USC Football: Thanks to Goodyear, Tommy Trojan is bigger in Texas

No. 10 USC Football plays in the Cotton Bowl against the No. 16 Tulane Green Wave on Monday, but the Trojans got in the spirit for the 87th Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic in particular on Friday. Down on the field at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, the Cotton Bowl uncovered giant "Texas-sized" statues of the two mascots for the game.

Tulane's mascot of course being the Green Wave, and SC's mascot of course being Tommy Trojan. What makes these statues so special, however, is not just the size. It's also due to the two statues being entirely made of Goodyear tires. The statues were handcrafted by Blake McFarland, an artist and former minor league baseball player. (See the statues below.)

Making these statues took hundreds of hours to do. These statues have been made for the Cotton Bowl (which is one of the most prestigious bowls in college football, and college football history) since 2016. (See some of your favorite Trojans posting with the statue below.)

The two statues are between six and seven feet tall, and weigh over 500 pounds altogether. It took 438 hours to make the two statues combined in only 16 days. It took over 300 total Goodyear tires to build the two statues. The statues will be used as the centerpiece for lots of the Cotton Bowl festivities leading up to the game, and will be donated to the two universities afterwards.

USC Football will likely win the Cotton Bowl.

The 11-2 USC Football team may have the same record as the Green Wave, but they are more battle-tested. The Trojans have played five ranked matchups this season. The Green Wave have only played four. In fact, Tulane has lost to No. 22 UCF at home, and Central Florida is no longer ranked. They also have an awful loss to Southern Mississippi at home.

SC's only losses come to No. 8 Utah. And the first one was only by one point on the road, and was decided by horrendous roughing the passer calls that the conference even admitted were incorrect calls.

In their other loss, they were up 17-3 in the second quarter before 2022 Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams popped his hamstring. As long as he's healthy enough to play in this game, SC should take this one.