College Football Bowl season is finally here, and there is no other thing like it. Programs have an opportunity to earn the last trophy of the year, depending on which bowl game they participate in.
Fifty years ago, there were only 11 bowl games in major college football, and now there are too many to count. While that is the case, no other trophy is as bizarre, cool, or odd (depending on your taste) as the Pop-Tarts Bowl trophy.
The Charles H. Rohe trophy, otherwise known as the Pop-Tart trophy, has been revamped. Partnering with GE Appliances, it now features a built-in working toaster.
Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images
Originally titled the Blockbuster Bowl, the game was born in Miami, Florida, in 1990 and thrived in its first year. A marquee matchup between Penn State and Florida State drew more than 74,000 fans.
According to the Pop-Tart Bowl website, the game continued to be successful after moving to Orlando in 2001, with several different title sponsors throughout the years. In 2023, Pop-Tarts signed a multi-year agreement with Florida Citrus Sports to become the new title sponsor of the game.
In its first year as the ‘Pop-Tart Bowl,’ it featured Kanas State and NC State. The Wildcats came out on top, 28-19, with 31,111 people in attendance.
This year, the Pop-Tart Bowl will feature No. 18 ranked Iowa State of the Big 12 against the No. 15 ranked Miami Hurricanes of the ACC. In this century alone, this bowl game has gone through names like the MicronPC.com Bowl, Visit Florida Tangerine Bowl, Mazda Tangerine Bowl, Champs Sports Bowl, Russell Athletic Bowl, Camping World Bowl, and Cheez-It Bowl up until 2022.
Iowa State is coming off a tough Big 12 championship game loss to the Arizona State Sun Devil by the final score of 45-19. The Cyclones finished with a 1-3 record, which was their first 10-win regular season in the program’s 133-year history.
Iowa State entered November undefeated for the first time since 1938. The Cyclones then lost back-to-back games before winning three in a row to advance to their second Big 12 title game. They lost to Oklahoma in the 2020 game.
As for Miami, they were early season favorites to make the 12-team playoff, but they imploded at the end of the season. They lost two of their last three games against conference opponents and failed to make the ACC championship because of it.
Nonetheless, the Hurricanes had Heisman finalist Cam Ward on their side as he finished the season with 4,123 yards, 36 touchdowns, seven interceptions, and an 88.0 QBR, which ranks first in the country.
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