What’s your favorite Pop-Tart? K-State football players sound off before bowl game

Most bowl games are no longer just about football.

Given the recent rise of transfers and opt outs, the postseason has become a strange intersection of future and past without much concern for the present. The College Football Playoff is all about winning a national championship. Bowl games, especially the ones played before January, are becoming more like soccer “friendlies.” Getting a head start on next year can be more important than ending the current season with a bang.

For those reasons, certain bowls are starting to have some fun with their title sponsors in an attempt to make their games more enjoyable for the teams that are playing in them. Such is the case at the Pop-Tarts Bowl, where Kansas State and North Carolina State will compete for more than a trophy.

The winning team will get to take a bite out of an edible Pop-Tarts mascot at Camping World Stadium on Dec. 28 in Orlando.

What flavor will the Pop-Tarts Bowl go with? How will an edible mascot be able to roam the sidelines during the game? What will this delicious creation look like? Those are all questions that bowl representatives aren’t ready to answer.

But K-State players have some advice to offer on those topics, particularly when it comes to their favorite flavor of Pop-Tarts.

Senior linebacker Austin Moore hopes there is a way he can heat up his preferred Pop-Tarts snack after the game.

“S’mores is my favorite,” Moore said. “I have had that one for breakfast a few times in middle school and elementary school. You toast that one and it tastes really good.”

K-State safety Marquis Sigle is rooting for something else.

“I like frosted strawberry the best,” Sigle said. “And I don’t like them toasted. I was a toasted guy who liked brown sugar cinnamon as a kid, but I grew into frosted strawberry untoasted.”

Other K-State players may vote down both of those selections. Star offensive lineman Cooper Beebe and wide receiver Keagan Johnson both say they like brown sugar cinnamon best of all.

“That’s the original,” Johnson said. “You can’t go wrong hot or cold.”

Their coach, Chris Klieman, has his own opinion on this topic. He prefers chocolate fudge.

“I don’t have any in the house right now,” Klieman said, “and probably haven’t for a few years since (my oldest son) went to college. But we had a lot of Pop-Tarts when the kids were little and I have enjoyed an awful lot of them. There aren’t many flavors I probably don’t like, because I had a lot growing up as a kid.”

Even though he won’t be in attendance for the game, K-State men’s basketball coach Jerome Tang has shared that he eats unfrosted strawberry Pop-Tarts all the time. He even keeps a box in his office for snacks after practice. Deep down, he prefers the frosted kind but ends up buying unfrosted because it makes the pastry seem healthier than it is.

North Carolina State coach Dave Doeren has his own preference for the Wolfpack if they win the game.

“I’m going to go with brown sugar cinnamon,” he said. “My wife likes strawberry, just so you know.”

The winning coach gets a mayonnaise bath at the Duke’s Mayo Bowl. The MVP of the Texas Bowl walks off the field with a cowboy hat. The Famous Idaho Potato Bowl has buckets of french fries on the sidelines for players to douse their coaches with instead of Gatorade.

A brand new tradition will be born later this month at the Pop-Tarts Bowl. That should provide both teams with a little extra motivation for a game that might otherwise lack intensity.

What Pop-Tarts flavor do they like best?

Chris Klieman: Chocolate fudge

Dave Doeren: Brown sugar cinnamon

Jerome Tang: Unfrosted strawberry

Cooper Beebe: Brown sugar cinnamon

Keagan Johnson: Brown sugar cinnamon

Marquis Sigle: Frosted strawberry

Austin Moore: S’mores