Pop-Tarts Bowl
The Pop-Tarts Bowl is an annual college football bowl game that is played in Orlando, Florida, at Camping World Stadium. Originally commissioned as the Sunshine Classic, it has undergone many name changes due to sponsorship rights. It is currently named after the Pop-Tarts brand of toaster pastries, produced and distributed by Kellanova.
The bowl is operated by Florida Citrus Sports, a non-profit group which also organizes the Citrus Bowl and the Florida Classic. It was first played in 1990 in Miami Gardens, Florida, before moving to Orlando in 2001. The game has tie-ins with the Atlantic Coast Conference and Big 12 Conference. In the College Football Playoff era, the bowl seeks to match the top non-CFP selection from the ACC against the second non-CFP selection from the Big 12.
History
Miami (1990–2000)
The bowl was founded in 1990 by Raycom Sports and was originally played at Joe Robbie Stadium in the Miami area. It was briefly given the working title of the Sunshine Football Classic, but it was never played under that moniker. Prior to its first edition, it received corporate title sponsorship. During its Miami existence, it successively went by the names Blockbuster Bowl, CarQuest Bowl, and the MicronPC Bowl.The bowl arose from a desire to hold a second bowl game in the Miami area. It was to be an accompaniment to the traditional Orange Bowl, showcasing the brand new stadium in the area that was built in 1987. The Orange Bowl game was still being played in the aging old stadium, whereas this new game would be played in the new stadium.
Miami Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga quickly joined forces with bowl organizers and brought in Blockbuster Video, which he owned, as title sponsor. The inaugural game, played on December 28, 1990, pitted Florida State and Penn State, and two legendary coaches, Bobby Bowden versus Joe Paterno in front of over 74,000 at Joe Robbie Stadium. Subsequent games were unable to match the success of the first, even though the bowl was moved to the more prestigious New Year's Day slot in 1993.
In 1994, CarQuest Auto Parts became the title sponsor after Huizenga sold Blockbuster Video to Viacom. The New Year's Day experiment was short lived as the organizers of the more established Orange Bowl received permission to move their game into Joe Robbie Stadium beginning in 1996. That bumped the Carquest Bowl back to the less-desirable December date. After the 2000 playing, Florida Citrus Sports took over the game and moved it to Orlando.
Orlando (2001–present)
In Orlando, the bowl was played three times as the Tangerine Bowl, a historical moniker that was once the original title of the Citrus Bowl. Foot Locker, the parent company of Champs Sports, purchased naming rights in 2004, naming it the Champs Sports Bowl, under which eight games were played. In early 2012, naming rights were bought by Russell Athletic; five games were played as the Russell Athletic Bowl. In early 2017, Camping World became the title sponsor of the game through 2019; three editions were staged as the Camping World Bowl, concluding with the 30th playing of the bowl. In May 2020, Kellogg's signed on as the new sponsor of the game, naming the game the Cheez-It Bowl, after the company's brand of snack crackers. In May 2023, it was announced that the sponsorship would be switched to the Pop-Tarts brand, making the game the Pop-Tarts Bowl. Kellogg's had acquired the naming rights to the Citrus Bowl, concurrently moving the Cheez-It sponsorship to that game. In October 2023, Kellogg's ceased to exists as a company, but persisted as a brand name—ownership of Pop-Tarts passed to Kellanova. Kellanova was acquired by Mars Inc. in December 2025.From 2006 to 2010, the bowl matched teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Big Ten Conference. Under the terms of a television deal signed with ESPN in 2006, the bowl was to be held after Christmas Day from 2006 onward, and be shown on ESPN in prime time. The change was made to move the game from the less-desirable pre-Christmas date utilized from 2001 to 2004.
From 2005 to 2009, the stadium faced challenges in preparing the stadium for two bowl games in less than one week. This was also in part due to the Florida high school football championship games being held at the stadium shortly before the bowls. In 2009, rainy weather turned the stadium's grass field into a muddy, sloppy, quagmire for both bowl games. In 2010, the stadium switched to artificial turf, facilitating the quick turnaround necessary.
In 2009, the bowl announced that the Big East was to be one of the tie-in conferences for four years starting in 2010, with the bowl having the option of selecting Notre Dame once during the four years. In October 2009, the bowl announced that they had extended their agreement with the ACC for the same term. The game would match the third pick from the ACC against the second selection from the Big East. The previous agreement had matched the 4th pick from the ACC against the 4th or 5th pick from the Big Ten. ACC and Big East teams subsequently met in the 2010 through 2013 games, except for 2011 when Notre Dame was selected. In 2013, the Big East's non-football members broke away from the conference under the Big East name, and its football-playing members continued as the American Athletic Conference.
Since 2014, the game features the second pick from the ACC after the New Year's Six bowls make their picks—usually the losing team from the ACC Football Championship Game, or one of the division runners-up—against the third pick from the Big 12.
A new trophy for the bowl was unveiled in December 2023, featuring two slots for Pop-Tarts atop a metallic football. The mascot, named "Strawberry", is a large anthropomorphic Pop-Tart that was deemed the "first-ever edible mascot"; it was lowered into a giant toaster and presented for players to eat after the game, having been replaced by an edible replica.
For the 2024 game, the bowl held a fan vote of three flavors to serve as main mascot: Cinnamon Roll, Hot Fudge Sundae, and Wild Berry. Cinnamon Roll was declared the winner on December 6. The 2024 trophy was also a functional toaster, manufactured by GE Appliances, with a weight of. Strawberry received a memorial outside the stadium, and was subsequently "resurrected" following a tribute during the first half—taking the form of a mascot now resembling the replica after it was eaten.
In 2025, bowl organizers promoted the game as “The People’s National Championship.”
Game results
Note: the bowl has twice adopted naming that was previously used by games with a different lineage.- For earlier bowl games known as the Tangerine Bowl, see Tangerine Bowl
- For earlier bowl games known as the Cheez-It Bowl, see Cheez-It Bowl
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MVPs
| Date | MVP | School | Position |
| December 28, 1990 | Amp Lee | Florida State | RB |
| December 28, 1991 | David Palmer | Alabama | WR |
| January 1, 1993 | Darrien Gordon | Stanford | CB |
| January 1, 1994 | Glenn Foley | Boston College | QB |
| January 2, 1995 | Steve Taneyhill | South Carolina | QB |
| December 30, 1995 | Leon Johnson | North Carolina | RB |
| December 27, 1996 | Tremain Mack | Miami | SS |
| December 29, 1997 | Joe Hamilton | Georgia Tech | QB |
| December 29, 1998 | Scott Covington | Miami | QB |
| December 30, 1999 | Kurt Kittner | Illinois | QB |
| December 28, 2000 | Philip Rivers | NC State | QB |
| December 20, 2001 | Antonio Bryant | Pittsburgh | WR |
| December 23, 2002 | Kliff Kingsbury | Texas Tech | QB |
| December 22, 2003 | Philip Rivers | NC State | QB |
| December 21, 2004 | Reggie Ball | Georgia Tech | QB |
| December 27, 2005 | James Davis | Clemson | RB |
| December 29, 2006 | Sam Hollenbach | Maryland | QB |
| December 28, 2007 | Jamie Silva | Boston College | FS |
| December 27, 2008 | Graham Gano | Florida State | K/P |
| December 29, 2009 | John Clay | Wisconsin | RB |
| December 28, 2010 | Russell Wilson | NC State | QB |
| December 29, 2011 | Rashad Greene | Florida State | WR |
| December 28, 2012 | Antone Exum | Virginia Tech | CB |
| December 28, 2013 | Teddy Bridgewater | Louisville | QB |
| December 29, 2014 | Cole Stoudt | Clemson | QB |
| December 29, 2015 | Johnny Jefferson | Baylor | RB |
| December 28, 2016 | Brad Kaaya | Miami | QB |
| December 28, 2017 | Mason Rudolph | Oklahoma State | QB |
| December 28, 2018 | Eric Dungey | Syracuse | QB |
| December 28, 2019 | Chase Claypool | Notre Dame | WR |
| December 29, 2020 | Spencer Sanders | Oklahoma State | QB |
| December 29, 2021 | Mario Goodrich | Clemson | DB |
| December 29, 2022 | Jordan Travis | Florida State | QB |
| December 28, 2023 | Avery Johnson | Kansas State | QB |
| December 28, 2024 | Rocco Becht | Iowa State | QB |
| December 27, 2025 | Bear Bachmeier | BYU | QB |
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