Pop-Tarts Bowl Mascot Delights CFB Fans, Generates Endless Memes After Stealing Show

The Kansas State Wildcats may have defeated the NC State Wolfpack 28-19 on Thursday in the Pop-Tarts Bowl, but the football being played was just a sideshow to the main event—the Pop-Tarts Strawberry mascot.

The Pop-Tarts mascot drew much of the attention on social media after rising out of a life-sized toaster both before and after the game. And following Kansas State's win, the mascot was lowered back into the toaster and popped out as an edible treat for the Wildcats to munch on.

College football fans on X, formerly known as Twitter, couldn't get enough of the Pop-Tarts edible mascot, coming up with countless memes both during and after the event:

The use of the mascot and the overall branding of the Pop-Tarts Bowl, which was previously the Cheez-It Bowl, was so successful that it generated more than $12 million in earned media for parent company Kellanova, per Front Office Sports.

If we're lucky, maybe the Pop-Tarts Bowl will be part of the College Football Playoff next year, which is expanding from four teams to 12 teams. Imagine how electric seeing the Pop-Tarts mascot would be during a playoff game?