go into the okay. Yeah, that's a pretty cool name Number 10 is a Cincinnati Bearcats now if you don't know what a bear cat is it is a mammal who resides in Southeast Asia It has absolutely zero connection to the city of Cincinnati at least to my knowledge and my limited But still their research the bear cats it's kind of a raccoon cat looking animal it's Not known necessarily for its ferociousness It's not the most intimidating and when you actually look at the Cincinnati mascot It's not the most intimidating mascot either it's It's unique it's definitely its own thing But it's not the most Interesting nickname in the big 12 it's just a It's it's it's a unique name and so it's gonna give the number 10 ranking It's gonna be a pretty good ranking, but but not gonna really crack into the elite level as now We get into what I like to call The cultural fits now these are teams that Might not have necessarily the most exciting or flashy nicknames, but they do match the culture and For that reason I've ranked them nine through six so number nine is the Colorado Buffalo's now Here's the thing about the Buffalo's Buffalo's don't actually live in the United States Those are bison. I know that's a technicality But as I was doing my research I found that Bison live in the United States Buffalo's live in Africa as well as well as bison and the reason that Buffalo's were given the name that they are even though they're bison is because when you have the early travelers You had you know the early pioneers the the gold rush all the people going out west back in the 1800s they called the bison buffalos and so the name just kind of stuck so it's more of a nickname to a nickname rather than an actual this is a Fact well, this is what our Animal is it is unique though. I like it There are also the North Dakota state bison, which are grammatically correct there and It's it's a cool logo. It's a it's a cool nickname. It's it's bold. It's strong. It's powerful It does represent Colorado a little bit. I'm not sure how many bison are running around Colorado But at least it's that region of the country it works number eight the Oklahoma state cowboys You might be saying whoa whoa whoa whoa. They're in the top half. Yes. Here's why it works so well for that region in the country Oklahoma, I think a cowboys, you know old western It fits perfectly also it's very bland sort of like what I was saying with Baylor people don't just say cowboys they say the outlaws or The snipers or whatever it is or or the sooner and I realize that's different but kind of the same Oklahoma state taking the cowboys I think of two things Wyoming and Oklahoma state You say the name cowboy and it resonates that even if we're not talking sports we're talking cowboys I'm gonna be thinking of Oklahoma state and Wyoming two states that have a lot of cowboys It fits the culture It's a perfect fit and so they get the nod as a top half team barely but still a hot top half team Number seven. I've got West Virginia mountaineers Mountaineers are a nickname that also match perfectly with the West Virginia culture West Virginia is known as sort of a Backwards Very patriotic Just doing things the way they want to do it Very blue color work in hard coal mining working in factors whatever it is that encompasses the culture overall West Virginia. I realize that's not everybody who lives there But it does represent in many ways what people sort of feel within that state Mountaineers fits perfectly that is what? West Virginia is that is their culture and they embrace it. They're the only major team in the state And I think it's fantastic that they have decided to take on a nickname that represents them as a state That's why they're number seven and number six is the Texas Tech Red Raiders I was really confused what a red raider is when I think of Raiders I think more pirates but I looked up the backstory on it's actually interesting They used to be the masked masked rider so think sort of like Legend of Zorro the same kind of concept of the Cowboys Old Western, you know, you're in eastern Texas. It's very much outlaws and that whole culture And they were the masked riders and they had a mascot Who was a guy who would ride on his horse in a mask Really really cool But they had to change the rule or they had to change their nickname after they found out that they could not take their mascot To most visiting stadiums and so instead of Having a masked rider at home games and not having anything in a way games They just said we're going to change our logo Or we're going to change our mascot. We're going to change our nickname to the red raiders It's a cool story the red raiders still kind of encompasses that same vibe because when I was thinking of the red raiders I was thinking of Zorro that's who I thought of without knowing the masked rider story until I researched it afterwards And that brings us into our top five now these top five are what I would consider to be probably top 15 in the entire nation And they're all fantastic they'll have very cool stories they have really cool Meaning behind them and they're really fun the fifth one is the Kansas J-Hawks now if you don't know what a J-Hawks is It's because they don't exist they're not a real animal and if you actually look at the logo Of Kansas it is a bird that very much doesn't look like it belongs in nature or anything It's actually a mythical creature And it comes from the 1850s when Kansas was trying to become a free state this was Civil war time and Kansas wanted breakaway from slavery and so they had the nickname J-Hawkers It stuck around And to this day the Kansas J-Hawks are what you get Very culturally rich has a lot of backstory and I love that they embrace something from the 1850s they have kept that Idea alive for 175 years now of something that doesn't actually exist but bringing it to life That's why they're number five number four are the T.C. You horned frogs Little fun story they're not actually the horned frogs are the horned lizards But they call themselves the frogs I couldn't figure out why that is if you know Leave me a comment let me know but They are the horned lizards now horned lizard is one of those mascots that's very Texas Very very Texas they only live in that part of the country when you're looking at Nick names you want something ferocious something strong typically a frog is not what comes to mind Now again, it's a lizard but they call themselves the frogs it's genius It kind of fits in the same feeling of the organ ducks Where a duck isn't all that ferocious unless You get the wrong one and it starts chasing you because you have food You've been there you understand but when you say the horned frogs and then goes oh, there's the frogs watch out But it's so unique to college football so you need to college basketball It becomes part of the sport. It's a brilliant nickname I absolutely love it also just embracing the purple you don't see purple hanging around College sports all that often. There's very very few teams who embrace purple. It's normally red blue black Maybe some green and gold number three The Utah euths Now, I'm not sure how I feel about the repetition of Utah euth Okay, I'm not sure how I feel about that. I feel like euths may have worked better with a different team within the state Whether it's b-y-u whether it's weeper state or any other team that doesn't have the name Utah in it already But the partnership with the euth tribe which is one of the Native American tribes from the region Has worked with the euths or with the University of Utah for the past oh, I believe it was since 1978 I might be a year too off on that for over 50 years or for about 50 years the euth tribe and the University of Utah have worked together and they've done Collaborations together they've done activities together. So the euth tribe did Hand-painted helmets a couple of years ago. They'll always appear at games and and do presentations during during timeouts or half-time It's really really cool. It's not quite on the same level as the Seminoles from Florida state but it is in that same idea of bringing in an indigenous tribe bringing in the culture from Centuries ago up to today and embracing it as an athletic program Great nickname one of the top 10 I feel in the entire country Number two the Iowa state cyclones first off. This is a brilliant plan words So a cyclone and a tornado are essentially the same thing except tornadoes occur over land and cyclones occur only in the pacific ocean A cyclone is the same thing as a hurricane except hurricanes are from the Atlantic Ocean and cyclones are from the pacific ocean There's your science lesson for the day Here's why it's so brilliant when I think of tornadoes I think of the Midwest In particular Kansas and Nebraska and Iowa for them tornadoes are just part of life You know when people hear tornado siren anywhere else in the country it is immediately Go hide seek shelter Pray for your life in Iowa it's just Tuesday afternoon and Sure, you know, there's still very precautions of it and they still do what they need to do But it's part of the culture. It's part of what makes Iowa Iowa you move to Iowa You live in Iowa and you know you're going to see tornadoes and they have embraced it and they've embraced it so much That they said let's make it our school nickname We're going to be the Iowa State cyclones Now they're going to be the cyclones and said the tornadoes Probably because tornadoes doesn't sound all that fun But then also it's it's just a plan where everybody knows what they mean by cyclones they mean tornadoes They that's what they mean they know nobody's thinking why are you referring to the pacific ocean version of hurricane? No, no they obviously know it means tornadoes And so it's a fun plan words that works you have to be careful with that sometimes With things having a double meaning kind of talks about that with the Colorado Buffaloes how it's actually a bison It's kind of that same concept except a little bit more brilliant So a cyclone For Iowa State is just a brilliant name it encompasses the culture encompasses the area They have a tornado siren go off on third down Brilliant and number one and I Believe this is the most underrated nickname in college sports by far Is the best in the big 12? See air zone estate sundevels There is not another nickname That I think it actually cast I don't want to go as far to say fear But maybe intimidation to opposing teams as the sundevels When you are an opposing team and you hear oh we're gonna go play the air zone estate sundevels There's an immediate thought in your mind that goes Oh, it's gonna be hot When it's hot that means discomfort it means harder before it means just It's not gonna be Comfortable and it's not when you go play air zone estate It's probably gonna be over 100 degrees no matter what time of year it is If you're planning out to or supporting on sayers zone state is gonna be hot I love that I love that they have taken that on then they have the devils with that that is One of those nicknames that makes people associate villainous There's not very many other names out there the devils are just That's a strong nickname you instantly go. Oh, okay. All right. We're playing sundevels today Now I'm not saying teams are actually intimidated. I'm not saying that they're scared when they hear the air zone estate sundevels Maybe they should be in football this past year But it's a it's a strong nickname And it does I'm sure make players go oh hot I know this is ironic that Airzona 16 and airzona state is number one I actually didn't mean to do that at all. I just noticed that right now as I'm looking over my notes When you hear we're playing the air zone a wild cast this this Saturday go. Oh, okay We're gonna airzona when I say you're gonna go play the air zone estate sundevels It just feels hotter. It just feels tougher. It feels less Comforting if you can do that with a nickname power to you Because there's not a lot of nicknames that do that You go around college sports. They're not a lot of teams that you say Hey, we're gonna go play this team and then you say they're they're nicknamed and you go oh Okay, need to think about that for a second air zone estate pulls that off I think Alabama pulls that off too. I don't know what a crimson tide is But when you hear hey, we're playing the Alabama crimson tide It's kind of that same thing right When you heard of the Auburn Tigers, okay, you hear the crimson tide It sounds a little bit I don't know. It's got something to it You hear the Michigan Wolverines. It's got something to it Michigan state Spartans Yeah, I think that that was that was one of my elementary school nicknames where the Spartans You know, it's it's a good okay nickname, but it's not the Wolverines Air zone estate has that it's awesome So if you like today's show Please like subscribe leave that five star review. We are continuing to get reviews for the show we're continuing to get more listens Truly honestly appreciate it. You have no idea how much a single like Means to the show it means more viewers it means more people engaging and building a community If you like this list Let me know in the comment section also if you disagree if you're like Here's on a state to the worst. What are you talking about? Let me know in the comments or let me know on social media Follow me on x at first and 12 that is first an xii or high seat in the big 12 logo And I will I'll comment back on it and maybe we'll start going back to this topic at some point during during this summer We still got about two and a half months until college football starts. So we certainly Still have time to talk about things other than what's going on on the field which at this point is nothing So we can have that conversation. So thanks again for tuning in today catch you tomorrow Bye(upbeat music)(upbeat music)(upbeat music)(upbeat music)(upbeat music)(upbeat music)