At around 7 p.m. ET on Saturday, college football’s eyes will be on a pastry.

Last year, the first Pop-Tarts Bowl (formerly Cheez-It Bowl, Camping World Bowl, etc.) caused a stir – but not for its on-field action. It was the post-game ceremonies that caught everyone’s attention.

After the Kansas State Wildcats were crowned bowl champions, the usual postgame traditions followed. Wildcats coach Chris Klieman received a Gatorade bath. The players walked to midfield where they donned Pop-Tarts Bowl champion t-shirts. Quarterback Avery Johnson was named the game’s most valuable player. A trophy was hoisted.

Then an oversized frosted strawberry pop tart climbed onto an oversized toaster and fell to its toasted doom. Seconds later, an edible, oversized Pop-Tart actually emerged from the bottom slot of the toaster. Johnson and Klieman enjoyed snacks. Pleased with what they saw, bowl planners set about making next year’s edition even more over-the-top.

Sounds fancy? There is video evidence to go with the story.

In a world where college football bowls are constantly fighting for attention in an ever-changing sport, edginess works.

As the Pop-Tarts Bowl began to prepare for its first game under its new title sponsor, a willingness to set new standards and push boundaries quickly emerged. The goal would be to find ways to be unconventional while honoring some of college football’s classic rituals.

“When we came in last year, the strategy was really, ‘How do we take traditional college football rituals and turn them on their head?'” Heidi Ray, senior director of brand marketing at Pop-Tarts, told ESPN . “It’s in the DNA of the brand (Pop-Tarts) that we break conventions.”

The game’s now-famous Pop Tart mascot is perhaps the best example of combining something that might be different from the bowl with classic college football tradition. Many universities have popular mascots to get fans excited on game day – why not give the game a mascot too? While a far cry from some of college football’s more intimidating costumes, the icing and strawberry Pop-Tart proved to be a hit, and its popularity exceeded any expectations of the game’s organizers.

“We loved (the mascot),” Ray said. “We didn’t expect the world to go as crazy as it did with the introduction and eventual sacrifice.”

Not content with just enjoying the success of last season’s mascot, Pop-Tarts wanted to build on what had already worked heading into 2024. Frosted Strawberry (and the subsequent cinematic toasting) was a resounding success. Ray and the bowl’s reaction?

“Let’s triple the fun and bring three.”

Get involved in this year’s mascot trio, with the game’s MVP given the honor of choosing which of the three flavors to toast.

The same logic of building on previous successes also applies to the game’s new trophy, which now doubles as a functional toaster. The first Pop-Tarts Bowl trophy had an elegant silver football design and featured two slots at the top to store a pair of Pop-Tarts like a toaster. However, the question naturally arose: could it actually toast the pastry?

This version of the trophy couldn’t. But as meetings for the next game began, questions immediately arose about how the trophy could work.

“We were really excited and proud for people to see (the trophy) … but the immediate second question everyone had was, ‘Is it a real toaster?'” said Matt Repchak, chief marketing officer of Florida Citrus Sports , told ESPN. “So when we started planning for 2024, one of the first things we said in the brainstorming session was, ‘I think we can all agree that this needs to be a functional toaster.’

“There’s a giggle when you tell someone you’re trying to put a toaster in a football on a trophy. But then very quickly you thought: ‘Okay, this is semi-serious, let’s do this.'”

Social media strategy has also proven crucial to further establishing the Pop-Tarts Bowl on the postseason scene. Hand in hand with the game’s various special features comes the willingness to tirelessly promote these features in unique ways.

Shortly after the game’s functional toaster trophy was revealed, the Bowl’s X account was ready to show off the unlikely hardware, releasing a parody trailer of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, complete with the tagline “#Poppenheimer.”

“Now I’ve become Trophy, toaster with pastries.” #Poppenheimer #PopTartsBowl pic.twitter.com/oq4pbQfqGN

— Pop Tarts Bowl (@PopTartsBowl) December 16, 2024

“We had good audio clips, good references … things that seemed to be connected to pop culture,” Repchak said. “You approach your social media strategy so that this is another platform for people to engage with the game.”

“Last year, a lot of people found out Pop-Tarts was sponsoring a game when they saw the trophy for the first time… even more people found out Pop-Tarts was involved in college football when they couldn’t avoid the memes could.” Instagram the day of the game and the day after the game.

Needless to say, college football fans online are excited about what the Pop-Tarts Bowl has to offer. The bowl game currently has 37.8k followers on

Regardless of the result on Saturday or the number of followers the bowl has, anything seems possible for the future of the Pop-Tarts Bowl. Whether it’s a further expansion of the mascot ranks, new trophy features, or some other never-before-seen innovation, it’s hard to rule anything out when bowl season begins next December. Just take it from Repchak.

“We haven’t shown all our hands yet.”