No mascot for Saturday's game

By Alexis Stevens

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The sudden death of Uga VII will leave the Georgia Bulldogs football team without a mascot for Saturday's game. But there will be a fill-in dog for the final two games of the season.

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Brant Sanderlin, bsanderlin@ajc.com Uga VII, or "Uga VI's Loran's Best," passed away suddenly Thursday morning at his home in Savannah. The 4-year-old English bulldog had served as Georgia's mascot for nearly two football seasons.

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There should be an interim bulldog ready to go for the game vs. Georgia Tech and a bowl game. That fill-in mascot, however, may not get the job permanently.

"There’s lineage out there we can depend on in unforeseen cases such as this. That’s what we intend to do,"  said Swann Seiler,  daughter of  Sonny Seiler, the owner of Uga VII."

Four-year-old Uga VII died Thursday morning in Savannah of an apparent heart attack.

The dog's sudden death means the Bulldogs won't have a mascot for this Saturday's game vs. Kentucky. It's not the first time the team has had to play without the support of a beloved pooch.

"Hopefully, his memory will pull us through against Kentucky," Seiler said.

- Chip Towers contributed to this report