For Serious Followers of College Sports

For Serious Followers of College Sports

– By Howard Sierer –

With the college football season coming to an end this week, here’s an unusual test of your knowledge of college athletics. I’ve put the questions up top and the answers below. Real fans will not use the Internet, only their memories. No prizes, only the chance to spring these questions on your friends.

In the following questions, “major” college teams are those whose football teams appear on national television at least once almost every year. Any college athletics fan will be familiar with all of them.

1. Five major college programs have mascot names that include a color. Can you name them?
2. Almost all college athletic programs have mascot names that end with the letter “s.” However, there are four major college athletic programs other than those in Question #1 whose mascot names do not end in “s” and a number of smaller college programs whose names do not end in “s.” How many can you name?
3. In 49 of the 50 states, the primary state public universities contain the state name. Can you name the one state whose well-known major state public university does not contain the state name?

ANSWERS BELOW…

1. Alabama “Crimson Tide,” Syracuse “Orangemen,” Tulane “Green Wave,” Stanford “Cardinal,” and West Point “Black Knights.”
2. Major colleges: Illinois “Illini,” Notre Dame “Fighting Irish,” Naval Academy “Midshipmen,” and North Carolina State “Wolfpack.” Smaller colleges: UMass “Minutemen,” North Dakota State “Bison,” University of Nevada “Wolfpack,” and others.
3. Rutgers University, the State University of New Jersey.