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Pop-Tarts were obviously all the rage in the bowl game named after the tasty pastry.
But after Iowa State took down Miami in a 42-41 thriller to win the Pop-Tarts Bowl on Saturday in Orlando, the Cyclone players did what you’re supposed to do to a life-sized mascot who also, somehow, is edible.
They showed the same hunger in the postgame feeding frenzy that they showed in outlasting the Hurricanes with a game-winning touchdown with just 56 seconds left. After the mascot named “Cinnamon Roll” held a sign that read “Follow your dreams,” he was promptly devoured by a ravenous group of football players who had just spent the previous 4 hours or so proving that just maybe Miami really didn’t deserve to be in the College Football Playoff.
This year, the victorious team had its choice of 3 mascots to be eaten in the postgame ritual. There was Wild Berry, Hot Fudge Sundae and Cinnamon Roll. When the mascot drama was all over, Pop-Tarts Bowl MVP Rocco Becht, who scored that winning touchdown with a little less than a minute to go, chose Cinnamon Roll as the victim of sorts.
And after the sophomore quarterback and his teammates were done devouring the mascot, well, there was no more of it to be devoured. It was a memorable afternoon for Iowa State football, for all the right reasons.
The Pop-Tarts Bowl has quickly become a fan-favorite in the postseason, and for good reason. The shenanigans are perfect for a non-Playoff bowl game, including the bowl game resurrecting the fallen strawberry Pop-Tart that was devoured last year in zombie-like fashion.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
