It's the most wonderful time of the year. On top of Thanksgiving and Christmas, we have postseason college football! Conference championships take place this weekend, and then we can gear up for bowl season.
As a college football fan, I have a love-hate relationship with the number of bowl games on the calendar. On one hand, we fans have that much more college football to watch, while on the other hand, the sheer proliferation of games means that teams can have a lackluster season, finishing .500, and still receive a bowl invitation.
In 2023 (and into January 2024), there are 43 bowl games on the schedule, including the College Football Playoff semifinal games and championship game. The NCAA's dilemma this year, which I wrote about on Tuesday, was that there weren't enough teams with a 6-6 record or higher, so the NCAA had to invite three other teams to participate in bowl games.
The NCAA did the right thing by inviting James Madison University and Jacksonville State University, two successful teams that had moved up from the Football Championship Series (FCS, formerly Division I-AA) to the Football Bowl Series (FBS, formerly Division I-A). The NCAA had previously denied postseason waivers to those teams because they were in the second year of the two-year trial period for moving up to FBS.
The third team that the NCAA invited to go bowling was the Minnesota Golden Gophers, which went 5-7 during the regular season. Let that sink in: we have so many bowl games that a losing team will receive an invitation to one this year.
Related: The NCAA Invites the Teams It Shut Out of Postseason Play to Go Bowling
So many of these bowl games have ridiculous names, largely because of corporate sponsors. For example, there's the Avocados From Mexico Cure Bowl, the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, and the L.A. Bowl Hosted by Gronk (no, seriously). The obsession with the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox is so strong that we actually have the Wasabi Fenway Bowl and the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl. And then there are sponsors I've never heard of (beyond Wasabi and Bad Boy Mowers) like the 68 Ventures Bowl and the Easypost Hawaii Bowl.
But my favorite — and by "favorite," I mean "the one that really gets on my nerves the most" — is the Pop-Tarts Bowl, which will take place on Dec. 28 at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Fla. This game is one of the more recent bowl games, with a history that goes back to 1990. Its original title was the Sunshine Classic, and it has gone by various names: Blockbuster Bowl (1990–1993), Carquest Bowl (1994–1997), MicronPC Bowl (1998), MicronPC.com Bowl (1999–2000), Visit Florida Tangerine Bowl (2001), Mazda Tangerine Bowl (2002–2003), Champs Sports Bowl (2004–2011), Russell Athletic Bowl (2012–2016), Camping World Bowl (2017–2019), and Cheez-It Bowl (2020–2022).
As the game's new sponsor, Pop-Tarts is trying something unique: revealing an edible mascot at the end of the game. The winning team will get to feast on this edible mascot. Scrumptious!
"Since we announced our title sponsorship of the Pop-Tarts Bowl, fans have been speculating on the larger-than-life game day experiences we will be tackling, and this is the first of many traditions that fans can expect Pop-Tarts to upend on game day," said Heidi Ray, senior director of marketing for Pop-Tarts, in a press release.
The edible mascot, which will be revealed after the game, “is made entirely with real, food grade ingredients, ready to be enjoyed in its entirety,” Sarah Reinecke, vice president of marketing for Pop-Tarts at Kellanova, told The Athletic via email. “During the grand entrance and for the entirety of the game, there will be a traditional mascot costume made from fabric and other non-edible materials that a person will wear. The edible mascot will only be revealed after the game ends.”
“No humans will be harmed in the enjoyment of the Pop-Tarts edible mascot,” Reinecke added.
(Kellanova is what Kellogg's calls itself these days. 🤷)
The Pop-Tarts Bowl isn't the only bowl game to rely on food gimmicks. The Duke's Mayo Bowl dumps a massive jar of mayonnaise on the head of the winning coach. Duke's is the best mayo out there (don't @ me), but that's still gross.
Define college football in a photo. pic.twitter.com/b1w8poI6co
— Duke's Mayo Bowl (@DukesMayoBowl) July 17, 2023
The previous sponsor of the Pop-Tarts Bowl, Cheez-It, dumped a cooler full of cheese crackers on the head of the winning coach of that game.
A Cheez-It Bath for Cheez-It Bowl winner Dabo Swinney 🧀 pic.twitter.com/Ungs0mrokx
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) December 30, 2021
"The winning coach of the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl also receives a french fry shower. The Sun Bowl, sponsored by Kellogg’s/Tony the Tiger since 2019, features a Frosted Flakes bath," writes Tess DeMeyer at The Athletic. "And when the Frisco Bowl was sponsored by Tropical Smoothie Cafe in 2019 and 2021, players doused [the] winning coach in a smoothie. Seriously."
Dumping a food product on a coach's head is one thing, but an edible mascot? That's just weird. And as tasty as Pop-Tarts are — frosted strawberry all the way — I'm not sure I want to sink my teeth into a cold, human-sized toaster pastry.
Gimmicks like these are obviously meant to bring viewers in, but do you know what would really bring viewers to the game? Good football. And the notion that these games have to rely on gimmicks instead of games worth watching is proof positive that there are too many bowl games these days.
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