Strange Hit at College Bowl: The Giant Pop-Tart

Kansas State beat North Carolina State in the Pop-Tarts Bowl on Thursday night, and if you think that's a weird sentence, things get weirder. The Pop-Tarts brand scored some serious social media buzz with one of the strangest mascot stunts on record. As USA Today explains, the bowl mascot was billed as "edible" beforehand, though nobody quite knew what that meant. All became clear after the game, when a giant fake toaster was brought onto the field, and the mascot happily entered it, holding a sign reading, "Dreams really do come true." After a little sleight of hand, a real giant Pop-Tart emerged from another end of the toaster—and was eaten by the winning team. (Watch it here.)

"This is the greatest football game I've ever been to. Bar none," tweeted KWCH 12 sports director Tejay Cleland as the stunt unfolded. "It more than lived up to the hype," per Fox Sports. A story at the Kansas City Star, offers perspective. "This is the first year of the Pop-Tarts Bowl, which in previous years had been named the Cheez-It Bowl, Camping World Bowl, Russell Athletic Bowl, Champs Sports Bowl, Mazda Tangerine Bowl, Visit Florida Tangerine Bowl, MicronPC.com Bowl, Carquest Bowl and Blockbuster Bowl," it reads. "None of them, however, had a toaster of any size on the field." (More college football stories.)