No one expected to bury another Uga so soon.

Less than 18 months since his coronation as mascot of the Georgia football team, Loran’s Best – also known as Uga VII – died suddenly Thursday morning, leaving the Bulldog Nation in a collective state of shock.

“I was very shocked and saddened to hear about Uga VII,” Georgia head football coach Mark Richt said. “You never think that something like that can happen that quickly, but it did, and it’s sad to know that we won’t have him on the sideline anymore.”

“It’s shocking,” said Branden Pollett, a sophomore from Savannah. “This was only his second season and you never expect them to die this quickly. He truly represents the University of Georgia football team and it’s just shocking he’s gone so soon.”

The 4-year-old English Bulldog was in his second season as mascot and is the first to pass away during a season. He also had the youngest lifespan of any previous Uga.

“It’s always a sad occasion when Uga passes away, and its particularly tough on the Seiler family,” said former football coach and Athletic Director Vince Dooley. “But as all of them have done, there will be a great celebration of his life and his contribution to Bulldog Nation and Georgia athletics.”

Sonny Seiler said his wife woke him up at 7:30 a.m. Thursday saying that Uga was breathing hard and whimpering, something Seiler said he never did. They took Uga to a nearby veterinarian and the dog passed away before he even had an X-ray.

As word of Uga’s death spread Thursday afternoon, he became one of the top 10 trending topics on the social media site Twitter.

Football players Jeff Owens and Michael Moore each tweeted asking fans to take a moment of silence to remember the deceased mascot.

“He will be missed greatly,” Owens tweeted.

For Georgia’s game against Kentucky on Saturday, Uga VII’s doghouse will remain empty, save for a wreath in remembrance of the departed bulldog.

“It’s just ridiculous that he died so soon, and it’s going to be really weird to see an empty doghouse,” said Joshua Moran, a sophomore from Kennesaw. “Uga is what we know and what we expect and it’s just a part of Georgia customs to have an Uga roaming the sidelines.”

According to Richt and Dooley this will mark the first time since the introduction of Uga in 1956 that there will be no live mascot, but it is not the first time Uga didn’t grace the Georgia sideline.

“There was a semi-tragedy during [the 1986 season] when Uga IV jumped off the bed before the Vanderbilt game and broke his leg,” Dooley said. “So he was out for the game, but the Seilers always had a good replacement.”

That replacement, Otto, finished the season with a 3-1 record, and though he is not buried in Sanford Stadium with the other Ugas, he is buried in the Seilers’ backyard.

When the Dogs play Georgia Tech on Nov. 28 and in their bowl game, there will be a replacement dog, Seiler said, but it will not be Uga VIII.

Seiler said the family will select another Uga after the season and the new mascot will be crowned in time for the 2010 football season.

In the meantime, life without Uga goes on.

“It was sad. He was so young,” said Kaitlin Shumate, a sophomore from Louisville, Ky.