Edible mascots? A working trophy? Even (loosely) a Miami origin? Get ready for the Pop-Tarts Bowl

With a week-and-a-half until the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoffs, the rest of college football’s bowl season will have some time in the limelight.

And of the 20 bowl games scheduled for this week, perhaps none has garnered more intrigue than Pop-Tarts Bowl between No. 13 Miami and No. 18 Iowa State on Saturday at Orlando’s Camping World Stadium (3:30 p.m., ABC).

There’s good reason for that. Beyond being one of just three non-playoff bowl games to feature a pair of ranked teams (also the Alamo Bowl between BYU and Colorado as well as the Citrus Bowl between South Carolina and Illinois), the Pop-Tarts Bowl went viral in its inaugural run last year and is upping the ante with its quirks and antics even more in its encore run this season.

Here’s what you need to know about the game, both on the field and the spectacles that surround it.

How the matchup was decided

The Pop-Tarts Bowl’s selection process was simple: The bowl got the top team from the Atlantic Coast Conference that did not make the 12-team College Football Playoff and the second-best team from the Big 12 that did not make the playoff field.

With both Clemson and SMU making the playoffs (albeit with quick, first-round exits), that left the Hurricanes (10-2) as the top-ranked ACC team remaining. As for the Big 12, Arizona State made the playoff as conference champion. Beyond the Sun Devils in the rankings were BYU at No. 17 and Iowa State (10-3) at No. 18 in the final CFP rankings, hence the Cyclones’ inclusion as Miami’s opponent.

It will be the first-ever meeting between Miami and Iowa State. As of Sunday morning, the Hurricanes are a three-and-a-half point betting favorite.

Edible mascots

The Pop-Tarts Bowl made waves last season when it announced it would have what was deemed the “first-ever edible mascot” — an anthropomorphic Pop-Tart named “Strawberry.”

But the postgame celebration from that inaugural game, a 28-19 Kansas State win over NC State, still lives in lore.

Shortly after the win, Strawberry found himself at the top of a giant toaster at midfield while Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff” played throughout the arena. He lifted a sign with his right arm that read “Dreams really do come true” before slowly being lowered into the toaster, with an edible replica sliding out of the bottom before being eaten by the winning team.

But why stop at one mascot? After all, Pop-Tarts has nearly two dozen flavors.

So this year, the bowl will be represented by three edible mascots: Wild Berry, Hot Fudge Sundae and Frosted Cinnamon Roll.

Not all will suffer the same fate as Strawberry did last year, though. The game’s MVP will decide which of the three mascots will be eaten.

A functioning trophy

As if eating the mascot wasn’t enough, the Pop-Tarts Bowl wanted to make sure the winning team will be able to indulge in their freshly toasted breakfast pastries whenever they want.

So in partnership with GE Appliances, the championship trophy for this year’s Pop-Tarts Bowl is a functioning one: It has its own built-in toaster. Like the edible mascot, the trophy a first-of-its-kind endeavor.

“Our fans have made it clear: The Pop-Tarts Bowl isn’t just another game, it’s an experience,” Pop-Tarts Bowl CEO Steve Hogan said in a press release. “We listened, and with the help of GE Appliances, we’re delivering a trophy that doesn’t just sit on a trophy stand. We’re excited to share this fusion of fun and functionality with college football fans everywhere.”

It even has its roots in Miami ... sort of

Long before the Pop-Tarts Bowl became the Pop-Tarts Bowl all of last year, the initial iterations of this particular bowl traces its origins back to Miami and Joe Robbie Stadium.

Originally called the Sunshine Classic when it began in 1990, what is now the Pop-Tarts Bowl spent its first 11 seasons as a bowl game in South Florida, first sponsored by Blockbuster (1990-1993), Carquest (1994-1997) and MicronPC (1998-2000) before moving to the Orlando area in 2001. At that point, the bowl game became the Tangerine Bowl for three years — sponsored first by Visit Florida in 2001, then Mazda in 2002 and 2003 — before multiple other rounds of sponsor handoffs and new branding.

After becoming the Champs Sports Bowl from 2004-2011, the Russell Athletic Bowl from 2012-2016 and then the Camping World Bowl from 2017-2019, Kellogg’s began sponsoring the bowl ahead of the 2020 season. It was the Cheez-It Bowl from 2020-2022 before Cheez-It took naming rights for the Citrus Bowl.

And now, we have the Pop-Tarts Bowl, with its second installment taking place on Saturday.