Pop-Tarts Bowl lives up to hype once again, feeding memes and thrills in equal amounts
Iowa State Cyclones celebrate first 11-win season in program history following Pop-Tart Bowl win.
(CNN) — The Pop-Tarts Bowl gave fans a little bit of everything.
Wild mascots, scoring and college football history were all on the menu.
While the Pop Tart mascots will be the ones that go viral on social media, the game itself was plenty noteworthy.
No. 18 Iowa State came back to defeat No. 13 Miami 42-41 after Cyclones quarterback Rocco Becht rushed for a one-yard touchdown on fourth down and goal with less than a minute left in the game.
The redshirt sophomore finished with three passing touchdowns and 270 yards through the air to go along with his rushing score.
However, the final result wasn’t even the main talking point.
After making history, Cam Ward sits out
Hurricanes quarterback Cam Ward will likely go down as one of the best college quarterbacks of all time and will hear his name called in the first round of the 2025 NFL draft. And he proved his collegiate dominance on Saturday at Camping World Stadium in Orlando.
Ward threw his record-setting 156th touchdown pass of his college career to wide receiver Jacolby George for a 4-yard score in the first quarter.
He passed Case Keenum for the most all-time in Division I – FBS and FCS – history.
Ward finished the first half 12-of-19 passing for 190 yards and three scores before sitting out the second half. He finishes his college career with 158 touchdown passes.
Despite it being a close game at half with Miami leading 31-28, backup quarterback Emory Williams took over for the Canes in the second half with Ward looking on from the bench.
Ward’s absence raised plenty of eyebrows and drew heavy criticism on social media.
After the game, Miami head coach Mario Cristobal was mum on the decision to sit Ward with the game close.
“I think all meetings with players and decisions like that – we make them in private and we keep them in private. … I know (Cam Ward) played his best when he was in there.”
Ward’s path to history wasn’t the most straight forward.
The 22-year-old wasn’t highly recruited out of high school – starting his collegiate career at the Incarcerate Word for two seasons before transferring to Washington State ahead of the 2022 season.
Ward played two seasons in Pullman, Washington, putting up video games numbers before transferring a third time – this time to the University of Miami ahead of this season.
The senior finished the season 4,123 yards, 36 touchdowns, seven interceptions and was named a Heisman Trophy finalist – losing out to Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter.
‘Has anyone ever opted out at the halftime of a bowl game?’
With the Hurricanes struggling on both sides of the ball, the decision to have Ward on the bench drew the ire of many including football analysts David Pollack and Todd McShay.
“Has anyone ever opted out at the halftime of a bowl game? I can’t remember someone doing it,” the former ESPN analyst Pollack said on X. “Cam Ward did it today at the Pop Tart Bowl.”
McShay opined, “I appreciate that Cam Ward, in this day and age in CFB, played at all. But I just can’t imagine starting any game with teammates, especially as a quarterback, and electing to pull myself out while my teammates are still trying to finish the job in a back-and-forth battle. I’m a realist. I know the climate. I’m not even knocking Cam here. It’s just different.”
The Hurricanes, who were in the drivers seat for the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) title at one point, suffered their second straight loss to finish the season 10-3.
Iowa State’s best season in 133-year history
Why even play in the Pop-Tarts Bowl if you won’t want to celebrate with the Pop Tart mascots after clinching a program-defining win.
With the win, Iowa State secures its 11th win of the season – the first time in the program’s 133-year history to accomplish the feat.
Becht was named the Most Valuable Player of the bowl game and selected a cinnamon roll Pop-Tart mascot to go up to the giant toaster, where it was baked for the quarterback and his head coach Matt Campbell to enjoy.
And no, no humans were harmed in the process.
The-CNN-Wire
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